I finally did it. There are no words for my relief.

So I've been trying since I joined this forum to attain my first LD. I stuck to the regiment most people put on here for learning how to DILD. I bought LaBerges book and read it and did everything by the book. I kept a DJ as religiously as I do anything.

And I gave up and for the last four months I've spared little to no thoughts for LDing. I kind of pushed it out of my head. Until this morning.

I was dreaming I was walking down a hallway in school with a friend of mine that had passed away. I must have realized that's impossible and I yelled out, volunteerily (I remember thinking to say it), "I'm dreaming!" and immediately I did a nose pinch reality check. It was the weirdest feeling I've ever had. I could breathe through my pinched nose and closed mouth. That feeling alone, something impossible to replicate in waking life, was worth all of the work and desire.

But I wanted more and I knew I was getting ridiculously excited. There was this weird duality where I could feel my real life hands and body and I felt that it was numb but I was literally shaking in my dream body with excitement. I decided that I needed to stabilize the dream so I tried to rub my hands (And I'm amazed I even remembered to to do this) but everything seemed like it was moving in slow motion. So I gave up on that and tried to fly and that too felt like I was swimming against the current and under water. Everything was so slow. And then I must have fallen back into the dream because that's all I remember.

And the craziest thing of this all? I didn't even REMEMBER I had a lucid dream until I was halfway to school. I almost swerved on the road with the sudden complete vivid memory and it totally changed my mood and my day. I feel better than I have in a long time.

It's unreal. It really is. I used to always ask questions on this forum like: "How does it feel? Do you remember it in real time?" And that's really hard to answer because I now know how it feels. It's just an otherworldly ethereal feeling.

So I'm really excited. I'm hoping this opens the floodgates and makes it easy for me. But the only thing I'm worried about is that this was a random DILD. I did no exercises for it. I haven't even been doing reality checks. Should I get back on a regiment?

Congrats on your 1st! glad yours was so good, i ruined mine my charging headfirst into a wall before stabalizing and woke up. also was it early in the night? seems harder to forget lucids than regulars, and ill be kicking myself if i forgot some of my own before i woke up. dont give up on stabalizing, its necessary, if rubbing your hands dosent work, do something else, shout out or touch something, its worth it. also feeling your real body is a big no, real easy way to lose the dream. and you should know that unless your a master, DILDs will be really spontanious, (broke a dryspell a few months long today) so let them happen when they will, and experiment with some other methods, mild, fild, wild, deild, and others, and find one that works for you, moving beyond dild will increase your lucids by alot when you get the hang of it.

Congratz dude! i know the feeling i just had my first lucid dream last night aswell, and man, i felt great when i woke up having finally experienced what everyones here talks about every day.

Sounds like you lasted quite a bit longer on your first than I did. I made it to "Wow, I'm dreaming!" and poof, awake. Congrats! :)

Thanks for the congrats and to be honest the whole thing maybe lasted 45 seconds but you all know how hard it is to tell.

Congrats and welcome! :)

Congrats. You have to experience it to understand it. The truth of the matter is that mastering any art takes patience and practice. in time, you will become proficient in this art. Then you will come to the realization that many proficient lucid dreamers have come to - the actor in the lucid dream is the real us ( the spark of God that keeps the physical body alive). When the body dies, it is has discarded of the body and is now a resident in a new dimension or reality. You are, by becoming a lucid dreamer, trying to understand who and what you are - a great goal. Another good website for reference is dreamtwits.com. The forum members are proficient in lucid dreaming and have interesting answers that rocks. I highly recommend checking it out in your quest to better understand your dream worlds and adventures.

Yes its weird... Sometimes the feeling as well as the memory comes after you have had a dream of any sort. Today I had a dream and the experience came 3 hours later and I could recall it perfectly.

Surprisingly, 45 seconds of being awake in a dream is still one of the most amazing 45 seconds life can offer.

I have lucid dreams where I don't even do anything - I just sit in one spot and look at my surroundings. I still wake up pleased.

Sigh. I am now jealous.
It's been 3 weeks since my last lucid dream, and I long to feel that feeling of complete.... well, you know.

I need to get back on the lucid train, I've been working out lately and I think it's the reason I haven't had one in awhile.