I have been pondering over a question now for a few minutes. It came to thought after the nap I had 30 minutes ago. I have been recalling dreams since Summer, quit end of october, and started up recalling end of November. It has improved greatly, and mostly I can remember 1 dream at least a night if not more. Sometimes though my dreams aren’t detailed and easy to peice, once they are peiced, they aren’t long either and some is missing of it.
Is there a special feeling you get when remembering a dream in which you were lucid? I mean, how can you determine whether you became lucid in one of the dreams you had? For example, I had a dream where I was in a super market like grocery store, and I was running down isles and the cold section with super powers. Which were invisibility and super speed. I kept like trying to run around the grocery without hitting people along the way. So how do I know I didn’t become lucid and make that happen? How do I know for sure each time I dream?
The reason I ask is because I believe it is time for me to begin getting serious towards my methods of LD’ing. So I need to know how to recognize it was truly a LD each time I wake.
well, I don’t know if it’s like this with everybody. But when I had my first LD (at least after I found out what they were) I got to excited that I woke up. But it was very cool, definitely enough to stay clearly in my mind. I think that’s really common with “beginners”. Since when you have your first LD you’re not so sure how it’s like, and how to control it and stay there…
I haven’t had an LD yet where I get lucid and then just forget about it, so the rest of the dream is normal. But I would bet that when you have a LD you’ll wake up with a smile on your face.
LDs were quite easy to recognize in the beginning since I felt very exhilarated upon realizing I was dreaming, and that feeling carried over to after waking up (which usually followed closely ).
However, it seems to have become a lot more difficult to be sure about a dream being lucid. Super powers, RCs, basically all the things one gets used to doing in most of one’s LDs cannot be taken as sure signs of a LD anymore. As I have experienced more LDs, the excitement of realizing I am dreaming is not as strong anymore (a good thing for prolonging the experience, actually, but it does make it more difficult to be sure about lucidity).
This is why I now like to think more of a “lucidity scale” instead of just two categories, LD and ND. How a dream is classified depends, for example, on how many things I remember from WL and how conscious in general my actions seem to be - basically just how much of it came from the “flow” of the dream and how much was due to using waking life logic, memories and behavior. I have quite a few dreams now in which I seem to know I am dreaming but just do not do anything about it and forget it again, quickly.
There is one rather reliable means of determining whether a dream was lucid, I think, and that is whether the experience is remembered more like an experience from WL or more like a dream. It is also probably why LDs are so exciting in the beginning. I thought, “Wow, I really was there!” - It’s just a unique feeling. That feeling still is there after a few LDs, but obviously it doesn’t seem that new and exciting anymore - I just try to be excited after waking up, not in the dream itself.
But it was very cool, definitely enough to stay clearly in my mind. I think that’s really common with “beginners”. Since when you have your first LD you’re not so sure how it’s like, and how to control it and stay there…
).
That feeling still is there after a few LDs, but obviously it doesn’t seem that new and exciting anymore - I just try to be excited after waking up, not in the dream itself.