I know that I'm dreaming but I don't REALLY know that I'm dreaming?

Not really sure how to explain this. I used to be extremely active on this site and I hope to get back into it. I haven't had any legitimate LDs in a couple months I'd say, but I feel like in the majority of my dreams, on at least some level, I'm aware that I'm dreaming.

For example, in my dream last night, a girl and I were trying to find a river or a lake, because for some reason we were trying to go fishing together, and I vividly remember thinking multiple times at various points throughout the dream, "I need to find that lake, or I'm going to wake up, because I've been in this dream for a while."

But I don't REALLY know that I'm dreaming. I don't exactly know how to explain it. Like, I recognize that what I'm experiencing is artificial, but I don't truly get that I have the ability to do whatever I want, because I'm asleep. I know that I'm asleep, but I still feel like I'm awake, I guess.

Does this ever happen to you guys? It's getting rather frustrating, considering it's been happening to me for a while now.

I also even do things in the dream that imply I know I'm dreaming. For example, in the same dream I talked about earlier, I was stealing a car to get away from some cult camp (a lot happened in that dream.. lmao) and I was afraid that there wouldn't be keys in the car that I was breaking into, so I just said "There are car keys in the glove compartment." I broke into the car and immediately opened it up and there were magically keys there.

There are 4 different layers of lucidity a dreamer can experience. When a dreamer has layer 1 lucidity, they realize they are dreaming but wake up seconds later. When a dreamer has layer 2 lucidity, they realize they are dreaming, but don't fully realize what that means. When a dreamer has layer 3 lucidity, they realize they are dreaming and fully realize what that means. When a dreamer has layer 4 lucidity, they realize they are dreaming, fully realize what that means, and can control everything that is happening.

The dreams you describe are layer 2 lucid dreams. One reason you might only be at layer 2 lucidity is because you don't have enough motivation to treat the dream as if you are dreaming. Falling asleep with dream goals in mind can help you remember them during the dream. Remembering your dream goals during the dream will help you give yourself the motivation you need to treat the dream like a dream rather than treating it like waking life.

Alternatively, you might treat the dream like waking life because of simple fear. For example, I know that I can experience pain during a dream, so I might try to avoid a potentially painful experience not because I don't know I'm dreaming, but because I don't like pain and want to avoid it. To get over this fear is more a matter of being courageous enough and having enough faith in your dream to face your fear rather than running away from it.

Every time I have an actual dream, I'm at layer 2 lucidity. Rarely have I thought over the past year that my dreams were reality. this is what standard dreaming has become to me. An example would be that it's a normal dream and I'm being chased by someone. To get away I think "no need to be afraid because this is a dream, I'll simply fly away" and I'd fly away without anything "clicking". This happens every night without exception for me and is completely common place.

I wasn't going to post here because I'm not sure my experience quite matches yours, Xvaiuer , but this might help:

Like Him, I generally have the sense that I am dreaming in almost all of my dreams. I think this sense was sort of earned or developed as a long-term side-effect of my years of LD'ing. In other words, for me, self-awareness in dreams has become pretty much the norm, rather than an elusive goal; but only some self-awareness: Though I tend to always know I am dreaming, I also tend far too often to fail to remember to take the next step to improve the quality of my lucidity. Because of this failure to remember, to access memory, raising the level of lucidity from these dreams can be difficult.

Lucidity is all about memory, and failing to access it is, I believe, the root of the frustrating difficulties people experience when they know they are dreaming but can't do a thing about it. So that not "REALLY knowing you are dreaming" sensation, Xvaiuer, is very likely due to the fact that you are simply unable to tap, during the dream, your memory, which in my opinion is the part of your mind that actually defines reality and lends it context.

I don't have time right now, but if you're curious, I did start a thread about memory, and it's significance to LD'ing, some time ago that goes much further into this stuff. You can find it here, if you are interested.

In the meantime, listen to Dolphin. Though I'm not a big fan of labeling "layers" and such, there is a lot of sense in setting an intention before you go to sleep in order to inspire a little prospective memory to spark more self-awareness and greater access to memory.

I don't like the idea of layers either IMO this is something Reece the youtuber made up. I've had this experience a number of times and to me I've always attributed it to low awareness, or rather too much subconscious activity. I posted in your other thread Xvaiuer about how conscious and subconscious overlap each other like in this picture:

Attachment 9635

The more the circles drift apart the more conscious awareness (or lucidity) you will have. In these types of dreams the 2 circles would be almost on top of each other so subconscious is basically taking the reigns. When this happens you have less access to logic, rational thinking, memory, concentration and lucidity. It's a bit of a conundrum though because you don't have any conscious awareness to be able to increase your conscious awareness. I imagine if you were left in this dream for long enough you might eventually catch on and start gaining lucidity (I know this has happened to me before).

This happens to me a lot. I believe it comes down to memory, as Sageous suggested, and more specifically how context relates to memory. Think about this. Why do we practice RCs when just about everything in a normal dream is just as irrational as the reality check we intend on doing? What, the giant chicken attacking the city is believable but that tiny bit of text that changed is just too much to ignore?

RCs don't work because they show us something that could only happen in a dream, normal dreams are full of stuff that can only happen in dreams and we rarely notice! No -- RCs work because, in that moment, we question the context of the experience. It's the act of questioning that brings about lucidity, not the results of the reality check. The problem is, how do you notice the strangeness of the dream unless you contrast it with your memory of normal waking life? We recognize we are dreaming because we notice that something is different, but different from what? If you can't recall what normal is supposed to be while in a dream, your mind will believe that what it's experiencing is real (regardless of how absurd it is).

Make sense?

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Originally Posted by TheUncanny

This happens to me a lot. I believe it comes down to memory, as Sageous suggested, and more specifically how context relates to memory.
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This is something I can relate to as well. It seems that my better LDs are ones in which I am actively noticing how the content of the dream I'm in differs from that of my waking life. I also feel my LDs are fuller and more enjoyable when this happens, and dream control seems to come a bit more easily. In dreams with weaker lucidity, I may remember just enough to realize I'm dreaming and notice a few odd things about the dream but tend to miss many others. I think I'm getting to the point where I can sometimes even notice when my waking-life memory access seems weak during the LD itself, giving me an opportunity to try to jog it a bit and strengthen my dream lucidity.

My primary LD method is a combo of WBTB, rhythmic napping, and DEILD, which means I'm usually lucid as the dream forms (no need for RCs). That being said, doing memory exercises have a profound effect on my level of lucidity as well as dream recall. When the dreamscape forms, the first thing I try to remember where my sleeping body actually is (address and in which room in the house) as well as the day/date (ex. Saturday, Jan. 6th 2017). This alone does wonders, and might be the single most helpful thing to do to improve lucidity that I've tried.

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Originally Posted by Xvaiuer

I feel like in the majority of my dreams, on at least some level, I'm aware that I'm dreaming.

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I think anyone who has had some level of success with LDing has that feeling. I certainly do. It's very frustrating in the morning to have that overwhelming feeling of missing an obvious dream sign, or that vague feeling of knowing you are dreaming but not becoming aware.