My first intentional Lucid Dream!

[zenmanvermin]

Greetings folks. I've had many lucid dreams, but I will count this one as my first as it is the first one since joining this site, and the first since willfully trying to induce lucidity. About three weeks ago, I had an unintentional, but extremely vivid and lucid dream which sparked my interest and led me here. In that dream, I became lucid when I realized the dream I was having was a recurring dream which involved what I now know is one of my dream signs - finding money - usually in an odd place where there are no people around, like on the side of a lonely highway or in a forest. I found a huge stack of 100 dollar bills and started thumbing through them. As I counted the money I thought, "this only happens to me in my dreams." And BAM! I was completely aware. I started walking down the road wondering where it would lead and ended up at a cafe where Will Ferrell was sitting at a table, urging me to sit down and discuss philosophy with him. I said, "you want to talk about philosophy?" He said, "yes!" I said, "this is a dream, right?" To which he responded, "yes it is." Right at that moment, I got the sensation that Will, and the other dream characters populating the cafe were not happy that I had become aware. I suddenly became very afraid as all the people seemed to stop talking and just stare at me. I wanted to wake up, and as I was standing in the cafe, I could feel my body as I lay in bed. I tried to move my arms and legs and open my eyes, and after a few moments of struggling and screaming, I was awake and kind of in shock. Anyway, I started keeping a dream journal a week ago and have two entries so far, both pretty detailed. Several times a day, I have stopped to observe my hands, rub them together and ask myself, as genuinely as possible, "is this a dream? Am I dreaming?" Last night, as I was going to sleep, in my mind I kept telling myself, "you're about to go into a dream. I'm going to remember it's a dream. I'm going to remember that I'm dreaming." The thought actually startled me a couple times and I had to stop thinking it to fall asleep. But in my dream last night, I got into a fight with some people and found myself being chased - another one of my dream signs. I was being pursued by a black man in a black suit, armed with a nickel-plated handgun. As I was running, the thought just popped in there, "this is probably a dream." And BAM! Awareness. I paused to rub my hands together and the dream stabilized. I could feel my hands touching one another. It felt so real I wondered if I was actually rubbing my hands together while laying in bed - a thought that I've read is one you don't want to have, to keep your senses locked onto the dream world, but I didn't wake up yet. I then tried to exert dream control. The man who was chasing me had stopped and was standing there just staring at me, a rather uncomfortable feeling I might add. It made me nervous, so I told him to give me his gun, which he did. He threw it up into the air and I reached up and caught it. As soon as I got the gun however, I began to lose control. Suddenly, I was in a large, dark theater and various creepy crawlies started coming out of the woodwork. I began shooting wildly. Even though it was a handgun, it fired like a machine gun and I had no problem blasting away the dark forms swarming upon me. To get away from them, I decided I would try to fly, which I did, somewhat successfully. I floated up to the ceiling by jumping up and flapping my arms a bit and was able to move across the room slowly by doing some kind of side stroke. Not true flying I guess. It felt more like I was swimming through the air. But then I realized I couldn't get myself down, I was continually floating up, bouncing against the ceiling. To get out of there, I decided to make a hole in the ceiling, and there it was. However, it wasn't large enough for me to fit through. The walls and ceiling around the hole were covered in a black cloth. Someone's head pushed through the cloth, without breaking it, and told me I wasn't allowed to go through there. I thought, "bullshit, this is my dream." Suddenly, I was on my feet again. The gun was gone and I was walking down a tiled hallway, like in a bathroom. I opened a door and found myself intruding on a woman changing her clothes in a locker room. I then got a bit horny. What can I say, it's been awhile. I went back into the hallway and conjured up two bikini-clad babes. The three of us walked through another door into something that looked like an elevator shaft where there was scaffolding like above a theater stage. I sat down there and the two ladies situated themselves, one on either side of me. They started to go down on me. One of them looked up at me and smiled. We locked eyes for a moment and I became rather unnerved, again. I thought, "this could easily turn into a nightmare if one of them decides to bite my junk off." Well, neither of them did. And I let them go to town. As it started to feel really good, I tilted my head back and closed my eyes. When I opened them, I was awake, like completely totally awake. I felt like I had been up for an hour at least. So that's it. All I can say is I'm really stoked about this. I can't wait to try to work on my control, staying calm and focused, and keeping the dream stabilized. I think I lost control because I got a bit nervous, scared really. Maybe someone can give me some pointers here. But I noticed that when I become lucid, my dream characters don't seem to like it and I get pretty rattled if I look them in the eye for too long. I get the feeling that they know something I don't, or that if I knew what they were thinking, I wouldn't like it. I know, I know...ridiculously long post. Thanks to anyone who's got this far. It seems you can't be anything but long-winded when talking about dreams, and there's so much detail I've left out already.

[XeL]

I read the whole thing! That was a pretty awesome dream, man! My dad has that dream sign as well! He told me that he has LDs occasionally, and they're usually triggered by him finding money or a treasure chest. Weird. Sounds like you were in pretty good control, which is great for being your first intentional lucid! Keep up the good work! "this could easily turn into a nightmare if one of them decides to bite my junk off." Ouch, better not think about it too much... or it might actually happen ;_; Oh and, to DV!

[Inceptor]

Yeah, that sounds like pretty good control. I hope to start lucid dreaming more soon. I'm probably going to start a dream journal myself.

[zenmanvermin]

Thanks Xel! I am happy to be here. It's awesome that your dad has the same dream sign. I read somewhere on the forums that someone else has the same one, so we're not alone. I remember a few years ago I became lucid because of it. I found a huge stack of cash. When I started to think about what I was going to spend it on, I realized I wouldn't have it when I woke up, because I was dreaming. Ouch, better not think about it too much... or it might actually happen I'm afraid of this! Actually, the whole time I was lucid, it felt like I was on the cusp of losing control and that it was going to spiral into a nightmare. Luckily, it didn't. Well, nite nite folks. I am going to remember that it's a dream!

[LostInDream]

Wow read it all! Dreams make such a good read! How long have you been aware of what LDing is or have been practicing the steps? I'm just curious. I can not wait for my first LD! I also read somewhere that fear means you're loosing your lucidity, but I've seen a lot of fear filled dreams on this forums...

[Septagram]

That was an interesting read. And you seem to have quite nice control and stability. Good luck in your future dreams. Not true flying I guess. It felt more like I was swimming through the air. Heh-heh, I fly the same way, though I do want to try the real flight.

[zenmanvermin]

Thanks guys! @LostInDream: Well, I'm 32 years old and I've had lucid dreams many times, but I didn't know them by that name until I saw the movie Waking Life several years ago. Even when I was a kid I remember having a handful of dreams in which I became completely in control of them and many nightmares where I realized it was a dream and made myself wake up. I've only been practicing some techniques and keeping a dream journal for a little more than a week now. Heh-heh, I fly the same way, though I do want to try the real flight. That's funny! Yeah, when I get more practice I'm going to try it Superman style!

[jasonresno]

Awesome dream man! Good luck. You've already accomplished so much for being fresh into the, well, study.