Originally Posted by
seeker28
Usually I sense that the dream is about to end. I'm not sure what it is that tips me off, but I almost always know, even if I wasn't lucid before this point. Then it is sort of half and half -- either I slowly come back to the senses of my body or I'm just instantly back.
Sometimes my dream will fade slowly and I lay there daydreaming about it. If I haven't moved (much) and I'm in the middle of a REM phase I'll just fade back into the dream, doing a DEILD wether I mean to or not. I was actually surpriesd when I realized that DEILD was just a name for what I've done accidentally all my life!
If I'm laying there daydreaming about my dream and I don't slip back into a dream one of two things will happen. Either I think about it and fix my intention to return to in in my next dream and then fall asleep, or I wake up for the day. When I think about the dream and resolve to return to it it actually happens about 70% of the time. I don't think, "Meh, I'd like to go back to that dream." I think, "I'm going back to that dream. Now." And then I fall asleep.
Hope this helps!