Originally posted by Seeker

It's more like a sense of awe. You are in awe of what is going on.
That's a great way of describing it. Some people might use the word deja vu, but that doesn't really nail it down. As far as reality checks go, they usually only work for me if they are "extremely" weird -as in "this could not happen in reality... this is followed by a subtle awareness of my physical body while my mind remains in the dream state (many people simply wake up at this point, I think, because they try to make themselves aware of their physical body, and in doing so, they pull themselves awake somehow).