Ever Mistaken Reality For A Dream (truly)?

[JaphyR]

When I first started paying closer attention to my dreams years ago, and their vividness increased sharply, I was scared to let it go further. I was fine with the idea of becoming lucid in a dream, but I was terrified of confusing reality for a dream. I wondered what would happen if I did something like jump off a building in waking life because I thought I was dreaming. I let go of that fear pretty quickly, because I realized something reassuring. I almost always think I am awake while I'm dreaming (the definition of a non-LD dream), but I have NEVER thought I was dreaming, and then realized later that I was really awake. Of course I've said, in waking life, "Wow this is strange, I wonder if I could be dreaming?" But that was just a passing thought, never a true belief that I was actually dreaming. Have other people had this fear? Does anyone ever really mistake their waking life for a dream?

[John Updike]

I have noticed a strange blending of dream and reality thought processes since really putting energy and time into lucid dreaming. I find myself doubting whether or not something actually happened in real life, like if I really spoke to somebody about going somewhere and meeting up (which plays into my anxiety about missing people and messing up plans, a common dream element). I have also many times sincerely questioned whether or not I'm dreaming and not come up with the answer immediately in real life, and only been reassured after minutes of comtemplation. All of this stuff is very positive I would wager, never taking anything for granted as being real and thinking harder about what it means to be conscious and aware, questioning the very basis of reality.

[JaphyR]

Have you ever contemplated doing something that would get you hurt or in trouble, and then realized you were in waking life?

[John Updike]

have I ever contemplated doing something that would get me hurt or in trouble? I'm a teenager aren't I? I haven't ever thought about jumping off of a cliff because I thought I might be able to fly or anything like that, I tend to be quite subdued in lucid dreams until I'm certain I'm dreaming in any case. I've never done something completely insane because I thought I was dreaming when I wasn't, but there are probably worse causes for doing stupid stuff than thinking you're dreaming (hint: substances, thrill seeking)

[blade5x]

I've once waken up and thought I was dreaming for about 20 seconds (it was not a false awakening). But it had nothing to do with lucid dreaming. What happened was I woke up in a pitch black environment (cousins room), so I couldn't see a thing. I guess without the visual aid of waking up, my mind didn't realize I had woken up. I for some reason thought I was in a closed metal chamber (I'm not really claustrophobic either), so I go off the bed, which I though was just a giant step, and started walking towards the door which had a faint light coming through the cracks. I then hallucinated and saw 3 people leaving, and automatically thought "Oh no! They're leaving me here! I'll be trapped forever!". I started to run over to the door when my cousin called out name, and that brought me to waking reality. Only time in my life something like that ever happened. In terms of reality, the only thing lucid dreaming has made me think about is the deeper reality, such as dreams possibly being real places (Not physical places. I see them as being made up of pure energy).

[FreshBrains]

I did seriously consider I was dreaming during chat before the forum software was switched. .jared., me, and an old member who's name I can't remember was there. He was talking about how to "control lucidity" since he wanted to have non-lucid dreams. (Lucky bastard, he is) And .jared. asks "How can I stop having LD's?" And he'd only had about 4. That caused quite a few reality checks.

[ilovefrootloopz]

When I'm in a dream I will know I'm dreaming if I ask myself the question, I just almost never stop to ask myself. In real life, I 100% know I'm awake. And whenever I do something big, that would kill me/get me arrested, I always do an RC first.

[Chris88]

That's why it's better to do something like hold ur nose and try breathe through it than to jump off a cliff.

[Ev]

Haha, I love to scare new members with this story http://www.dreamviews.com/forum/index.php?...pic=857&hl= Your worst fears come true I must say that I read this story early on in my LD inducing experience and implemented a bunch of safeguards against such thing. Like I pass through glass instead of breaking it. I climb down the side of buildings instead of jumping or flying. I levitate before flying and ask girls before having sex with them You are at risk if you take psychedelics outside. But taking illegal psychodelics outside in the middle of a city/town is a bad idea anyway...

[TweaK]

That's where reality checks are for. -_-;

[Howie]

Perhaps because many of my dreams take on the persona of real life I have had instances where this has occurred. They are usually odd occurrences in waking life that for an instant I do question reality and the dream. It is VERY short lived. If it is not then I would suggest trying to take a beak form lucid dreaming for a stint. The more it seems to be paralleled to one another, it seems that both reality and dream are illusory in content and is subject to our own perceptions. I like it. It gives me goosebumps!

[JaphyR]

Thanks for the reassurances. I was a little curious if funny things start to happen once you have ld'ed on a regular basis.

[Oneiro]

Thanks for the reassurances. I was a little curious if funny things start to happen once you have ld'ed on a regular basis. [/b] I'll give you a case history. Once upon a time there was a young man who decided to learn to lucid dream. He had a plan-of-action, a set of obscure instructions that he was to follow, and after many years of struggle, he succeeded in becoming a highly-accomplished lucid dreamer according to the set of instructions he followed...but... Following on from the instructions, there were also plenty of warnings therein, warnings about what might happen if he didn't follow his set of instructions to the letter.. but he was young, volatile and reckless, and he thought he knew better.. ...and when the time came to move on to the next stage of his dreaming, as per the instructions, it all went haywire: DCs started appearing in his everyday waking world (you know those "weirdos" who talk to someone that only they can see?), "disembodied voices" started talking to him in the daytime, at work, anytime.. ordinary objects would morph into something unrecognisable and scary, and "things" would follow him around in his peripheral vision. You may not be surprised to learn that all this sent our young man completely over the top, and he truly lost his mind. Be thankful that he's still alive. So I say this to you JaphyR, and to all those others who think LD is a game: be very very very careful about what you decide to do regarding lucid dreaming. If you reach a certain stage, it can turn nasty in an instant and you have to have guts of steel to survive.

[TweaK]

I'll give you a case history. Once upon a time there was a young man who decided to learn to lucid dream. He had a plan-of-action, a set of obscure instructions that he was to follow, and after many years of struggle, he succeeded in becoming a highly-accomplished lucid dreamer according to the set of instructions he followed...but... Following on from the instructions, there were also plenty of warnings therein, warnings about what might happen if he didn't follow his set of instructions to the letter.. but he was young, volatile and reckless, and he thought he knew better.. ...and when the time came to move on to the next stage of his dreaming, as per the instructions, it all went haywire: DCs started appearing in his everyday waking world (you know those "weirdos" who talk to someone that only they can see?), "disembodied voices" started talking to him in the daytime, at work, anytime.. ordinary objects would morph into something unrecognisable and scary, and "things" would follow him around in his peripheral vision. You may not be surprised to learn that all this sent our young man completely over the top, and he truly lost his mind. Be thankful that he's still alive.[/b] Could be a true story. But this guy is a psycho (if this story is true). Lucid Dreaming is not harmless in any way, unless you never had a proper grip on reality. So I say this to you JaphyR, and to all those others who think LD is a game: be very very very careful about what you decide to do regarding lucid dreaming. If you reach a certain stage, it can turn nasty in an instant and you have to have guts of steel to survive.[/b] Shut up man. You're making people scared and you know you're talking bullshit. Lucid Dreaming is not dangerous.

[Identity X]

I've done this. When I was 16 I woke up and my head felt upside down, and my right field of vision was replaced with thousands of dancing colours. I called my brother, who was up, but my voice was disconnected. Next thing I know I'm in a blurry ambulance. Trees wizz past and I'm strapped firmly in a bed. A paramedic is there. "Ugh... we need to go back home now." I say. Nothing seems right. "No, no, we need to go to hospital." She says. I grin. This can't possibly be real. I can't see anything with clarity, I've suddenly gone from being in bed to an ambulance... it's a dream. I turn "lucid". "I know what this is..." , I say smugly, "...this is a dream, and you're just a figment of my imagination!" I doubt the paramedic has ever been accused of being that before, but she just smiled and said nothing. I try getting up but I'm strapped in to this bed with the greatest headache imaginable. I find out eventually tthat I've had a seizure (I did not know I was epileptic at this time) just after my brother came to speak to me. The colours were an 'aura'. He'd called an ambulance and they had to strap me down because I was lashing out at the paramedics and actually kicked some guy across the room! The paramedic lives in my road but I've never apologised for disclaiming her reality. And I'm on some wonder drug now.

[invadergarf]

I can always tell that i'm awake, dreaming just has that feeling where you can tell it's a dream while real life hasn't got that feeling... if that makes sense. Though I have had one time when I seriously couldn't believe I was awake (something I never thought would happen did), but still I knew I was awake (but the dreamy feeling did actually kind of come during reality, which was weird). It was a strange experience but only happened once.

[Miskingo]

Go watch vanilla sky, then you will really wonder that all the time.

[OmnipotentTitan]

I can always tell that i'm awake, dreaming just has that feeling where you can tell it's a dream while real life hasn't got that feeling... if that makes sense. Though I have had one time when I seriously couldn't believe I was awake (something I never thought would happen did), but still I knew I was awake (but the dreamy feeling did actually kind of come during reality, which was weird). It was a strange experience but only happened once. [/b] when i am dreaming, I can always feel that warmness of my bed around me, or the coolness of my upperchest/neck if its cold even if i am not quite conscious of it while i am dreaming.

[SAS]

Oneiro, is that really a true story or are you just pulling our legs?

[SAS]

Yeah, I have to say I read that and it kind of freaked me out. But then again it was 1:30 in the AM and I'm pretty paranoid as it is. BTW back to the thread, yes once while I was at school I seriously contemplated if it was a dream or not. I had to sit there and observe my surroundings and such before I determained that it wasn't a dream and I was awake. It's a good thing I did too, otherwise I was going to go attack people in the library. I'll give you a case history. Once upon a time there was a young man who decided to learn to lucid dream. He had a plan-of-action, a set of obscure instructions that he was to follow, and after many years of struggle, he succeeded in becoming a highly-accomplished lucid dreamer according to the set of instructions he followed...but... Following on from the instructions, there were also plenty of warnings therein, warnings about what might happen if he didn't follow his set of instructions to the letter.. but he was young, volatile and reckless, and he thought he knew better.. ...and when the time came to move on to the next stage of his dreaming, as per the instructions, it all went haywire: DCs started appearing in his everyday waking world (you know those "weirdos" who talk to someone that only they can see?), "disembodied voices" started talking to him in the daytime, at work, anytime.. ordinary objects would morph into something unrecognisable and scary, and "things" would follow him around in his peripheral vision. You may not be surprised to learn that all this sent our young man completely over the top, and he truly lost his mind. Be thankful that he's still alive. So I say this to you JaphyR, and to all those others who think LD is a game: be very very very careful about what you decide to do regarding lucid dreaming. If you reach a certain stage, it can turn nasty in an instant and you have to have guts of steel to survive. [/b] Nevermind. It was wayyy too early in the morning for me to be taking that seriously.

[Identity X]

Lucid dreaming is not dangerous. If that story is true (and not just bullshit), then I suggest that man was suffering from mental illness and not from the sole consequences of treating lucid dreaming as a "game".

[Wolffe]

The longer you practice LDing, the more often, and stronger the mistakeness is. Especially with something truly unbelievable happening, yet reality checks just fail and fail! It's so disorentating

[AlternateReality]

nothing strange enough happens in my life to wonder wether i'm dreaming, but i did jump when someone on tv said reality check.

[cecile]

Yes.. once Mcdonalds was closed I pretty much thought I was in a dream for a while until a thousand reality checks convinced me that it really WAS closed for renovation..

[AlternateReality]

one of our mcdonalds was torn down and the other is a church now. but they're rebuilding the first one with a fire place and a big screen tv. this is completely off topic.