Tricking Myself

[sono]

Lately I've been having dreams where it occurs to me that it would be cool if "this" were actually the astral, & not "real" so that I could for example fly over ravines, glide up a building,fly or whatever, so in the dream I have been doing 'reality checks" such as snapping my fingers, taking a little jump or looking out for anything that looks weird. I then promptly decide that no, it's "real", I'm in the body - despite some quite glaring inconsistencies all around! Seem to be tricking myself. . . has anyone a 'cure" for this, perhaps??

[CFTraveler]

-Stop doing reality checks, enjoy your nonlucid dreams, and then start again.
That's all I got.
And yes, it's happened to me.

[Apex]

When I got into this rut, I changed my reality checks. I was not having much luck with some methods I read so I stopped using them and thought up my own.

For example, the one that ended up working the most for me was light switches. Flip a switch while demanding the light stay off. I also had success with pushing on walls, willing the wall to give way.

[ButterflyWoman]

My most useful lucidity check is to read something. You just decide to read something (a sign, a newspaper, a book, a packet of chips, whatever) and you look at it, try to read it, and then look away and try to read it again. Generally in a dream, the letters will move around or the content will change dramatically. You may not be able to read it at all the first time, let alone look back to see what it is the second time!

Also, in a dream, when you decide to read something, something will suddenly appear for you to read. For me, I usually find that I have a newspaper in my hand and I read that, but it also works with something as simple as my watch, which I just suddenly realise I'm wearing.

[Jananz]

I don't see the problem with tricking yourself...as there are infinite levels of being tricked associated with the infinite levels of potential lucidity. If you penetrate through one level of trickery, you are going to reach the next level of lucidity.
The first level of lucidity...you realize you are dreaming. The second level of lucidity...no this is real. The next level of lucidity is to realize that both waking life and dream-life are a dream.

If in your waking life you stop and penetrate the moment with the question "Is this real?" You will find that you were probably engaged in some day dream or another and not really awake to the moment. And that there is infinite levels of increased sensory and cognitive awareness that you could bring to the moment. You might find that what your dreamlife is trying to do is make you more lucid in your waking dream. This is the huge step from being a passive observer of ones experience, to actively generating ones reality through directorial skills which requires liberated and applied imagination. You appear to be playing with the machinery of consciousness in prior to actually getting the skill to take the next step. It may be a dreamtime version of the self-reflexive awareness of actually being alive as an "I." "Wow, I am alive...But in this case it is "Wow this is real." As an experiment you might try and remember a couple of times a day, "Wow, I am alive!" This might help you move on from being stuck at "This is real!"