False awakening? And dream recall

[Orson]

So I think I may have had a false awakening but im not sure, Basically I was sleeping over at my friends house, I kept repeating to myself that Id realise I was dreaming, I woke up in the middle of the night and did a reality check, I checked my hand, it was blurry and on occasion looked like it had 6 fingers (though I could have been groggy), the rest of the room was clear in sight, I pinched my nose and was a semi-regular to breath. I decided that if it was A dream I could close my eyes and will myself to be on a beach, i opened them but i was still in bed, and I then fell asleep. False awakening or just another normal night? Also I could only remember a very patchy dream last night and I scribbled it down in my journal. I've only had a DJ for 3 nights now and can only remember 1 a night, will this increase and become more vivid as time goes on?

[InfiniteMinds]

To be honest from your description it ocudl be either, if you don't get a clear answer to your reality checks by morning you'll never really know for sure. When you're first playing around with becomign lucid i'd suggest not closing your eyes inside a dream as it gives your mind an opprountiy to 'reset' the dream state has a tendency to make you lose lucidity. If you find yourself in the same situation agian try to get up and turn on a light switch, the switch usually won't work in a dream. The good news is your dream recall will deifnately get better if you keep using your dream journal. In addition to scribbling down your dreams just after you've had them, read back over them when you properly wake up in the morning (add in any additional detials if they come to you) and have anothe rquick read jsut before going to bed. This will keep those dreams, and the more general pattern of what your dreams are like fresh in your memory which will help you to recall more.