The dream following a lucid dream

[runalonglittledonkey]

This is my first post. I have been lucid dreaming for the last few years. My last couple of lucid dreams have been followed by dreams in which I am not lucid, but am telling DC's all about my lucid dream. After I wake up I wonder why that didn't cause me to become lucid as well. I guess it's a new dream sign I'll have to start watching for. Has any one else had a similar experience?

[TygrHawk]

Welcome, li'l donkey! Are you having a false awakening (FA), where you think you've woken up from the lucid dream, but you're really still asleep and in another dream? If so, I think that's fairly common. If this is a common occurrence for you, then you might want to get yourself in the habit of doing reality checks as soon as you wake up -- in case you're still dreaming.

[runalonglittledonkey]

Hmm, interesting idea. It could be, I hadn't thought of that. Although I've read about FA's, I thought I had never had one, because I was thinking about them as a dream where I'd be in my bedroom going through the motions of actually waking up. These last few possible FA's, did not involve me waking up, I would just be carrying on in my dream and suddenly remember my LD and would describe it to the nearby DC. All the while not noticing that we were in a different city or that my dream character was not a waking life friend but a television personality.

[TygrHawk]

Well, if that's the case, it's probably not a FA. You are correct about the fact that a FA usually involves waking up in your bed (or wherever you were sleeping), only to find out later that you're still asleep.

[Split Infinity]

FA's are the worst. Because they occur after a lucid dream quite often, once you wake up for real you realise you missed an attempt to become lucid again =) However what I think is happening to you is that you're going along in your lucid dream, and following the flow of the dream so much that you forget you're dreaming. It's very important that you keep in control of a lucid dream, and I would avoid in going with the flow of a dream too much. I've found often that I've been lucid and then gone with the flow and even though I'm still lucid, I'm doing things I never intended to do in the first place. Once you become lucid, keep your focus on what it is you want to do.

[runalonglittledonkey]

Thanks Split Infinity, that sounds like good advice. When I really think back on at least the last LD in which this happened, the last bit of lucidity I remember was not of my own making. I think I was getting distracted by the scene I had tried to create, but that was taking on it's own life. My last thought in my LD was actually pretty funny, so I'll share. While I had tried to fly to a nightclub, I ended up watching an outdoor game, much like hockey meets Harry Potter's Quidditch, one of my friend's was playing and he was dressed up like an American Gladiator with a rocket pack. I was laughing at the scene around me, I felt like I was laughing so loud and hard that I was convinced that I must be laughing in bed and that I would wake up my partner. I was distracted away from my plan, but it was kinda worth it, too funny to miss But anyway, I really do think focus is the key, I'll try to stay on track, thanks for the help!