Thread: How real are your non-lucid dreams?

For me, it really depends on how well I've been training my dream recall. If I've been writing in my journal a lot, my recall is better and as I'm dreaming I feel like I'm there. Lately, since I haven't been practicing or journaling, my dreams are shorter, fuzzy, and vague.

I have been training hard for months now. I get up two or three times a night to journal. Not all of my dreams are crystal clear but there are segments every night when I am absolutely there....even if I am not fully lucid.

Sometimes I think it's my days that are getting fuzzy and vague.

The difference between the quality of LD's and NLD's might, I think, lie not in the dreams themselves but in how you remember them.

Dreams are unique in human experience in that they are the only thing we do that can be defined only by memory (except for, I suppose, deeper forms of meditation, which I tend to categorize with dreaming anyway). There is, currently, no way to record your dreams in a meaningful manner -- no cameras, recorders, other witnesses -- so we rely completely on how we remember the dreams when we wake up.

LD's being waking-life consciousness events of, often, some personal import, are vastly easier to remember, often in great detail and as meaningful moments that have already been stored in long-term memory when you wake up. NLD's, on the other hand, are generally discarded by your memory systems as you begin to wake up, so remembering even the most vivid of dreams can be very difficult. Also, during NLD's, DC-you is assuming everything is real, so it takes no time to admire the details and vividness of the world they navigate (the same sort of thing happens in waking-life too, BTW); in other words, there maye be literally nothing impressive to you during a NLD, even though the same stuff would amaze you when lucid.

So there is a chance that NLD's are every bit as vivid and awesome as LD's, but thanks to the fact that they are handled upon waking by memory in a way that reduces their imagery to a fog of nearly unretrievable imagery, and they were initially experienced by a DC-you that really didn't give a crap at the time, upon waking they are immediately remembered to be dull productions, when remembered at all.

It all lies in memory and in the nature of your presence in the dream when lucid, and not in the quality of the dreams themselves.

Originally Posted by Sageous

LD's being waking-life consciousness events of, often, some personal import, are vastly easier to remember, often in great detail and as meaningful moments that have already been stored in long-term memory when you wake up. NLD's, on the other hand, are generally discarded by your memory systems as you begin to wake up, so remembering even the most vivid of dreams can be very difficult.

This resonates with my personal experience.

My early sleep cycle dreams tend to lack any degree of lucidity and they dissipate quickly upon waking while most nights the dreams that come in later sleep cycles have varying degrees of lucidity and stay with me with great clarity. Even if I have not made a "lucid move" in these dreams, I am able to recall my thoughts and my deliberate interactions with DC's in very clear detail.....sometimes for days or even longer.

My dreams have always been extremely clear and vivid at least when recall is good. To the point where it can sometimes be a momentary shock to the system coming out of them. Not usually as much of a shock when lucid, because when lucid I know it's coming. But sometimes when in the middle of something non lucid and very intense and vivid. And then suddenly unexpectedly, back here again. And just go "Whoa WTF" lol.

Originally Posted by Caradon

......it can sometimes be a momentary shock to the system coming out of them. Not usually as much of a shock when lucid, because when lucid I know it's coming.

This is a very helpful observation for a relative newbie like me. It really helps me to gain perspective on my own LD/NLD clarification as it correlates well with what I am experiencing.

Originally Posted by lenscaper

This is a very helpful observation for a relative newbie like me. It really helps me to gain perspective on my own LD/NLD clarification as it correlates well with what I am experiencing.

When lucid most times I wake with my eyes still closed. Trying to hold onto the dream as it fades to black until I know I'm awake and staring at the back of my eyelids. That never happens when I'm not lucid.

Originally Posted by Caradon

When lucid most times I wake with my eyes still closed. Trying to hold onto the dream as it fades to black until I know I'm awake and staring at the back of my eyelids. That never happens when I'm not lucid.

I think this is also an important observation. I am striving to create an unbroken continuity of consciousness between my days and my nights. For me that means ending each day with a contemplation of the dream-like nature of my day and starting each morning with a smooth transition from my dreams. I'll lay in bed with my eyes closed until that last dream is fully set in my memory....and then rise into the daytime dream.

Originally Posted by Metallicuh

If I've been writing in my journal a lot, my recall is better

For me this has been crucial for both NLD clarity as well as lucidity. Last night I got up briefly three times to record extremely clear dreams, all of which were imbued with lucid presence.

Originally Posted by Rothgar

My wife was asking me about why I like to lucid dream. I said primarily because it is like I am really there. It is like an alternate reality. Things look absolutely real, and when I wake up it is more like I transfer to a different reality. Well, both my wife and daughter claim every dream for them is like that. Most my dreams are fuzzy and like "looking back" to a vague memory when I wake up. What about you all?

I find it varies from dissociative imaginary to like a strong memory. rarely are the non lucid dreams highly detailed, but the non lucid mind does not notice. For instance even in lucid dreams it is often presented more like a movie where the image focuses in on something and nothing to the sides is rendered beyond a blur. In general i think my non-lucids are poorly rendered and not terribly life like.

My dreams are very shitty tbh. More or less when you have a crappy computer but you wanna play that sweet game so you have to lower the graphics to the minimum. I also can't see very well in dreams, like qhen you sleep for 16 hours straight and can barely open your eyes.

I've had both blurry Lucid dreams and pretty clear lucid ones. My lucid can feel just as real as my non-lucids at times... My memory is okay, I don't have any problem remembering any of my dreams at night or their details at times. The same with my non-lucids.
However, I've been also, in some lucid dreams where I've been blind and deaf, both accidental (when I was about 8 or so) and on purpose (Lucid TOTM). The first time, I was blind in the dream I cried but, I was lucid at the time. I remember having a normal dream until I knew that I was dreaming, and soon as I did, I became blind... I ended up dealing with it.
Hell, I have been in "The Void", among other things where all you see is black.
Then it kept happening until I was able to use it or tweak it for advantage.
The feel of texture in the dream among other things had to become part of my lucid and non-lucid learning process. Now, my dreaming experience is probably better because of it.