Thread: was this an LD

If you become aware that you're in a dream, then you're lucid. Control has no factor in it.

Originally Posted by WLLPEREGOY

so it was very VERY vivid like i am seeing now and i kept doing rcs and like i was like i am dreaming but had 0 control and i dont think it was a lucid was it?

The "Aware" part of Lucidness is a tricky one to understand at times, is it the subconscious or conscious part of the mind that decides that it is aware?

Think about your subconscious as a mirror-image of your waking self and you'll see it's not always as clear cut as it should be. It can do all the things you can do in your waking life and so much more, including the ability to decide that you're dreaming because of an RC that failed such as the ability to breathe through your nose when it's plugged.Alternatively, as has happened to me it's passed the nose-plug RC as reality when I couldn't breathe through it even though I was in fact dreaming.

Only you will know if you really were lucid in your dream, but the fact that you have doubts about it may place it as a low lucid or pre-lucid dream.

Things that may help you decide if you're lucid next time are as follows.

Are you able to sense exactly where you are at the time, such as, "Hey! I'm at the beach, but I "know" my real self is back in bed", this can also be accompanied by the feeling of your sleeping body back in bed, this is what can be called the "Twin-State" syndrome if you like and as such is a very good sign.

Do you have that "Eureka!" or "Wow!" sensation when you first realise that you're dreaming? This may also include an increase or decrease in the visual part of the dream and may well require you to perform stabilisation techniques to stay in the dream, such as hand-rubbing.Again, it's a good sign because you'll have to use your conscious part of the mind to decide what you're going to do to stay lucid.

The best thing for me that convinces me that I'm dreaming at the time is if I can actually think clearly about the surroundings I'm in and what I do and say. For example, I had a LD where I'm just following the general storyline of the dream without putting too much emphasis on control, in fact, I don't think I had much control but was still definitely lucid because I could observe in real time what my subconscious mind was saying and doing in relation to my conscious thoughts. My subconscious "dreamself" went up to a girl and said "Hey, you're gorgeous" etc and then kissed her, but at the very same time my conscious mind was like "Wow, I never would do that in real life".

So you can see, no direct control over all my actions or sayings, but knew exactly where I was and was questioning it consciously.
For me, consciousness and logical questioning overide any statement from my subconscious mind that "I'm dreaming!"

Very good point elk, i always thought that since i was in control that i was lucid, although i think i still was because i knew i was dreaming, i just thought that control was the main thing. Good point!

Originally Posted by topten35

Very good point elk, i always thought that since i was in control that i was lucid, although i think i still was because i knew i was dreaming, i just thought that control was the main thing. Good point!

As others will surely tell you, being Lucid doesn't necessarily give you control or at least full control, but you may be able to influence where you go to or who appears next etc just by willing it.