Hi, thanks for the response!

When I experience sleep paralysis, I am able to control very little of my body. I can control my eyelids and eyes, and so I make the conscious act to keep them closed. I do this to prevent me from seeing anything disturbing such as the old hag, grim reaper, and who knows what else. So, I just see blackness when in SP. There are no visual hallucinations. As regards to the sounds, there is always the same ocean wave and crickets sounds. And rarely, words spoken to me or about me that I clearly hear. It is not my voice, it appears to come from the environment around me, that is, its not my "inner voice." Perhaps when I hear the voices, it is auditory hallucinations and the ocean sounds are just my ears being too sensitive in that state and not hallucinations.

I've never been one to sleep continuously for many hours. I always seem to wake-up every few hours, at least for a few minutes or seconds. When this happens, my brain is not in the usual waking state because I can recall every single aspect of the dream I just had and can even go back into the same dream and continue it if I want. I just wont be lucid in the dream itself. Since that happens, I wonder why I'm not able to consciously have a lucid dream. I've had around 3 LDs, and they were totally amazing. So I know it is possible for me to do so.

If I open my eyes dream sleep paralysis, I see the actual envirnoment around me, but it is very distorted in appearance at times. It is as if I am looking at everything through a fishbowl. So sizes and shapes are distorted and fuzzy at times, but I still know what they are. Do you think if I keep my eyes open and try to manipulate what I see, that is might lead me to a LD? It seems risky for me because I don't want to see something sitting on my chest, lol.

I don't think I explained my SP well enough in terms of how it works. When I have SP, I have to make a conscious effort most times to prolong it or else I will either fall asleep or just wake up normally. If I drift back off into a dream, I don't retain consciousness. I've prolonged the SP for dousens of minutes, but never comes from it. Actually, two times I've had an OBE after doing this, but that isn't what I want, but it still absolutely amazing! lol. In all my sleep paralysis and OBE's, they always take place in a blackness, devoid of all colours or shapes.

So, does this new information add hope?

I've had at least 3 LD's, so there is always hope!