What is up with my dreams?

Hey, I've been trying to LD for some time now, and I can think of two dreams which stood out to me

1) Went in a supermarket, saw a teacher. She out of the blue told me 'you're dreaming' and I said 'oh yeah, I am! Watch what I can do now!' - then nothing. The dream carried on as usual. No influence, no control, nothing.

2) Was in a locker room, I randomly walked up to a dude and said 'this must be a dream, I'll prove it to you' - again, nothing. The dream just went on as normal.

What is up with this? Am I getting close to lucidity or is my mind too focused on *trying* to get lucid that I just hope that I am, even when I'm dreaming normally?

Hey,

I'd take it as a good sign. It certainly shows that lucid dreaming and the act of becoming aware of dreaming is in your dreams. Keep it up and next time, when some dream character tells you you're dreaming, you might just get full awareness :)

-Redrivertears-

The reason most people are not automatically lucid in their dreams is because, while your brain is still active, it is disconnected. I've had this kind of thing happen to me before, where I say that I am dreaming without actually grasping what that means. And yes, it is a sign that you right on the razors edge of full fledged lucidity.

^^ ... and that disconnection is sourced in your lack of waking-life self-awareness.

Yes, Elliott, that you failed to take heed of your DC's' hints and remember that you were dreaming lies in the fact that you did not have any self-awareness present in those dreams. There's not much you can do about this, if you haven't done the day work necessary to either build your receptiveness to self-awareness or to prepare your self to remember in a MILD sort of way. The examples you gave show the kick in the pants our unconscious can give us when we really want to LD, but forget (or haven't yet finished) to do the work.

So take these dreams as a sign that you are pointed in the right direction, and continue your daywork (i.e., MILD exercises, building self-awareness, or generating expectations), and eventually when a DC tells you that you are dreaming you will know what to do with the suggestion.