false awakening

I have trouble arranging dreams in the exact order they occurred. Also, sometimes I find it difficult to keep them from merging within my mind before I wake up to write them down. This sometimes results in a bit of confusion when I finally get to writing down my dreams in my journal. Last night, I had what now seem to be three separate lucid dreams within my first six hours of sleep. I have tried to arrange them in the manner that seems most right.

The first dream I can remember involved a recent road trip I went on. I was traveling by myself through small towns in the west, and I was being followed by a hobo who wanted to take my money or something. This was a bit scary but not, like, a full on nightmare or anything.

Somehow, this dream morphed and I was walking in a retail store. I think it was a Wal Mart or something. Anyway, the main aisle became a sort of highway and there were people lined up along the sides watching me. I felt strange and the whole scenario seemed off. At first I thought that they knew something about me and the cop was going to find out this secret. I didn't even know the secret! Eventually I figured it out: I was lucid and they were dream characters. This made me feel great but I didn't really know what to do so I just strolled around the store talking to my DCs and enjoying myself.

There is a gap and I believe that last dream ended, sending me into a false awakening. I remember waking up in my bed. I instantly felt that something was off, so I did a reality check. I pressed my right pointer finger into my hand and it went right through. I had that EUREKA feeling again and got very excited. I jumped out of bed and looked for a way out of my house. I saw the window and burst through it, flying very hard in what would be a eastern direction. I ended up at a nearby elementary school, the one I attended as a child. I stood in the field and wondered what to do from there. So I guess I created a tower and started climbing it. Then I decided that it should be winter and it started snowing. This was awesome! I pretty much just jumped around on this tower, slid down it, made snow angels, etc. etc. I was having fun.

Eventually, I think this dreamscape morphed into a more alien landscape. I remember sitting under the tower and enjoying the knowledge that I was lucid. Looking about, I was in a new place, a place not familiar to me. I entered a nearby bunker and saw my ex there. This was strange but I accepted her as real. I think that was part of the reason that I started losing dream clarity and lucidity. All of a sudden, the bunker (which reminded me of an old church) started being shot at by nails. Strange. So I promised her I would get the nail-shooter to stop. I went out into the cold and started running in the direction of the assailant. But I fell down a hill and my father was down at the bottom. He had a fire going too and my two boxer dogs Chester and Georgie were down there too. He made me watch after them, even though I told him that I was having a lucid dream and I needed to go. I ended up falling asleep there by the fire and lost lucidity.

This was an exciting night of sleep but I think I have to watch out for dream characters because I tend to believe they are real and they tell me to do stupid things. Also, I never really know what to do when I become lucid, so usually I just fly around and get really excited. Haha. What should I do? If I focus on plans before I go to bed, will this influence my dreams?

This morning I woke up, and I was disappointed by my lack of dream recall from the night before. I know I had at least a few dreams but could only remember bits of one or two. I decided that since I was still somewhat tired, I would take another crack at it.

I laid in bed and attempted to initiate a WILD which I have not successfully done yet. I tried looking for hypnagogic imagery but saw none. Long story short, I fell asleep and into a non-lucid dream. In this dream I was in an airport terminal. It was dimly lit and I remember a significant lavender hue to the setting. I was a bit chilly and as I looked around, I was surprised to see that many people were lounging about in sleeping bags and mummy bags. Some had tents pitched. Somehow, this did not strike me as strange in the least, perhaps as the result of a recent camping trip I'd been on in my waking life. I determined that these families had been holed up here as the result of flight cancellations. My logic was clearly off. Anyway, I settled down in a bed which had been provided for me; apparently I had also been the victim of flight cancellations. I remember seeing a pair of faded yellow jeans and liking them as I crawled under the covers of the large bed. Many other individuals were also in the bed, which for some reason did not concern me or make me feel strange. I remember seeing a family next to me. There was a strange looking father and I vaguely remember a wife and daughter.

This is where the dream got interesting: As I fell asleep within this dream, I attempted what I thought would be a WILD. It was not, since I was already sleeping. This time it "worked" and I became momentary lucid, but without any control. In this dream I became a sort of camera, swooping over fantasy cities in the night. As I zoomed over one city, I located the town center which looked EXACTLY like the town centers from Age Of Empires II. I remember laughing in the dream.

Eventually, the excitement brought on by lucidity sent me out of the dream and I woke in the dark lavender light of the terminal. Then, the strangeness of that dream struck me almost instantly and I woke in my room. The double awakening struck me as pretty cool. All in all, this excited me, even though I was only lucid for a short and uncontrolled period. I have had poor dream recall lately and also, I could not remember the last time I dreamed in color, so the purple of the airport terminal and the yellow of the jeans were good to see. I am excited to give all this another shot tonight!