Very close to lucidity... what do you think?

First off, I am new to this site and love what I've been seeing! :D Anyhow, I've been making a point for the past month to keep a dream journal and do some reality checks during the day. And, for the past few nights, I've had quite vivid dreams. I can taste, smell, touch, and have a decent sense of what has happened and what I should be doing next.

On two occurrences this week, I've had a very vivid dream, and woke up, thinking about it. I quickly feel back asleep, and started having another dream. In this one, I was telling characters about the dream I just had. However, I never became lucid. Wondering If anyone has had this experience and how they overcame it? Help would be appreciated!

i wouldn't say you have anything to "overcome", just keep at it! you're doing fine... just remember not to put pressure on yourself. i preach that all the time because it's the #1 thing i have to constantly remind myself. give yourself a pat on the back for having more vivid dreams, that's a great step!

So just wondering, do you get vivid dreams through better dream recall?

I mean is it that all dreams are vivid and it's just how you remember them or are some dreams vivid and others not?

I had a dream this morning... well, actually, it was more like a false awakening, cos I was telling my BF about the dream I just woke up from, only I was seeing it played out on my ceiling :P

There;s a few things in my list that tell me a lucid dream is coming up soon.

1. I'm telling someone about a dream I had
2. Something reminds me of dreaming (ex. running, but I am either going very slowly, or I am jogging, but I can't pick up speed)
3. I can control the dream, even though I'm not lucid.
4. I'm thinking that I am dreaming, but something sweeps me back into the plot.

If your dreams start getting more vivid (as in colours... another good indicator for me is whether I can think critically in my dreams), you're on the right track :)

Thanks for all of your replies! I guess I never realized that maybe I have been taking the process too seriously! Perhaps I just need to smile and let my imagination go. And @ Motley, I have improved my vividness of dreams through dream recall. Before this past month, I only remembered blurry fragments of my dreams. Now, most of my senses are in tact. For example, the other night I dreamt that I was eating a burger. I could see the colors (tomato, lettuce, bun), and could taste it as well! I have a deep sense of space and time as well. Still haven't had a LD dream yet... I probably need to work on an Induction technique. Anybody have a good idea where I should get started?

alright, Tyler2 thanks for clearing that up!

Personally, my favourite technique is MILDing. DILDs/MILDs are fantastic beginner's techniques (don't let that fool you, many vets use it too!). Although, I would suggest that you research the Tutorials Forum.

When I was researching which technique I should use, I took into account things I already knew about myself. As in...
1) The way I sleep
2) How many hours I'm able to get?
3) How easy/hard is it for me to fall back to sleep in the middle of the night?
4) How often do things I think about, or things I see bleed into my dreams?
5) Am I able to influence something new into my dreams?
6) Can I visualize a scene or landscape to fall asleep to and find myself dreaming in it?
7) Can I fall asleep while actively daydreaming?

Just a few things to think about ;)

Can you please explain 5-7?

When I was deciding which technique to start with, I went through the same process, but I didn't have all those questions. All I knew was that I probably won't do many reality checks and that I cannot afford to spend a lot of time attempting WILD.

5) Am I able to influence something new into my dreams?
I find that sometimes, I can think of something I don't normally dream about, and it begins to show up in my dreams.
ex 1. There was a lucid task of the month in January to drink of glass of champagne. I kept visualizing that as I went to sleep each night. It manifested itself, but it only showed up as drinking alcohol in general :?

ex 2. I wanted to have a dream I was on the Titanic. It manifested itself, but only as being on a cruise ship, in general.

ex 3. I wanted to share a dream with another DV member. It worked, but it didn't make me lucid!

6) Can I visualize a scene or landscape to fall asleep to and find myself dreaming in it?
There are two "main" ways you can use visualization to become lucid. You can V-MILD or V-WILD. Both rely on you having a good imagination, and the ability to recognize the scene s the one you intended to get lucid from.
ex. 1 Let's say you wanted to visit a location. For instance, Pandora (in Avatar, which was a popular LD destination for a while). You could visualize Pandora, fall asleep, and dream about it. You would have to recognize; "Hey! I remember wanting to become lucid from this!" This would be the MILD form of the technique.

The WILD form is pretty much the same, only you would consciously be building the scene around you, using your dream body's 5 senses. You would not have to rely on recognizing the scene as a dream sign, and V-WILDs have a strong potential of skipping that pesky Transition phase, because as you're intent on creating the scene and keeping it stable (using your senses), your body is falling asleep and your mind is staying awake. Usually, the transition happens as the scene stabilizes.

7) Can I fall asleep while actively daydreaming?
I find this is a huge problem for me, which is why I generally don't use V-MILD or V-WILD. Actively using my brain keeps it, well... active. And keeps me awake. The point is to fall asleep :P Admittedly, I haven't given V-WILDs enough practice. I'm pretty close to trying, but I'm still very stuck on MILDing, since I don't have to lose sleep with it.

So, you have to know your own mind. For me, I realize that to fall asleep, I need to let my brain drift off into the unknown. V-MILDing a scene is very hard for me, as if I try to give it any sort of plot, my brain won't be drifting, so I won't fall asleep. Similarily, it's quite difficult for me to do a very important MILD step... taking previous dream of the night and imagining I recognized something in the dream that made me lucid.

What DOES work for me is a still-picture. But I find that some things just won't manifest into my dreams. Trial and error!

Alright, thanks for the clarification. I am doing the trial and error too right now with MILD. I guess sooner or later it will work.