gaining control

Hello all, I am a newcomer to this forum and have recently started experimenting with lucid dreaming. Brief history: I've always had really vivid dreams ever since i was a child (I still remember a lot of them), and for a long while, the majority of my dreams were nightmares. I somehow was able to force myself awake from most nightmares after a point (an ability I am thankful for), but was never able to actually control one. I am also a major insomniac and have a very irregular sleeping schedule.

I am usually pretty good with recalling my dreams, although some dreams are obviously more detailed and I can remember longer portions of it. My problem is having trouble becoming aware of the dream or sometimes I feel like I'm not even in the dream, I'm just watching it, and therefore unable to become aware. Is there anything I can do to help this?

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Originally Posted by dream kitten

Hello all, I am a newcomer to this forum and have recently started experimenting with lucid dreaming. Brief history: I've always had really vivid dreams ever since i was a child (I still remember a lot of them), and for a long while, the majority of my dreams were nightmares. I somehow was able to force myself awake from most nightmares after a point (an ability I am thankful for), but was never able to actually control one. I am also a major insomniac and have a very irregular sleeping schedule.

I am usually pretty good with recalling my dreams, although some dreams are obviously more detailed and I can remember longer portions of it. My problem is having trouble becoming aware of the dream or sometimes I feel like I'm not even in the dream, I'm just watching it, and therefore unable to become aware. Is there anything I can do to help this?

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I know how you feel, I'm almost exactly the same, except that I can control many of my dreams.

I sometimes have the same kind of dreams where I'm just watching, and I've found that even when watching a dream you can still become aware. One of the most effective ways for me to become aware while 'watching' my dream, is to do constant reality checks during my waking hours so that this habit carries on into my dreams.

The reality check that works best for me in this situation is to try to look at my hands, study them for a moment and ask myself if I am dreaming. Even if there is nothing irregular about my hands, it at least gets me thinking about dreaming, therefore it is easier for me to become part of the dream and do regular reality tests.

Other than this I'm afraid I can't offer any advice other that look into the tutorials and read other topics and posts.

I'd work on getting into a regular sleep pattern first, however an irregular sleep pattern and the fact that your dreams are long and vivid indicates that you have very large REM blocks. This would be nice for trying a WILD technique.