I might've had a false awakening last night?

**MoonOfBacon** · 05-28-2021 06:19 PM

So recently I've made it a habit to do a reality check every time I wake up to see if I am in a false awakening, and turn it into a lucid dream. Last night I tried SSILD, with the help of Explore Lucid Dreaming on YouTube [this is the video that helped , and I was pretty confident about LDing that night. So as I went to sleep, I think I may have had a false awakening, or a dream about a false awakening [Pretty much like having a dream about lucid dreaming but you're not actually lucid, if that makes sense]. For now, I am just going to label it as a dream. So what happened in this dream was I woke up in my bed, and I pulled out my hand immediately, and I noticed I had 8 fingers, and in the dream, I got very excited and it began to fade away. Since I was very tired, the memory seems foggy which is why I'm unsure if it was a dream or a false awakening. I think this is pretty cool regardless of what it was, because I kind of count it as progress considering how long I have been trying to LD

**Tiktaalik** · 05-28-2021 06:36 PM

Sounds like a False awakening to me and maybe a low level lucid. When you saw your 8 fingers did you think “this is a dream!”, and did you come out of the dream and awake immediately? If so I think that’s probably a very brief lucid dream. It’s a good sign your in the right mindset either way. Perhaps it faded so quickly because you were at the end of your sleep cycle. Keep at it, sounds like your close to a good one!

**MoonOfBacon** · 05-28-2021 06:53 PM

Originally Posted by Tiktaalik

Sounds like a False awakening to me and maybe a low level lucid. When you saw your 8 fingers did you think “this is a dream!”, and did you come out of the dream and awake immediately? If so I think that’s probably a very brief lucid dream. It’s a good sign your in the right mindset either way. Perhaps it faded so quickly because you were at the end of your sleep cycle. Keep at it, sounds like your close to a good one!

Yes, when I saw the 8 fingers I did think that it was a dream, but I'm not sure if it was me thinking that or my dream self. From what I remember I didn't wake immediately, I continued with my sleep and woke eventually.

**Lang** · 05-28-2021 07:07 PM

Originally Posted by MoonOfBacon

Yes, when I saw the 8 fingers I did think that it was a dream, but I'm not sure if it was me thinking that or my dream self. From what I remember I didn't wake immediately, I continued with my sleep and woke eventually.

Having a dream about lucid dreaming is not uncommon.
BTW. I would take what you see on that channel or anything on the internet with a grain of salt. "How To Lucid Dream Tonight In 16 Minutes!" It's like saying, "60 percent of the time, it works every time."

Lucid dreaming doesn't work that way. It takes more work than just one night.
If you have been working for a long time on your LD Fundamentals (like DJ, Awareness, sleep prep, and techniques to get lucid with the end result-WILD and DILD) for Lucid dreaming then that is all you and not this video. Plus, most lucid dreamers work hard to control their lucid dreams. It's not automatically a thing that you do. Congrats!

**MoonOfBacon** · 05-28-2021 07:15 PM

Originally Posted by HumbleDreamer

Having a dream about lucid dreaming is not uncommon.
BTW. I would take what you see on that channel or anything on the internet with a grain of salt. "How To Lucid Dream Tonight In 16 Minutes!" It's like saying, "60 percent of the time, it works every time."

Lucid dreaming doesn't work that way. It takes more work than just one night.
If you have been working for a long time on your foundation (like DJ, sleep prep, and techniques to get lucid (WILD and DILD) for Lucid dreaming then that is all you and not this video. Plus, most lucid dreamers work hard to control their lucids. It's not automatically a thing that you do.

I understand

Explore Lucid Dreaming tends to clickbait a lot, I don't expect to have an LD the first time I try a specific method.

**Tiktaalik** · 05-28-2021 08:28 PM

Originally Posted by MoonOfBacon

Yes, when I saw the 8 fingers I did think that it was a dream, but I'm not sure if it was me thinking that or my dream self. From what I remember I didn't wake immediately, I continued with my sleep and woke eventually.

The way I see it, your dream self is you so for your dream self to realise they’re in a dream you’re at least partly lucid. Maybe Humbledreamer has a better understanding of how you can tell the difference?

**Hilary** · 05-28-2021 09:59 PM

Originally Posted by Tiktaalik

The way I see it, your dream self is you so for your dream self to realise they’re in a dream you’re at least partly lucid. Maybe Humbledreamer has a better understanding of how you can tell the difference?

I think what matters is where the point of awareness is. Are YOU the dream self, or are you outside the dream self, looking at the dream self? Like, having a dream about yourself getting lucid. I mean, it does happen.

However...

Originally Posted by MoonOfBacon

So what happened in this dream was I woke up in my bed, and I pulled out my hand immediately, and I noticed I had 8 fingers, and in the dream, I got very excited and it began to fade away.

The fact that you got excited, and then it faded, says to me that it may have been a low level, short-lived lucid that drifted back into a non-lucid dream. That non-lucid may or may not have been about LDing in general.

Either way, lucid or false lucid, it's progress.

**DarkestDarkness** · 05-28-2021 11:56 PM

To me it also sounds like a "low-level" lucid.

In my opinion, MoonOfBacon, while you can dream of lucidity and not be "lucid" exactly (so-called false lucidity), I feel there's a different feel to when you are "actually lucid" vs when you're not. And besides that, you should trust your own judgment on it too; it's not like the rest of us can really feel what you felt based on description alone.

My emphasis marks around words here are because of some consideration I've had lately for something Occipitalred has been saying about non-lucidity vs lucidity in general, but I'm not putting it the best way and maybe they will step in too and share some thoughts on that.