Pain during reality checks....

:help: I had my first lucid dream today, and I did a quick RC on myself. I tried to push my finger through my hand and it worked, but it hurt like all get out :cry: … is there a reason or was it just my mind telling me that it would hurt? :confused:

Our mind provides us with exactly what we expect. Perhaps you were nervous about it hurting and therefore felt the pain? Belief goes a long way, but if you do not think that was a part of it, perhaps your subconscious just likes to mess with you occasionally :wink:

At any rate, might I suggest a less… painful technique? Plugging my nose with my fingers and trying to breathe through it proves to be 100% successful for me. Obviously, in a dream you will be able to breathe, thus triggering lucidity.

Dream sensations can be a little unpredictable…but yeah, in real life, it’d hurt if you pushed a finger through your hand, so your brain probably just figured it’d hurt in a dream, too. :wink: Next time, try expecting it not to hurt, as genuinely as possible. Or better yet, follow BenDrummin58’s advice and try to breathe through a plugged nose. That’s NEVER painful and ALWAYS works. :smile: Just got an LD from it last night!

Ah, thanks guys :slight_smile: I will try the nose one next time, I know a couple of people who also say that one is the best one to use.

Yeah, it’s really great. :smile: So easy to do, whether or not you’re dreaming, and the results are quite reliable. Just always remind yourself right before you do it that if this is a dream, you will be able to breathe through your plugged nose…and then really try to believe that you’ll be able to do that. Once you’ve done it once or twice in a dream, you’ll remember the feeling easily.

I’ve done this RC once in a dream, but my dream logic kinda failed. I plugged my nose and was able to breathe, and thought to myself, “Good, I can still breath, I must not be dreaming.”
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Sorry Macromonas but that made me lol. My friend has the same problem, he told me the other day he had a dream where a giraffe had walked through his house and he said “Who let the giraffe in the house” completely unaware he was dreaming.