ARGH Maybe my dreams are different to all of yours??

Ok I have a problem with my dreams. You guys talk about looking at clocks and counting your fingers to see if you're dreaming. In my dreams there's no way I could do this. My dreams don't have those small details, they usually just have people (only a few of whom I recognise, and a bunch I don't), sometimes a large object such as a bus (but only part of it), and that's it.

Everything is very dark, like there is no lighting anywhere. It's not as if I'm a character in it either, I see myself in the dream, but sometimes I'm just watching myself do things, and sometimes I'm in my body but I can't just look at things to check the time etc (if there were clocks), I'm just beign dragged around, filling in this little plot. It's like I'm watching a very darkly lit movie, if you're watching a movie you can't count the fingers of the main charater, or look at a clock that isn't in the scene. I'm usually only "conscious" of small parts of it too...I mean my dreams only seem to last for minutes.

There will be one major point that I can remember when I wake up, e.g. "I was on a skateboard, there were some people.", that's all the detail I have, it's exactly the same as if I just sat here and imagined I was on a skateboard with some people around, but even that would be more vivid than these shadowy dreams. They'e never anything out of the ordinary either, I mean they are, but nothing unfeasible. For instance last night I dreamt I was...somewhere....there were a few people I know...and for some reason I knew that aliens had taken over...which could well happen, who knows.

I'm just ranting because I see a lot of other people a) describe vivid dreams(even the non-lucid ones) with plenty of detail and B) have that presence of mind/control to be able to do dream checks. My dreams are dark, I have no control at all, a lot of the time emtionally painful for me to watch (think friends are doing/thinking bad things to me etc), and tend to be brief. I don't wake up in the morning thinking "damn why didn't I realise that was a dream", because that possibility doesn't even go with my sort of dreams.

I know that was long but does anyone else feel this way?

Don't worry about it. You just have really bad dream recall that's all. Hehe. And I'm not saying that to be mean. Once you learn to increase your dream recall (and there are tons of ways of doing this...just do a search through the forum) you will be able to recall more details from your dreams. I don't think it's that your dreams aren't detailed...I think it's just that you don't remember anything so they all seem kinda blurry to you. That's how my dreams are when I have bad dream recall. Once you learn to remember details/increase dream recall you will find that your dreams are far more interesting than you ever could have imagined.

I agree with Lucidnina. You'll probably notice a lot more details in your dreams as you practice remembering them. Besides one of my recent LD's started out as a "dark and shadowy" dream. I was in a car at night and there wasn't much to look at it to suggest it was a dream. Except for the fact that I was taking a nap in the afternoon. I just suddenly remembered it should be daytime and realized I had to dreaming.

Every time I've gone lucid it was because I simply realized that where I was or what I was doing was unusual, not necessarily bizarre, just out of the ordinary. I went lucid once cuz I was in a police station, nothing impossible about that, but I don't spend a lot of time in police stations, and I wondered how I got there...BAM lucid dream!

I have never used a Reality Check to realize I was dreaming. Instead I just spontaneously become aware enough to wonder what's going on and there's always something out of place when I do.

When you remember your dreams more clearly, you'll also be more likely to become aware while you are dreaming. Those moments of awareness make you more likely to question what's happening around you, and chances are you'll notice something, even if it's just a minor detail, that isn't quite right. That's all it takes to go lucid.

I usually just realize that im dreaming because im not supposed to be somewhere (ie. im in the mountains but I live in florida)

but I have once looked at a clock in a dream (it said I was late for school and realized that I couldnt be late for school and looked back realizing that it changed drasticly (6 hrs)

You should start a dream journal, and write down your dreams every morning (It's hard, believe me.. I'm trying to get back into the habit, since my dreamrecall recently declined alot.) .. Even if the only thing you remember is that you were walking in a horde of people. It'll still help, slowly, but you'll have better dream recall. And, maybe in RL, start looking at little details in things, and it might carry over to your dreams.. maybe you'll notice one of the people suddenly changed from a middle aged dude, to a little kid, or even just dissapered.

Yes, definetly improve your recall. That's one. Two - you don't HAVE to make reality checks to become lucid, there are other ways of doing it (see the tutorials section). I usually make reality checks only AFTER I become lucid, to have a final guarantee that it's a dream, but usually I skip even that. That's probably because I don't practice reality checks while awake often enough :(

I know exactly what your talking about diablo. And I'm not completely agreeing with the Dream Recall theory in full, though I'm sure its a factor.

I've had those dreams, exactly as you've described, when I was fully lucid and non-lucid.
Those dreams tend to occur during times that your close to waking up or in Non-REM (n-rem is associated with nonvivid dreams) states. I get those dreams all the time when I'm about to wake up or was just falling asleep (first part of sleep, not a WILD).

It's as if your mind isn't focusing on creating a reality... its just focusing on certain tasks or objects or thoughts. And on top of that no amount of telling the dream to get better made it better...

My suggestion: Yes increase dream recall but try this as well.

Throughout your waking day, just take moments here and there to notice the details of things. Notice as many details as possible and do this randomly throughout the day with ordinary and extraordinary objects. Maybe it will overflow into your dreams, it does for me.

Secondly, as someone said before me, find other ways than reality checks to realize your dreaming.

Thirdly, if you become lucid during one of these nasty states, Simply spin w/eyes closed and intend there to be a brand new dream when you stop spinning and open your eyes.
That always resets dreams for me, making them vivid and stable again.

Good-Luck, I know what your going through...

-Daniel