It just doesn't fell real...?

Hi there...:D

I've gone back to lucid dreaming again...before I was too busy with school but now I've recommitted myself. I've kept a journal for many months now which I update daily now as I used to.

Anyway, I had a lucid dream yesterday, haven't had one in about a month so I was really pleased, and it was fairly long and vivid.

I touched things, grounded myself, walked around, tried to tend to every sense, and eventually the dream just faded without indicating to me it was going to end. I just ended up waking, instantly, and there wasn't anything exciting going on. I was in my garden calling out, "Is there a dream guide out there?" As i'm still trying to look for one.

Anyway, here's my question:
When I woke, I just had a feeling that the dream I had wasn't...or didn't feel...real

It's like, when you're lucid, you really feel like you're in there...but as you wake you kind of doubt as to whether you were really actively doing things.

It's like now...Here I am, and things are vivid and I feel properly grounded in reality. But back then..when I was lucid, maybe I couldn't really understand it...It was not real-life enough...Because if it was I'm sure I would have been even more amazed than I am now.

Can anyone understand me when I say this?
Is it maybe that I can't get my lucids to be clear enough? I have to stress I've only had about 40 lucids, mostly DILD's (like the one last night) and that I'm still trying to perfect clarity/grounding and so on.

Or are all lucids like that? Where you never really feel like you're totally.."in there"?

Thanks!

I'm relatively new to Ld'ing.... I've had 13 times where I realized I was dreaming, and 3 I could stabliize long enough to engage. Granted, I wasn't in there long... minutes for the longest one... but it was as real as any real experience. I was just in Puerto Rico (in real life) 6 weeks, and after two days being back, in some ways it seems like a dream... that is how any real experience and memory is, isn't it? The memory of my LD is just as clear as my other memories, and while I was in it, It was a real as other experiences. I can't say 100% as real as reality... somewhere I read DILDs are 60% and WILDs are 75% or something like that. I would give the DILDs I've had 75%. When I rubbed my hands together the feeling had a slightly "vinyl" feel to them. But it was a real experience. I believe my peripheral vision was less as I think back, but I never tried slowly spinning around to "fill in" the full landscape as was recommended somewhere. But yeah, they are really "real" if you have a clear, lucid dream. I know I was actually "there", wherever "there" was!

I definitely know the feeling, it seems to me to be related to the level of lucidity. When I wake up from a dream at a point where I'm extremely lucid it tends to feel like just moving from one reality to another, when I wake up at a point where I'm not entirely lucid I experience the feeling you described of wondering whether I was lucid or not, you think you're fully conscious in the dream but when you awake and recognise normal consciousness you realise that you weren't.

I certainly don't think all lucid dreams are like that, it's just a case of maintaining a high level of lucidity. Normally my lucid dreams start off extremely lucid but as they go on they often become more like normal dreams, something I'm sure you've experienced, so it's just a case of getting better at maintaining lucidity, which is certainly something you can improve with experience. When I used to wake up and realise I wasn't fully lucid I used to be disappointed, however I now tend to not see at as such a bad thing, often all it takes to have an amazing dream is to have the moment of fully lucidity where you realise it's a dream, the feeling of freedom and euphoria tends to persist even if I lose some consciousness.

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Originally Posted by unda

I definitely know the feeling, it seems to me to be related to the level of lucidity. When I wake up from a dream at a point where I'm extremely lucid it tends to feel like just moving from one reality to another, when I wake up at a point where I'm not entirely lucid I experience the feeling you described of wondering whether I was lucid or not, you think you're fully conscious in the dream but when you awake and recognise normal consciousness you realise that you weren't.

I certainly don't think all lucid dreams are like that, it's just a case of maintaining a high level of lucidity. Normally my lucid dreams start off extremely lucid but as they go on they often become more like normal dreams, something I'm sure you've experienced, so it's just a case of getting better at maintaining lucidity, which is certainly something you can improve with experience. When I used to wake up and realise I wasn't fully lucid I used to be disappointed, however I now tend to not see at as such a bad thing, often all it takes to have an amazing dream is to have the moment of fully lucidity where you realise it's a dream, the feeling of freedom and euphoria tends to persist even if I lose some consciousness.

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both comments were appreciated but this one in particular I feel related to me more.

Thanks both,

unda - how long have you been lucid dreaming for? Are there any methods of dream control that you've tried that significantly improved clarity..?

I've got to admit, I don't remember rubbing my hands or spinning in the dream...just holding/touching things. Also something was really annoying..a bit of my vision was blocked, I had to look at the top right area of my vision to kind of "open it" as it felt like my eyes were closed in that area...

but yes...I guess I just need more experience with grounding, which I'm still trying to work on :)

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Originally Posted by Rothgar

Granted, I wasn't in there long... minutes for the longest one..

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how can you know how long it really was? I always thought time was distorted during a dream.

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Originally Posted by kublakhan

how can you know how long it really was? I always thought time was distorted during a dream.

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How long it feels like, ofcourse:)

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Originally Posted by Different

both comments were appreciated but this one in particular I feel related to me more.

Thanks both,

unda - how long have you been lucid dreaming for? Are there any methods of dream control that you've tried that significantly improved clarity..?

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Glad I could be of help! I've been lucid dreaming for about 15 months. I assume you mean clarity in the sense of the visual and sensual quality of the dream, in which case I'm afraid I can't say I know of any reliable methods of improving clarity, I've had plenty of amazingly vivid and clear lucid dreams without doing anything to make them so. I should point out though that I think there is a distinction between the clarity of the dream and the amount of lucidity, though they are often related.

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Originally Posted by unda

Glad I could be of help! I've been lucid dreaming for about 15 months. I assume you mean clarity in the sense of the visual and sensual quality of the dream, in which case I'm afraid I can't say I know of any reliable methods of improving clarity, I've had plenty of amazingly vivid and clear lucid dreams without doing anything to make them so. I should point out though that I think there is a distinction between the clarity of the dream and the amount of lucidity, though they are often related.

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Ah, then how do you become more "lucid" [aware]?
Thanks :]

What ive read is that time is not distorted in a dream. I think that is true for a normal sequence of events. However I just recently had a non lucid dream that felt like it lasted a half day. But it comprised of different scenes. I think your mind can trick you into feeling a longer passade of time through scene changes and implied passage of time.

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Originally Posted by Different

Ah, then how do you become more "lucid" [aware]?
Thanks :]

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I think it's a case of maintaining awareness; if I don't become lucid with a high level of lucidity to begin with, usually because I haven't prepared adequately, I will often lose lucidity. When starting with high lucidity it's just a case of not being sucked back into the plot of the dream, if I find myself doubting whether it really is a dream then I'll make sure I do a reality check, and regular reality checks and reminding yourself that you're dreaming are a good way of preventing losing lucidity.

umm well all of the lucid dreams i've had some have felt more real than others, like if i become lucid but for some reason continue with the plot of the storyline un intentionally but lucid it feels a lot less real.
If however i stop, do reality checks etc and then start to control my dream, for example in one i decided just to explore the dream space, it feels a lot more real.

If it feels like you weren't consciously making these decisions in the dream when you are awake remember that you are actually half conscious at the time anyway, so decisions and judgement may be impaired for example when people do stupid things when they're on drugs particularly alcohol, i'm sure you've had times where you've drank too much alcohol looked back and thought "god did i really do that?" in my opinion similar principle.
I guess the more you experience it the more clarity you get with it therefore the more you realise you actually decided to do that within your dream because you were aware you were dreaming.

Think for example if you weren't lucid, you have a parachute, so you decide to jump off a cliff because you think it will be fun despite your friends telling you not to, you still make a choice in the dream right? A stupid choice but one from your own judgement and morals built from your own mind right?