How frustrating

Well, my dream recall hasn’t been too good lately (I might try that self-hypnosis page someone recommended again, it worked well last time), but I remember having a lucid dream - only, something wasn’t right. It was like I was dreaming that I was lucid dreaming. Does that make sense? It seemed like what everyone had described their first lucid dream to be like. I realized “Hey, I’m dreaming”, and then everything sort of went black, except I could see my hands (I was wearing wierdy megaman-style gloves) and and then I woke up. Only, I didn’t experience the clarity you apparently get on such an occasion, or any excitement. So, yeah. Is this normal? Was this actually a lucid dream? It just didn’t seem right.[/i]

the ‘clarity’ everyone refers to is the logical functions of the brain kicking into gear, while you remain asleep. This gives you an awareness equal to your RL awareness.

What you experienced was ‘knowing’ you were dreaming without gaining this ‘clarity’, which can often be just as fun as the aware LD.

There is no difference between knowing you dream and thinking you know that you dream.

Sorry, but I got to disagree.
There IS a huge difference in lucid dreaming and dreaming that you are lucid dreaming.
Anyway, both can be fun, but I prefer the “real lucid dream”.

Wannabe, yes, that makes sense.I think we even invented the expression “false lucid dream” to describe the phenomenom.
Your description sounds more like you had a very short, but “real” lucid dream, but there isn’t anybody else but you who can really tell.
So, I just can tell you that “false” lucid dreams are possible.

Can be confusing, but after some time it get’s quite easy to decide wether you had a LD or not.

edit:
Just reread your post.You never had a LD until now, right?
Now I am quite convinced that you had a real LD and not a false one.The clarity often comes with LDs, but the only fact that matters is that you knew you were dreaming, even if it was only for some seconds.
Don’t let the description of more experienced dreamers unsettle you.

Traumgänger

I expressed myself wrongly. My point was that is simply isn’t possible to dream that you are lucid and be logically aware.

If you dream that you are being lucid then your logical functions are most likely not active.

IF you dream you are lucid AND your logical thinking is active THEN there is no difference.

Following my poor english here?

Oh,ok, then we most probably are talking about the same thing.
Perhaps it also was my pour english :wink:

greetings from germany
Traumgänger

Ok, thanks. That’s quite reassuring. I’m about to sleep, and I’ve got LD’s on the brain, so high hopes for tonight.

Traumganger - Your english is perfectly fine. Correct me if I’m wrong, but traumganger - dream-shaper?

Dreamshaper… that would also make for a nice nick :wink:

Traumgänger means dreamwalker.At first it was meant as some kind of wordplay with sleepwalker, but I also heared that shaman-like people are called dreamwalkers in some cultures.

good luck
Traumgänger

I know what you mean… I haven’t had a ‘full-blown’ Lucid Dream yet, only such things like you describe; knowing that you are dreaming, but unable to think rationally. In all my LD’s to date I haven’t been able to do what I always planned to do in my frist LD, which is frustrating indeed. I’ve been reading others’ first LD’s too, and they seem different from mine. Mine are usually short, and in those dreams, it’s not like RL, and I’m not able to think clearly, like my mind is still in a sort of dream state. :confused:

Ok, last night I had my first “proper” lucid dream. It lasted for more than a minute, and it was generally more convincing than the last, but I still didn’t get the full clarity. I was on the phone, listening to The Clash playing “Should I Stay or Should I go” (not sure why), and then I thought “am I dreaming?”. At first, I thought I wasn’t, but then I looked around the room, and the computer screen was faced towards me, which it never normally is, and there was some sort of red and white pattern on the screen (like, imagine the “curves and colours” windows screensaver, with red patterns on a white background, only it was a lot smoother), and I realized. Then I put my hand on the window (because I remembered the thing about trying to walk through a mirror, only I wasn’t thinking straight, so it made sense to try it with the window), and I sort of floated through it. Then my viewpoint changed, and I saw myself climbing out of the window. It was late at night (about 9pm) and very, very cold. I was shivering (although perhaps that’s a side-effect of it being my first lucid dream). I decided to see how high I could fly. I put up my arms, and just flew vertically up (By this time I was back inside my own body). The shivers got worse and worse, and then everything faded to black. I remembered the things you’re supposed to do when you are about to wake up, but I couldn’t be bothered. I was content just to get back to the warmth of real life, and bed. Cool, huh?