I am worried that this is stopping me in trying to LD

I have gathered over time that everyone else seems to dream first person, giving the ability to try and reality check. I also seem to have gotten the impression that most people have some sense tht when they are dreaming they are in the real world and are doing things as they normally would.
I personally dream in the third person, as far as I can tell anyway. And I tend to hve it happen as in a movie, not experiencing it. I'm not sure whether this is just because of bad recall, but I really have never had a memory of being first person, or having any semblance of awareness.
Is this normal, or a problem?

Ah, a fellow Canadian. Fantastic.

Anyway, as far as your "problem" goes, I also sometimes dream in the third person, like you said, as if I'm watching a movie. Sometimes I see myself, sometimes I see complete strangers. I don't know what your dream recall is like but after a while of analyzing my dreams, I found that they are about three quarters first-person, one quarter third-person. As far as this being a problem... hmm... this is tough because I've never had a lucid dream (hmm... this could be a clue haha!) but I think that despite the fact that you're watching your dream in the third person, you still have an awareness of what you're watching, so you should be able to be like, "Hey, those two people just did something completely impossible, I must be dreaming."

As far as the ability to tell when I'm dreaming and when I'm not... hardly. I can barely tell at all. Well, I can tell in retrospect, but I think that's about it. Only a couple of times have I been actually in a dream and thought, "Wow, that's impossible. Am I dreaming?" The sad thing is that I wasn't trying any sort of lucid dream methods at the time these happened. It is incredibly difficult for me to tell the difference and believe me, I've been trying for a while now.

Sorry I couldn't really be of help... other than to let you know that you're not the only one out there with these things.

Thank you, I was beginning to think that I was being left out in the cold. I am going to be trying quite dedicatedly this weekend (4 day weekend) with a friend, we are going to do it at the same time, perhaps try WBTB.

Dreaming in 3rd person sounds like a red flag dream sign. maybe you can use it to your advantage. probably get back into 1st person after that. Its an interesting talent I'd say. I've never tried to dream in the 3rd person..not sure how well it would work.

Im sure theres nothing wroung with dreaming in first person. In fact your problay more likely to see more things in your dreams or something. Its just that if u want to get to first person in a lucid dream it sounds kindof hard to do but who knos i never really tried going from 1st to 2nd to 3rd person. ... how whould u do 2nd person? lol

walk a mile in someone elses shoes they say. Interesting idea. anyone ever done this with any sucess?

I think i have the solution to your problem. :idea:

Your reality check should be to ask yourself if you're dreaming every time you see yourself in third person (i.e. mirrors, photographs, cameras in store entrances etc in waking life) that way as soon as you see yourself in 3rd person in a dream you think "am i dreaming?"

Ofcourse your conclusion would be "yes, i must be dreaming because i'm not in my body".

Problem solved =)

That might could be a good thing, everytime you see a pricture of yourself ask if you are dreaming, and maybe you will in your dreams!

EDIT- Oops, didn't see his post, oh well.

My last dream recall (in my dream journal post) I think I was first person...

I dream in 3rd person all the time. I also dream in 1st person all the time.

Dreaming in 3rd person is problematic for me, since, when I'm in 3rd-person, I am not aware of myself. Hence, I don't do a reality check, since I don't think "I should do a reality check" or "am I dreaming," since I don't have a sense of self. I think that my tendency toward dreaming in the 3rd person might be related to how... "theatrical," ... I am. I watch plenty of T.V., and I regularly attend the local anime club. And, of course, I play plenty of video games whenever I'm home, and the FPSs that I play may contribute to the 1st-person/3rd-person blurring.

Also, dreaming in the 2nd person is just a special case of dreaming in the 3rd person. Normally, the 2nd person refers to the speaker's speaking directly toward another individual or group of individuals, such as "You are wrong," or "I'm gon' keel you," or "You, my good sir, are an assonine hypocrite." So, to dream in the 2nd person, you would have to be the individual or group upon whom you are focused. Of course, these are different yous. Like, if you are dreaming in the 2nd person, you could be, say, your nemesis. Yet, if you are just your nemesis, then you're dreaming in the first person, and you've just manifested differently. However, even if there's a version of you elsewhere in, say, the same chamber, that doesn't mean that you are in the 2nd person; you could be in the first person, manifested differently, and there's a DC that just looks (and maybe even acts, thinks, etc.) a helluva lot like you. Indeed, it is basically impossible to actually determine whether you are dreaming in the 2nd person in any case, since even the most detailed knowledge of the situation is up to interpretation on the subject.