am I lucid dreaming?

hello guys! first post here
I am 22 student(psychology) who always interested in dreams(not mainstreamly though).
So, due to summer holiday, I am back at home and there's nothing to do. Hence, I am sleeping a lot (sleeping around 7AM in the morning, wake up whenever I want to, I will go to sleep after this post :lol:).
While I am sleeping in that period, my dreams are interestingly vivid and enjoyable. They are like movies, sometimes my dreams tricks even my own awareness(part of me that knows that I am dreaming) with the complex and tricky scenario, like a detective movie. And I am not even sleeping really deep, in REM sleep theory dreams are existed in NREM3< which requires more then 75minutes(90min cycle) and it is deep sleep. I am also able to continue my dream pretty much where was I left it (WC BREAK). Yet, I am still not sure If I am lucid dreaming all the time. Even though I am aware of it, I have 0 power over my dreams (except I can left the dream whenever I want to).

So, am I lucid dreaming? :undecided:

:welcome: robban!

Any dream in which you know you're dreaming is a lucid dream.

I would call every dream where you at least slightly realize "it's a dream" lucid.

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Originally Posted by Hitokage

I would call every dream where you at least slightly realize "it's a dream" lucid.

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I only consider them lucid if I actually think to myself in the dream "this is a dream" for instance I recently had a false awakening and the door smashed in and a figure rushed towards me at great speed as I lay in bed facing the door. I had just false awakened like less than second, the door smashed in the figure raced towards me. But at the last instant even as I felt the adrenaline rush I realized that the figure rushing towards me couldn't be real, because it was someone who was dead. I was thinking as I felt the adrenaline kicking in no this this is a d....
too late I was shocked awake, I didn't count it because I only realized it was a dream for sure as I was shocking awake in bed.

My only real mistake of course was not checking for a second false awakening, but when you heart beat is about 280 you know your awake. :)

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Originally Posted by robban

. Even though I am aware of it, I have 0 power over my dreams (except I can left the dream whenever I want to).

So, am I lucid dreaming? :undecided:

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I used to be this confused at first too, if you get used to make Reality Check a lot through the day you manage to get more control over the LD. At least that's my personal experience ...

We say lucid dreams are when you "know" you are dreaming. But even that term can be ambiguous. This morning I was dreaming, and had a key in my pocket to unlock a vending machine where I wanted a snack. After doing that I thought "I love dreaming...if you need something it is right there." But then I thought... "Hey, this is a lucid dream!" At that point I truly became lucid and decided what actions I wanted to do. The dream became real and I was "present" in the dream. So in my mind I wasn't really lucid dreaming until I became aware like that.

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Originally Posted by Rothgar

We say lucid dreams are when you "know" you are dreaming. But even that term can be ambiguous...

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Yes I had a lucid this morning for 5 seconds where I awoke in a car and heard nursery rhymes, and then thought Hey I didn't go to sleep in a car and was lucid but unable to stabilize :(

Earlier in the night I had a dream where I was on a bus, there was a gnome looking driver an extra driver who got off the bus so did the driver and then the bus began to roll down hill, I ran to the front and watched the driver diving thru the door try to apply the breaks that weren't working too well (a dream sign), then we crashed (a dream sign) into a few things but continued in route like nothing happened, there was a pole in the bus for dancers, the bus kept announcing local stop instead of saying where we were because I had no idea, the driver stated in small areas thats what they do. Finally I saw a trap door with folding ladder extend from the ceiling and was on the edge of lucidity but I remember thinking...

"Don't get lucid yet, it will be better latter on"
I didn't get lucid or count this dream

btw I saw the same guy (gnome looking driver) in a previous dream where he was at least 8 feet tall and wearing a huge hat. he is from the online commercials for Wyndham rewards

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rothgar

We say lucid dreams are when you "know" you are dreaming. But even that term can be ambiguous. This morning I was dreaming, and had a key in my pocket to unlock a vending machine where I wanted a snack. After doing that I thought "I love dreaming...if you need something it is right there." But then I thought... "Hey, this is a lucid dream!" At that point I truly became lucid and decided what actions I wanted to do. The dream became real and I was "present" in the dream. So in my mind I wasn't really lucid dreaming until I became aware like that.

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Jup, that type of revelation is required imo.
As of now, I think it's quite unmistakable. I've had some dreams about lucid dreaming that I would now no longer count as a true lucid dream. I draw the line if I can successfully RC with nose pinch or otherwise bring my waking live conciousness into the dream. Stating my name, age and job and ideally the task I wanted to do inside the dream world for example.
The first few "I am lucid!!" moments were quite an experience with strong emotions. Nothing like the suspiciousness I sometimes have "this could be a dream, right?" while trodding along the dream plot...
If I wake up from a lucid dream with good consiousness I can witness the waking up process, I feel the transition from dream to waking world, feel the atonia fading etc.
This is not the case if I only dream about being lucid.

For me, it has a lot to do with the time in my sleep cycle, when the LD happens. If it is early, like 2-4 hours after falling asleep, the dream is usually hazy, unstable and control as well as lucidity is limited. If I have a LD late then the experience is much, much better.