was this a lucid dream or did i dream i had a lucid dream?

[Seal]

So...i'm confused. I had a few lucid dreams before(the count under my profile pic is from this time around, started 1 week ago) Some of them were clear but there were also some i couldn't tell for sure if they were lucid dreams or i just dreamt i had a lucid dream. Like last night. I don't remember how the dream started, but i was in this room and somehow assumed i fell asleep while using the computer, but it didn't really bother me(which is weird, i so wouldn't be alright with falling asleep anywhere else than my bad -.- besides, i was in my bed when i woke up) And said i was dreaming and started touching things around(wardrobe, floor, etc) I remembered i read somwhere on this site that running your hand through your hair can make the dream more vivid. The trick kind of worked, which is interesting. The room looked so real i was affraid that maybe it's not really a dream. My mom kept coming in the room and this annoyed me because i didn't want her to see me doing reality checks and weird things i'd do in dreams lol.(so did i know i was dreaming then..?) then i looked out window. I looked at my hand. It looked blurry, couldn't properly count my fingers. Then i tried passing a finger through my hand. It worked. Alright, so i decided to jumb outside(i'm on the 4th floor). Mom appeared again and told me i've lost my mind. But i jumped anyway. I don't remember if i wanted to fly or just get on the ground, but i ended up on the ground. I wanted to talk to a DC. So i look around and i see a man. I tell him to wait but he started running, so i run after him. I'm surprised i was able to run, i usually have trouble trying to run in dreams(lucid or not) and wonder if this will make me wake up. The man entered some gold gate door and i couldn't see him anymore. When i got there i saw an ex-classmate near the door. She told me to enter. I did. It was some kind of club. It looked kinda cool. That's what i thought althought i can't remember it well enough to describe it now. I sat down on an armchair. Someone(i don't even remember if it was a girl or boy) told me "So this is your dream? But it looks so real." I was happy to hear that and that's the last thing i remember before i woke up. Now...i don't know. It kind of feels like a lucid dream. Doing reality checks, being affraid i'll wake up, jumping out-window. Things i'd do in lucid dreams. But...the begining of the dream is what makes me confused. Why did i think i fell asleep at the computer if i was in my bed? Does this mean i wasn't really lucid? I'm considering the posibility that it was a false awakening so i dreamt i woke up near my computer. So i knew i was actually in my bed, but i said i fell asleep near a computer because that's where i was in my false awakening? Is this possible? I don't remember the very begining of the dream and it's so annoying. Maybe i knew that i was dreaming because i woke up somewhere else than my bed and i thought it was weird. What do you think? Should i count this as lucid dream or not?

[Saizaphod]

I think you were lucid, but you also probably slipped into semi-lucidity. If you can clearly remember saying " I am dreaming " like you did, and if you can remember knowing what you were saying, then you were lucid. Also there's a lot of more stuff that indicates that you we're lucid, like doing stabilizations with the intention of stabilizing the dream and successful reality checking. My mom kept coming in the room and this annoyed me because i didn't want her to see me doing reality checks and weird things i'd do in dreams lol.(so did i know i was dreaming then..?) I think this is semi lucidity for an example. You know you're dreaming, but you don't have access to your waking-life memory( of what you have learned about lucid dreaming ) that your mother is not really your mother, but only a mental projection of her. Why did i think i fell asleep at the computer if i was in my bed? It was probably just a false memory. I'm considering the posibility that it was a false awakening so i dreamt i woke up near my computer. So i knew i was actually in my bed, but i said i fell asleep near a computer because that's where i was in my false awakening? Is this possible? If you can't remember the beginning of the dream ( you "waking up" ) then it could be a false awakening too yeah. Then you became lucid in it. What do you think? Should i count this as lucid dream or not? I think you should go ahead and bump up that LD count to 1!

[Seal]

Yeah..i did say i was dreaming and acted like it was a lucid dream, except for the fact that i can't remember what made me say i was dreaming. "I think this is semi lucidity for an example. You know you're dreaming, but you don't have access to your waking-life memory( of what you have learned about lucid dreaming ) that your mother is not really your mother, but only a mental projection of her." It's semi-lucidity a moment where you're not sure if you're dreaming or not, or when you think that you're dreaming but when you wake up you realise some of your thoughts didn't make sense? It just looked to clear to be a dream for a second there which made me consider the posibility that it might not be a dream. Oh, then, i didn't mention it in the first post but i also tried to make a chocolate appear but it wouldn't work lol. So here's one more reason to worry it wasn't really a dream. But then i did a reality check and i was sure i was dreaming. "If you can't remember the beginning of the dream ( you "waking up" ) then it could be a false awakening too yeah. Then you became lucid in it. " ugh, i wish i could remember the begining of the dream properly. I need to improve my dream recall yeah, probably "semi-lucid" describes it best. That or maybe the begining of the dream would explain things but i can't rembeeer -.- Anyhow, i'll count this as 1 for now, but next time something like this happens i'll call it 0.5 or something or just count it if i'm completely sure. Thank you for you reply <3

[Saizaphod]

It's semi-lucidity a moment where you're not sure if your dreaming or not, or when you think that you're dreaming but when you wake up you realise some of your thoughts didn't make sense? It just looked to clear to be a dream for a second there which made me consider the posibility that it might not be a dream. Oh, then, i didn't mention it in the first post but i also tried to make a chocolate appear but it wouldn't work lol. Anyhow, i'll count this as 1 for now, but next time something like this happens i'll call it 0.5 or something or just count it if i'm completely sure. Yeah, semi lucidity is when you wake up and realize that some of your thoughts didn't make sense for an example. I think it's not lucid nor semi-lucid yet if you think about if you're dreaming or not, but it's the very brink in which you have to decide whether to do a reality check, or let yourself be distracted and continue non-lucidly. It's also a sort of a culmination point of your overall awareness and questioning practice. Dreams can be and often are as real as waking life. Now that you're practicing lucid dreaming, remember this: Seeing is not believing anymore. Always reality check if you have the slightest doubt that you could be in a dream. Aw. I bet it would have tasted delicious. If not 1 nor 0.5, then count it as big progress at least. Your practice and dedication is paying off!

[Goldenspark]

I agree with Saizaphod, although I'm not keen on the term semi-lucid. I prefer "vague lucid". For me "lucid" is just when you know you are dreaming in the dream. In your account Seal, you do stuff like looking at your hand, but you don't say that you realised you were dreaming when you did this. You can do that stuff and not realise you are dreaming. It's that "A-Ha" moment where you know that you are dreaming that counts as a lucid. I suppose we can have vivid or hazy (vague) dreams, which can be lucid or non-lucid, and then lucid dreams where in the dream we only just realise we are dreaming, and others where it's super obvious, and lucid dreams where the memory of our lucidity afterwards is very strong or quite weak. It looks like you had a vivid lucid, where you probably knew it better in the dream, but maybe you are doubting the lucidity only because your memory of your lucidity after the dream has faded? Usually in all the lucids I have had, the "knowing" I'm dreaming has been very obvious, and my memory of that "knowing" afterwards has always been strong, but then I tend to wake up after my lucids (vitually all have been very short), so maybe that's why the memeory afterwards is always strong. There have been plenty of what I call non-lucids where I had a sort of feeling that things weren't right, or where strange, and might have got me lucid (known it was a dream) but didn't. I think you are justified in chalking that one up as a lucid though

[Seal]

(messed up quoting, sorry)

[Seal]

Yeah, semi lucidity is when you wake up and realize that some of your thoughts didn't make sense for an example. I think it's not lucid nor semi-lucid yet if you think about if you're dreaming or not, but it's the very brink in which you have to decide whether to do a reality check, or let yourself be distracted and continue non-lucidly. It's also a sort of a culmination point of your overall awareness and questioning practice. Dreams can be and often are as real as waking life. Now that you're practicing lucid dreaming, remember this: Seeing is not believing anymore. Always reality check if you have the slightest doubt that you could be in a dream. Aw. I bet it would have tasted delicious. If not 1 nor 0.5, then count it as big progress at least. Your practice and dedication is paying off! you're**** (ugh, can't believe i made that spelling mistake) Alright... Now that i think of it, i probably had more semi-lucid dreams that lucid. Speking of chocolate, i tried that before. And it did appear on a plate one. It was so sweeet, i thought i'd wake up because it made me so thirsty. Which, obviously, didn't make sense because i could've just drank water in my dream and the problem would be solved. But nah, silly me didn't think about it

[Seal]

I agree with Saizaphod, although I'm not keen on the term semi-lucid. I prefer "vague lucid". For me "lucid" is just when you know you are dreaming in the dream. In your account Seal, you do stuff like looking at your hand, but you don't say that you realised you were dreaming when you did this. You can do that stuff and not realise you are dreaming. It's that "A-Ha" moment where you know that you are dreaming that counts as a lucid. I suppose we can have vivid or hazy (vague) dreams, which can be lucid or non-lucid, and then lucid dreams where in the dream we only just realise we are dreaming, and others where it's super obvious, and lucid dreams where the memory of our lucidity afterwards is very strong or quite weak. It looks like you had a vivid lucid, where you probably knew it better in the dream, but maybe you are doubting the lucidity only because your memory of your lucidity after the dream has faded? Usually in all the lucids I have had, the "knowing" I'm dreaming has been very obvious, and my memory of that "knowing" afterwards has always been strong, but then I tend to wake up after my lucids (vitually all have been very short), so maybe that's why the memeory afterwards is always strong. There have been plenty of what I call non-lucids where I had a sort of feeling that things weren't right, or where strange, and might have got me lucid (known it was a dream) but didn't. I think you are justified in chalking that one up as a lucid though I knew i was dreaming before i looked at my hand. I just looked at it to make sure i was right. Saying i'm dreaming is the first thing i remember. It's so confusing Yeah...well...indeed, i didn't have a big "A-ha" moment :/ Because i didn't have a normal dream...in which i suddenly think something isn't right and then i do the reality check and then i'm excited to find i'm in a dream. The thing is that nothing really happened to make me think this and it's annoying me. I was just so sure it was a dream untill it went from foggy to clear image and then i became unsure and i did the RC and i just said calmly in brain "Ok, so it really is a dream. Alright" (does this line sounds like a realisation?) Thank you <3

[Goldenspark]

I've not really had those moments that some have reported, like where a DC tells them, "you're dreaming" but they ignore it and stay non-lucid. I think it's up to you to decide whether you think the threshold of realisation was reached that allows you to call it a lucid. I wouldn't agonise over it. It's in the past now and you can do nothing about it. Look forward to the next time and affirm that you will really make sure and check if you are dreaming or not.

[Seal]

Yeah, that's what i'm going to do... I'll just it's alright for it to be confusing if it's a firt or something (i really didn't like that "zero" there ) But next time i have the slightest doubt i won't count it. That's all..