Last night was one of the closest times I have ever come to a lucid dream.
After seeing some thread earlier that day, I had tied a cell phone around my leg with a vibrating alarm on it to try and give myself an artificial dream sign.
Anyhow, way before the alarm was supposed to go off, I woke up but in the middle of REM. I was able to sustain it for a while but the only problem was I never saw any images no matter how hard I tried.
My legs, feet, hands, and arms were all numb and I could feel my eyes moving faster than I could possibly do voluntarily. However, whenever I tried to think of any place to go to (a deserted island, my condo, an old house I grew up in, etc), the best that would happen would be the similar effect of a day dream. I could see a faint image in the back of my head but it was nothing like a dream which I see through my eyes and seem more realistic.
My eyelids would also try to open themselves a couple of times but even then I could still manage to stay in REM after closing them again. I even tried to just let it do its thing and think about nothing but it also did not work.
Eventually (after 20 minutes or so) I gave up and got out of REM and went back to sleep normally. I had a dream but just like every other night, it wasn't lucid.
I also remember that even though I had just been asleep I felt wide awake (which never happens) during this whole event. I feel that I was very close but I must be doing something wrong.
What did I do wrong?
