After six months of trying this I finally did it! I went lucid! I've tried reality checking, WILD, supplements, and nothing happened. But this just snuck up on me after I woke up early in the morning and went back to sleep.

I was in that all too familar situation in a dream where you realize you're naked and are frantically trying to get back home or somewhere private before you're thoroughly humiliated. Then I realized, "Hey, this is a dream, what am I worried about?" and just totally embraced the dream and went lucid. I felt the warm tingling all-over and everthing became "real". I was just walking down the street passing people, totally enjoying my nudity and nobody seemed to care. For some reason I was in Montreal (never been there) so I spoke in French (don't know french either) to some guys outside a cafe. I laughed so hard as I walked away because I had know idea what I just said but it sounded good!

I didn't feel myself lose lucidity but I guess gradually the dream took over and I just began to follow it again. It was a great dream even after I lost lucidity. I woke up with a big smile when I remembered going lucid and felt great all day while recalling the dream.

I have this subtle feeling that we always know we are dreaming when we are dreaming, but the dream just controls us and we follow it never realizing it could be any different. I am going to try this again when I'm in a panic situation in a dream and try to remember I have nothing to fear.

It seems to me the next step is to try to maintain awareness of the dream - to find a balance between being aware of the dream while still enjoying the adventure of the dream without getting caught up in it and letting it take over.

How do you maintain this awareness?