FINALLY. And a few questions

I'm pretty sure I finally had my first LD last night. I will describe it and then tell you why and why not it might be an LD.

*some random dream stuff* I'm suddenly lying in bed, when a little blue budgie flies down and lands on my bedside lamp. I hesitate to turn it on, as he might fly away, but I think he wants me to turn it on. I do, and he flies onto my pillow and lands right by my ear. He speaks into it, saying "We don't need those merchants, we can get by on our own" (Referring to previous dream).
He then flies over to my desk, and lands on it. My room is suddenly yellow and has lots of random posters and clocks on the walls, which it doesn't in real life, and there is an extra window.

This is when I do R.C.s for no reason. I looked at my hands, left had an extra finger. Did the finger through palm, it went through, blocked nose, I could still breath. I then went "This must be a dream then!" but I didn't really get that euphoric feeling people talk about. Some vibrations, thats it. I then jumped and thought about doing a backflip, but didn't. I jumped out the new window and feel to the earth as my room was floating. It was like L.A., but with much less buildings and some weird buildings too. I fell, and tried to make it turn "1916 style". Didn't work. Tried to fly, didn't work.

And then I woke up. I looked at the clock and it was 8am, so I think it ended because my REM ended. I also didn't stabilize enough I don't think, I got a bit carried away.

Was this lucid or justa really vivid dream?

I did reality checks that worked, and I realized it was a dream, but I didn't get that euphoric feeling at the start and it wasn't as vivid in a tactile sense as I imagine it should be compared to what people describe.

Seems like it was a lucid dream mate, congratulations.

Good. I just wanted a second opinion as it didn't seem as good as other people describe theirs.

You did RCs and realized you were dreaming - that was lucid dream, congrats!
Make sure you do stabilization next time, also say "clarity now" or anything you think would help, it does help big deal with dream being vivid, crisp and awesome.
I don't think you should worry about not getting that euphoric feeling, it doesn't matter - I had lucids where I went "oh, I'm dreaming...whatever" and had a couple where this excitement screwed the whole thing making me wake up. So, I think, it's going to be different each time.

Alright. Yeah, it just felt kinda underwhelming compared to the stories I read on here. I think it was down to a mantra I was saying for ages yesterday "A dream character will tell me when I'm dreaming". I didn't do anything else new, and I even went to sleep a bit too late for my liking, and it still worked.

Only thing is that I didn't really feel like I was in control too much. I remember doing the R.C.s and thinking "This is a dream", but then after that I thought about doing a backflip, but decided not to as I got the idea to fly out the window. Then I just jumped out and fell but it kinda faded into a regular dream then I woke up.

I suppose yeah, I was lucid, but only for about 15 seconds, then it just de-stabilized.

My first lucid dream was like that, not sure if I was really lucid, or just having a dream that I was lucid.

I also had my first true lucid last night, didn't do any reality checks or anything, just knew and said the whole "clarity now" type of thing and rubbed my hands together (though that is as long as the dream lasted). Back to the point, I got the euphoric feeling, and I could tell that this lucid was so much more than the last.

I really don't want to bring you down but the way you are describing it makes me think of dreaming you were lucid (but what do I know, I've only had 1.5 lucid dreams :))

Yeah, I think the second half of it, after I jumped out the window was regular dream. But when I did the R.C.s and jumped in my room, that was more focused and clear and slower than my usual dreams, where I'm just carried along.

It was defiantly a lucid, BUt that doesn't mean you had a high level of lucidity. There is a scale of 1-10, 10 being it full total control and lucidity. Dreams feel very different than reality. I suggest fr your next, maybe 5 or so lucids you just need to chill out and relax in the dream. Stabalize, get the clarity up and just walk around and explore what your mind has given you, really just try to observe the feeling of being in that dream. Once you do that for a few lucids your understanding of what a dream looks and feels like will rise, and lucids will come easier.

Congrats man, I know you've been working hard at it:)

I would put it at a 4/10. My hands were clear and I really felt my breathing even though my nose was blocked during that R.C. Also the little bird by my head and on my desk, I really felt it my my ear and when it flew over to my desk it was clear enough. Other than that though, it was just like a dream, not full on lucid. I had control I think when I did the R.C.s, but after that I lost it, so not my fault!

I'm going to keep up with my mantra, WBTB, MILD and next time I'm going to focus on dream clarity and stability, like you guys have said. I'm just happy to have done something I can call lucid now, even if for only 10 seconds or so!

Congrats :D Remember that the more you have, the more you will have; so your chances of gaining lucidity just dramatically increased :P

The euphoria doesn't happy every time but it's fantastic when it does :D Really stabilise next time and then enjoy.

I will tonight. I'm going to go to town on my mantra, and really get a good nights sleep this time. I'm going to do a proper WBTB. Last night I was up late staring at a screen, not tonight.

Remember to make your mantra present tense (and not too long), don't use the word 'lucid', rather describe what lucidity is for your sub-conscious (through the mantra).

Maybe I'm not making sense.

"A dream character will tell me that I'm dreaming"

So not present tense.... um...

"Dream characters tell me I am dreaming"?

More like it :)

You could also try incubating a scene where a DC tells you you're dreaming.

How does incubation work exactly? Is that imagining a dream scene with loads of D.C.s telling me I'm dreaming, so theres more chance I will dream of that, and then them?

Congratulations m8! When I had my first LD it was extremely hard to fly. I knew it was a LD thought because it felt SO real.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Origami

How does incubation work exactly? Is that imagining a dream scene with loads of D.C.s telling me I'm dreaming, so theres more chance I will dream of that, and then them?

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This is one of the best pieces of material on MILDing in general, there's a lot of material to sift through, but it's worth it. Very illuminating.

Mine didn't feel that real at all though. I recognized that this was a dream, and I was free to do what I wanted, but then I just leaped out the window and lost it.
I'm not too annoyed at having lost it so fast, I expected that, but I didn't really feel that much. No euphoric buzz or extraordinary sensations..

It still counts though. I guess I just wanted my first to be a bit more up to scale as other ones I read about.

Oh, woah, to much info on one page, wall of text. Can't you just tell me what incubation is and how it's done?

Sure, I still advise you read it if you get the chance though.

Firstly, we all experience Day Residue, those little snippets and tidbits that stick in your sub-conscious and go into forming your dreams. You want to avoid this, at best day residue makes you more likely to accept your dreams as it will contain elements of your waking reality, at worst day residue will make your dreams mundane and unremarkable and that isn't great for lucidity.

You need to replace all those memories of your day with a scenario that results in your lucidity.

So when you go to bed, clear your mind of all thoughts of today and tomorrow, relax, and then start to visualise your scene. Set up the scenario and then play it through until you become lucid, don't show your reality check, and then stop there. Rinse and repeat.

It's fairly complicated so you should read the DVA class.

I think I get the idea. I saw a video on that earlier. I'll try that after my WBTB, I don't know where to imagine it though...

Maybe back in my first LD?

Yes, it was a Lucid Dream because you knew you were dreaming.

Alright, cool, the more people who tell me it was, the better I feel.

If you realize you are dreaming then by definition you are in a lucid dream. Things like vividness are seperate factors so just because you are lucid doesn't always mean it will be vivid and realistic. Also you don't necessarily get a euphoric feeling from being lucid but you have a very good reason to be happy and excited because your dreaming and can do what ever you want! :banana:

It looks like some of the first LDs I had 3 years ago. They looked as if I was dreaming about lucid dreaming. The more LDs you have, the more connections are made within the brain ( I think) . It does not happen anymore. To be sure whan I do is to think about the day of the week in which I am dreaming. Ah ! today is Friday, ok Now I am sure I am dreaming.

So thinking about that date and then doing an R.C. or whatever helps too?

All right, if you in your dream repeat " Today is Friday 27 of July" and that is the right date is the best proof that you KNEW for sure that you were dreaming/