Pseudo-lucid dreams?

Hi all! New here. I could have posted in the "intro" forum, but this is more than just an intro.

I accidentally discovered lucid dreaming around age 4-5, by getting fed up with nightmares. Since then I've had probably on average one per week; during some stretches, much more frequently, and others, much less. In total it must be over a thousand lucid dreams. So I'm not quite a novice.

These days I don't even frequently remember my dreams, but when I do, they mostly have this funny quality: I'm almost lucid, but not quite. Examples from last night:

- "Boy, that guy looks big and strong and wants to fight. Good thing this is a dream so I can defeat him with magic!" (and then I do).
- "It would really hurt if I jumped down to that beach. But this is a dream, so it won't!"
- "Man, this dream is kind of boring. Oh, well."
etc.

Sometimes I even tell people in the dream that it's a dream, without really "getting" it myself. I'm sure others recognize this ironic experience :)

The thing that's hard to convey is why these aren't lucid dreams. I mean, I know I'm dreaming, right? Well, yes and know. It seems the knowledge is there, but it never blossoms into the visceral, active recognition that distinguishes true lucidity. Instead, I'm almost always caught in this limbo.

Does this happen to people a lot? Maybe it's more common than I realize. Maybe there are techniques for turning this into full lucidity that I haven't considered, or maybe I should stick with the usual methods.

Cheers, and nice to meet you all,
Fly

I feel your frustration. We seem to have extremely similar backgrounds. I began to remember and recognize dreams at a very young age, discovering lucid dreaming before ever hearing about it. I began in elementary school and would have 1-5 lucids nightly. For some reason I quit remembering dreams or having lucids for a period of a couple years.

Getting back into it was much harder than I thought it would be. Like you, I would occasionally have pseudo-lucids as you describe, but rarely much more. Then I read a tutorial on all day awareness. I came to the realization that awareness was the key that I had in my early years and I had somehow lost it.

The awareness deal works like this: you must try to maintain awareness of your place in reality 24/7. Take note of every surrounding sight, noise, feeling, smells, and even taste. But don't just focus on the physical surroundings; be sure to take note of your actual reality. I don't know how to explain that last sentence; I have trouble putting it into words.

So by being constantly aware of reality, you will automatically know you are dreaming. You will just know. Then your lucids will actually be lucid, rather than you dreaming of being lucid.

Hope this helps a bit. Sorry if its a little confusing.

Hey flyboy, welcome to DV :)

I totally understand what you mean, and I can assure you that many, if not all, of us here have experienced pseudo-lucidity. I guess we just really have to take into consideration the difference between knowing you are dreaming and understanding you are dreaming. I know that the technical meaning for a lucid dream is a dream wherein the dreamer knows he is dreaming, however, I think that when you say "know", there is an understanding that comes along with it which makes it truly lucid.

Like you mentioned, we often have dreams where our dream self knows it's a dream, and even say it out loud and tell other dream characters. But, you have to actually understand what it means that it is a dream. Like, you have to have some sort of cognition that this is not real and laws of physics dont apply, and you have to be aware of the implications that comes along with it being a dream such as not being physically harmed, etc. You know what I mean? Of course our levels of lucidity vary in every lucid dream. Some are hazier and some are much more vivid, but in conclusion I personally think it's not actually a lucid dream until you realize what it means when you know you are dreaming.

That's my two cents. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Clarence

The awareness deal works like this: you must try to maintain awareness of your place in reality 24/7. Take note of every surrounding sight, noise, feeling, smells, and even taste. But don't just focus on the physical surroundings; be sure to take note of your actual reality. I don't know how to explain that last sentence; I have trouble putting it into words.

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Not only does it make sense, that's been my primary life goal since having become deeply interested in meditation 7 years ago. (Or at least, was, until I found a slightly different goal related to awareness more recently). Once, I took three months to live in a monastery and practice awareness meditation all day long. Somehow, I had fewer lucids than normal! It's like my brain ran out of "awareness juice" during the day :)

paigeyemps: Yup, I agree. These ones are not lucid. I call them "pseudo-lucid."