Was this a lucid dream?

[Hamell]

History---> Last summer I started trying to improve my dream recall. It worked quite well; I started remembering atleast 1-2 dreams a night. When school started I was too stressed out to properly advance in terms of attaining lucidity, but I retained my ability to recall a couple dreams a night. Once during the summer, I became lucid (I think, I am now doubting this) as I realized in the dream, that was indeed dreaming, but woke up shortly after. Since then I've only experienced dreams of the regular variety, until now... The Dream---> I was in the middle of doing my dream thang, when I saw my brother whom I haven't seen in months, and realized that I must be dreaming. I kept on walking around the mall I was in for some reason, but I remember telling myself, "Hey, you're dreaming! This is all just a dream!". At that point I felt my heart beating quickly, and worried that I'd wake myself up because of my excitement. I then proceeded to do some things that I'd rather not mention, but they were definitely things I'd have wanted to try upon becoming lucid. After a minute or two, I woke up. The Problem---> This site says that people are often startled after becoming lucid due to how real everything seems. The thing is, it really didn't seem all that realistic. I was doing things as I mentioned that I'd want to do when lucid, but they weren't vivid in terms of any sense apart from the visual. I remember what all the stuff looked like, even people that I -may- have willed to appear, but I don't remember any smells, sounds etc etc. This made it seem powerfully unrealistic. Come to think of it, the visuals didn't seem that realistic either. In the real world, you see the object/person you're looking at, but you also get a lot of info from what you're not focussing on. Regular dreams (also when you're high) tend to leave you only with a recollection of the exact thing you were looking at. I imagine in a real lucid dream you'd be seeing a lot of other stuff like in the real world, right? Was this actually a lucid dream? Was it just a regular dream ABOUT becoming lucid without me actually achieving lucidity? That seems just absurd enough to be an accurate representation of my subconscious. I'm the only one cruel enough to play a joke like that on me.

[Hiros]

This is a common question, but with a simple answer Yes! You were lucid Congrats. All it means is being aware your dreaming. The vividness of the dream can fluctuate. Lucid dreams are usually more vivid than regular dreams and often are very realistic. But not always. I've had some that were very dreamlike, and others that felt so real I talked myself into thinking I was really awake.

[Hamell]

Ah cool, thanks! I think I'm going to start putting more effort into trying to improve my ability to become lucid now. The bi-anual thing is nice, but I'd prefer a bit more frequency.

[adraw]

Ah cool, thanks! I think I'm going to start putting more effort into trying to improve my ability to become lucid now. The bi-anual thing is nice, but I'd prefer a bit more frequency. you know what helped me with vividness of dreams? A method called image streaming. Just search the internet and you will find out more about it. One more think. You will become lucid more often, when you set yourself a specific goal what to do in a dream. it is the same as if you buy something to help you in a kitchen. If you dont use it, you will soon even not remember you have it... Use lucid dreaming for something, and you will have lucid dreams more often.

[Hamell]

Thank you very much for the tips. I've read up a lot on all these different methods, but I've read so much that it's almost overwhelming and I'm left not knowing what to try first. I'll give those a shot!