Lucid dreams are defined as conscious dreams by definition, most certainly they are, since you have or ( in actual reality seem to have???) full control of yourself inside them and even of what even happens oftenly. Yes, but this is actually a big misconception even lucid dreamers might make.
When I lucid dream, (and my dreams seem to be more real than reality, there is no single doubt about that, setting appart the fact that brain can play games up to an extent), I do NOT always know that I am dreaming. I have full conscience of myself and maybe everything that happens around me, but not conscience that I am dreaming in all cases.
So lucid dreams are dreams that you have conscience of yourself, not of the very fact that you are dreaming. That you are dreaming can be only known to you because the enviroments seem odd and because you might remember that you just sleeped, or even having controlled the phase inbetween been awake and falling asleep. There are not tell-tale signs inside the dream otherwise that you dream, at least that’s true for me. A certain dream can feel like I just woke up from my bed and doing everyday things, such is the lucidness of it, but that I am sleeping actually not at all if the enviroment doesnt seem odd or if I dont remember I am sleeping. And that’s why I think that majority of OBEs are lucid dreams that start from where you just slept, and that’s where the confusion stems, especially if the person reporting such occurences is new to lucid dreaming. Even pain can be much real inside them.
What sets apparts lucid dreams from non-lucid dreams is how true to the perception of reality are the former. Before I ever lucid dreamt I could qualify some of my dreams as extremely real like, but when I had my first lucid ones I was blown off at the trick that my mind played, because they are EVEN more real than the “extremely real like” previous ones. In most of my previous, that are apparently much less realistic than true lucid dreams I still had control of myself and my actions, some people tell that they are mere observers in their dreams. Yes in a percentage of the previous ones of mine and even in the present ones I can be an observer but in majority of now and then dreams I always had conscience of myself, also in fewer conscience that I was dreaming.
So in conclusion common dreams can vary between very blurry and confusing up to 70-75% feel-like-reality if I could give any approach and lucid ones are at least in the range of 90-100% feel-like reality, not to say 100%+ some of them, that appear to be more real than reality. A common dream or a not-so much lucid dream can be turned with control intro a 100% lucid one. So in fact it’s not true you must try to remember that you are dreaming inside a dream to trigger them, but that you must try to remember to have full conscious of yourself and your surroundings, which is a much different thing. One must try and demand from his dream, through screaming, shaking or whatever other method (also to not let it fade) to clear the bluriness of itself and to show the reality substratum of it. You can remember that you are dreaming in a blurry dream but to turn a blurry or not-so-much-lucid dream in an instant, with experience mostly, you must shake yourself and possibly even scream.
Most lucid dreams though begin 95-100% lucid by themselves, if someone has one he will recognize without doubt. You are even aware of the exact moment you fell asleep in the majority of them and also aware of the transition between almost falling to falling asleep.
Moved from Quest for Lucidity. 