Hello everyone. I am new here and I’ve been searching for the “new guy” forum with no luck, so I’ll just write here in general. After all, it is general LD talk.
So I had my first lucid dream a couple nights ago. Not on purpose, it just so happened that I realized I was dreaming. I felt I had the ability to awaken my body but I wouldn’t let myself wake up. I immediately began to fly. You see, I have always wanted a lucid dream but never have actively pursued it. I’ve always said to myself that if I ever have one, I will fly. And I did. Ever since I have been obsessed with LDs and have been doing a lot of research on the topic. I have a couple questions that I would like someone with lucid experience to help me with.
First, how did I randomly realize I was dreaming? I am the type of person who (every morning) remembers his dreams. Although I always remember my dreams I have never realized it was a dream until I was awake. So what was different about this time? Here is what happened in the dream. – I was at my grandma’s house, nobody was around, then my uncles dog (Bart, who has been dead for years now) comes into the room where I begin to pet him. Right then I remember saying to myself, “wait a second… I’m totally dreaming right now!” I ran outside immediately and jumped into the air and began flying with no struggle at all. How did I realize that I was dreaming? Like I said, I remember my dreams every night and have dreamed of plenty of things that are out of the ordinary (like Bart still being alive), but it has never made me come to the realization that it is only a dream.
I want to have many more lucid dreams, I want it bad. I’ve read about different techniques that I will be trying, but one thing in particular that I must ask. Does keeping a dream journal help? Even if it’s not a lucid dream, write it in a journal? I also read that when you keep a journal of your dreams for the purpose of becoming lucid, that you also have to write in the present tense. For example: instead of saying “I walked down the hallway and saw a man,” you would want to write, “I am walking down a hallway, now I see a man.” Please help me to achieve my goal of regular lucidity.
If you read all this, thank you for your time. I am anxious to read some responses.
I just found the guide on this website right after writing this topic. under ‘first’ > ‘recognize’ there is a list that blew me away… Everything on that list brought back specific memories of various dreams. running to get away, but stuck in slow motion… screaming but my voice is out… naked and spending the rest of the dream looking for clothes… etc. everything on that list i have dreamed about, but never realized i was dreaming. Even last night I revisited a location that I have dreamed of before. it was actually the town I live in, but it was totally different than what it really looks like in the awake world. but I have dreamed of that exact depiction of my town and still cant put it together in my dream, that “this is obviously a dream because my town doesn’t look like this.”
What do you guys/girls think?
Well I’m not sure some of your questions are even definitively answerable - for instance, you’d like to know why you became lucid this one time… Unless you been thinking of it more recently, I think you’ll just have to put it down to “one of those things”! Myself, the first time I read up on Lucid Dreaming (Thanks to an episode of Star Trek Voyager of all places lol) I had my first experience of lucidity that very night I began reading about it.
It seems that’s not the case for you, so I don’t know what else to tell you… just be happy that you finally tasted what it’s actually like as an experience, and now you can start placing more interest, intention and consciousness into intelligently inducing more lucid dreams 
If you’ve not done so already, you should really get yourself a copy of “exploring the world of lucid dreaming” by Stephen LaBerge. Also, try to find yourself his previous book simply entitled “Lucid Dreaming” - it’s a bit less method-based than EWLD, but it’s the first reading I ever did on the subject, and was the precursor to my first ever lucid experience - it’s very informative on what a lucid dream is, especially dealing with the biological facets of the subject.
This site is a gem, it really is. It constantly provides talk on techniques, experiments, people’s dream journals… Many things that will cause you to think “yeahhhhhh that’s a good dream! Can’t wait for my next LD!” “Ohh that sounds like an interesting way to try to remember to get lucid in a dream” etc etc etc… You can seriously go back through years worth of topics and keep that motivation up, learning just about everything you will need to know to become a proficient - and regular - lucid dreamer… providing you’re willing to put in the time (ie YES, you absolutely DO want to be writing your dreams down every morning for a start 
)
Good luck, stick around a while, I hope you enjoy the site as much as the rest of us do
Thanks for the encouraging response. I tried techniques for lucid dreaming last night before bed and early this morning when I woke up and then went back to sleep. nothing happened for me. but that’s mostly my fault. I wrote in my original topic that I remember vivid dreams every night. well, that’s true, however when I drink alcohol I usually only remember images, like pictures. and that’s what happened last night. I actually wasn’t going to go out with my friends because i knew this would happen but I did anyways… oh well, there’s always tonight
Hahahahaaaaaaaaa… I feel ya man… I drink way too much and should really cut it out for so many reasons, but especially as far as LDing goes, alcohol is indeed a big big no-no for dream recall.
I have had 5 random lucidity dreams 2 of them were my first lucid dreams ever too! So just thinking if lding without rc could start many lds and on the dream journal I keep one it is good if you are kinda not so good at lding like me where I have to write down everything I dream even it it is one feeling. As for the writing in dream journal such as “I am now” I don’t use that to write but it sounds like something should work and will happily try new things that will bring me closer to becoming a better lucid dreaming