Thread: Thought I woke up but was dreaming it!!?

They're called 'False Awakenings' and they're very common. Although I haven't ever had one they apparently happen all the time.

Originally Posted by LiveForPeace

I was having a Lucid dream and noticed I was, I became frightened and decided to wake up. While I thought I was awake, I was actually still dreaming! I got up out of bed, I was in my room going through check points to make sure I was awake in my dream; Opening the blinds and looking out of the window(saw a reflection of my laptop in the window), hitting myself in the lower jaw making sure I was awake (I could actually feel myself doing this in my dream) Even thinking about getting something to eat as I paced around my room. Then, all of the sudden my phone received a text message and that woke me up! I was in complete and utter disbelief also confusion. I thought I was awake already, but I was just dreaming I was. There is no telling what I could have done in my dream that I thought I was awake in.

Is there a term for this or explanation?? I'm scared to lucid dream but I can do it easily, but I become very frightened. Most of the time when I'm lucid I wake up with anxiety or panic attacks. The control absolutely scares the crap out of me. Any tips in over coming this? A lot of nights I dread going to sleep. Thanks for listening.

Lol, i had few of those. Isn't it awsome???

Best reality check is to look at text or numbers (like on a clock or a book lying around)...look away for 5 seconds...then look back and see if the text or numbers have changed.
I've had two false awakenings before and both times I did this, I was able to realize I was still dreaming.

The first time I had a false awakening, it freaked me out.
When I truly woke up, I started wondering (or worrying) about how to know what's real and what isn't.
I'm also a pretty anxious person myself and I have panic attacks from time to time, so I can relate with how you are feeling.
The mind is so complex and sometimes it can be scary what it's capable of.
However, insanity is a disease. It's not something you get from LDs and you can't get hurt or die from LDs either, so next time try to reassure yourself when you are having one that it's all in your mind and you'll be fine.

Also, just to note...lucid dreams provide a great outlet for conquering your anxiety.
Since you can have LDs easily, you should try to have them more often and expand your comfort zone a bit each time you that you do.
Try to push yourself to explore your dream world a little more each time.

As the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote goes: "Do the thing you fear...and the death of fear is certain".

So what is the most common way to have a false awakening?

Originally Posted by MatrixMaster92

So what is the most common way to have a false awakening?

I believe false awakenings are most common when WILDing.

Oh, ive had several of those. The first one I had really really scared me. The thing is, every time I wake up from a dream, I take my itouch from my beside table and just put in some key words so I can remember in the morning. Once I had this horrible nightmare and really wanted to wake up...so I did, and then I took out my itouch and I kept trying to put in my password but it kept telling me it was wrong. And with every wrong password the itouch would get bigger and bigger until it was HUGE. So yeah, thats really wierd. I should have immediately realised it was a false awakening but for some strange reason I didn't.