Bright Light in the Dark?

[BossMan]

This happened some time ago but I had no one to ask about it. I would like to share it with everyone so I can better understand what happened. I was attempting a WILD and I stayed in my bed for roughly an hour without moving a single muscle, I focused on not moving at all ignoring all itches and tendency to stretch different parts of my body. Eventually I felt my entire body starting to go cold and numb, I could still move my body but if I did move it would have no feeling. I decided to open my eyes just a bit to see if anything had changed and I found an extremely bright light in the corner of my dark room. The door was closed, curtains were shut, no light source in that corner, and it was the middle of the night. I eventually decided to ignore it and just went back to sleep and had another failed attempt at WILD. What I'm wondering is was this bright light an indication of lucidity that I had missed? Was it really possible that I had already fallen asleep and achieved lucidity without knowing it? Should I have payed more attention to it?

[Burke]

This light was probably some sort of hallucination, likely HH (hypnogogic hallucination). They are common during SP and right before you fall asleep. They come in all shapes and sizes and affect all the senses but images are the most common. It may have signaled you being close to a dream, and possibly lucidity, but we won't know for sure. The only way to know for sure would've been to preform a RC but that means moving (unless you do the gravity one or something similar) which means if you weren't in a dream, you would end up wasting your attempt. It's a choice you have to make. If you payed more attention to it a number of things may have happened. It may have grown bigger, disappeared, or thrown you into a dream. Either way you didn't do anything wrong. Just keep trying at it and if you see it again you can decide whether or not you want to pay attention to it or not; it's all about experimentation. If this does happen again let us know how it goes .

[BossMan]

Very interesting post, clearly from experience. Could you share some indications you may have run into that you have questioned? I'll be sure to post again when I get another attempt in. Off-topic: I love Serial Experiments Lain that anime is basically 1 giant LD haha. I reccomend Kara no Kyoukai if you like animes like those sorts of animes.

[Scionox]

It was fairly common for me to see random lights when accidentally opening eyes(or sometimes with eyes closed) during WILD attempts recently, and i was not lucid at that moment, so i guess HH. Though not 100% sure in your case to be quite honest .

[BossMan]

I just wanted to note this down somewhere without making a new thread. I noticed the past two dreams I had were both about girls from high school I was never friends with and I considered b*****. I'm thinking maybe its possible girls I hated in high school are my current dream sign? Its finally the weekend in the UAE and I have no work so this is my chance to attempt a LD. I'll try a WBTB into a MILD using visualization. Its already 10PM here so any advice before I go to sleep would be great.

[gab]

What I'm wondering is was this bright light an indication of lucidity that I had missed? Was it really possible that I had already fallen asleep and achieved lucidity without knowing it? Should I have payed more attention to it? It's possible for a transition to be so smooth, that you won't notice. You may still be thinking about your day and already be in a dream. You can always try a motionless RC. I say "If this was a dream, I would levitate" or "If this was a dream, that door would be red". Substitute items for items in your room, or what you see at the time. It will not break your attempt since you don't move and you will know for sure.