I'm back, need your thoughts on altered dreamworld!

hi guys

don't know if you all remember me or not, was around a good few months ago but stopped visiting. I let the dream recall and keeping a journal thing go. I needed to get the rest of my life on track and meet daily tasks etc (boring I know!). Well now I am back and I am pregnant! My husband and I are over the moon! If any of the women here have been pregnant before they may be able to relate to what I am about to say.

They say that one of the things that happen when you are pregnant is that your dreams become more vivid. This is certainly the case with me. I am only 6 weeks pregnant and my dreams are going crazy. I am not doing any work in favour of lucid dreaming (although now may really be the time to tap into this). Regardless though, I am more aware in my dreams. I wonder if it's a combination of past work with trying to LD (I have had 2 in my life but many years ago now) and the being pregnant thing.

To get to the point, I have had lots of flying dreams. This scuppers my theory that adults can only fly in lucid dreams. But in most of them I fly very briefly, that's it.

Last night in my dream, I spent most of it flying. I KNOW I was not having a lucid dream last night - something was missing for it to be that. But all my friends were there, and I was trying to get them all to fly. I was flying around all over the place - wanted to show off (one friend wanted to take a photo of me and I said "I don't think it will come out will it, if we're dreaming?" (he said "yes but I can't be bothered to look for the camera"). I was by far the best flyer but was encouraging two in particular of my friends to do the same. They kept saying "this is impossible - it's impossible to fly" and I kept saying "just remember, you're dreaming, it's not real, therefore you can do ANYTHING." It was this realisation that allowed me to fly, I just willed myself off the ground. But perhaps I was getting confused as I thought that all my friends were dreaming too - we were all just dreaming together.

So - why was I not lucid, if I had this awareness? I thought it was this awareness that snapped you into lucidity? Like a lot of you say, I would KNOW, if I had LD'd. I am sure I didn't, perhaps not very far off from it but how could I have this control and awareness without it being a lucid dream? Was it a lucid dream, and I am just expecting too much from what a lucid dream actually is?

if you've stuck with me this far, thank you. I really would appreciate your thoughts.

Bookie

I have had experiences similar to yours where you know that you are dreaming and yet the dream doesn't actually "feel" lucid. Its not as realistic as a lucid dream, and you don't feel like you are actually present and connected as you would in a lucid dream. However, by definition you only need to be aware that you are dreaming to be lucid dreaming. I believe their are different levels of lucidity, some can be dream-like, some can be realistic, some extraordinarily realistic...but they are all lucid dreams.

If anyone has any insight into how you might go about making a "dream-like" LD become a very realistic one I would be interested to know.

hi lucidnina

thanks for the reply! I can interpret your post as that I had a low level lucid dream perhaps? If by definition it is the awareness that makes a dream lucid then it MUST have been a lucid dream - and I was definitely directing the action - I was directing what everybody did - getting them to try and fly (I really wanted them to be able to do it and share the fun!). Something stands out about the taking a photo thing - like "this is so cool let's prove it really happened" then something must have clicked into place to tell me that this wouldn't work BECAUSE I WAS DREAMING. Maybe I was slipping in and out of this awareness Lucidnina... and maybe that is why this type of lucid dream is less "lucid". I am interested to hear others thoughts on this too!

OMG Book_Lover! I thought we had lost you for good!

I don't know why, but sometimes you just cannot get lucid!

Congrats on having a 'bun in the oven' :D :yddd:

hello! im a bit new here! congrats on tha baby! anyway... it seems that the levels of lucidity can be different- it maybe is more exciting when you know you are dreaming and you are not just aware of this fact but you are also aware of your surroundings and why you know you are dreaming? and dream control sounds like a very exciting thing and can only be done when you know you can do anything - therefore you must know you are dreaming in order for it to work. :D i suggest you try it - you sound like youre half way there!

hi Seeker - long time no speak - nope, I had not forgotten about you guys and the forum at all! I was just letting it take over a bit and needed to get my focus back on the PhD and stuff. Got it all under control now, and have two weeks off as well (woohoo!). Hope you are doing ok and having lots of funky dreams.

Andromeda nice to meet you! Yeah, that was what was missing - i had some control definitely and I was playing around with this, but I was not as aware of my surroundings - I was just thinking back to my main lucid dream (easily 9 or 10 years ago now) and I can remember the surroundings in detail! I remember how "real" it all felt. This is what was missing from my dream the other night. I will keep trying though!

Thanks for the congratulations guys! Am starting to feel queasy now - it can only be a good thing right? :? :)