Newb with a question!

Hello all, im new to the community but have checked out the site various times. My friend got me into lucid dreaming around May. I bought a book written by Robert Waggoner and read the entire thing in a week. I feel i am pretty knowledgable on the topic and actually just wrote a research paper for my college english class. However i am yet to have a lucid dream! I think..let me explain. Since i first began reading the book until a couple weeks ago, my interest in the subject seems to have been enough to help my dream recall immensely. I now remember 2 or more dreams pretty vividly per night, to the point where i can remember almost all detail and get a lot written down upon waking. I also seem to be recalling dreams from weeks or months ago that i had completely forgotten. My latest experiences lead me to believe i am close to lucidity:

Last night in my first dream i recall having a horrible shoulder pain while dreaming. i informed my friend that i was going to health services to get some pain killers. I went there and got a couple medications and a shot that were supposed to help the pain. I returned to my friends dorm informing him i felt somewhat numb from the medication. Soon after i woke up with the same exact feeling in my arm that i had had in my dream, because i was lying on my side! It blew me away that this feeling carried into waking life and i could feel that same sensation while dreaming! Anyone had a similar experience?

My second dream took place at a neighbors house where i spent lots of time as a child. It feels like i know i am dreaming in all my lastest dream and have some control of what happens. A couple friends were outside and i told them i could fly. Nobody believed me, so all but one went inside. At this point i levitated into the air and found myself on the roof. I remember concentrating very hard for this to happen. Soon after i decided to try to change an object. Upon looking at a basketball and imagining it getting bigger, it slowly expanded to the size of an excercise ball. I then realized the one friend who was still outside was sitting on dirt. I layed on the ground and pictured growing grass underneath her. Lines of green carpet began to cross the ground in front of where she was sitting. She seemed amazed. I woke up soon after this. It was an amazing dream but its hard to know if i was lucid! It didn't quite feel as vivid as waking reality and i don't remember a certain point where i felt i became lucid. Any ideas as to whats going on?

Hi there, I'm a newbie too! :)

Firstly I think we should make the distinction that the reason your shoulder was in pain in your dream was because of the way you were sleeping. At least that's what it sounds like. Your dream didn't make your shoulder hurt.
I've had similar experiences. Sometimes I sleep with my hand/wrist in a really stupid position that puts a lot of pressure on the joint and can limit blood flow to the hand. I've had dreams in which my hand hurt and woken up to find my hand swollen due to the decreased circulation.

Secondly — and maybe I'm not all that qualified to answer this because I've not had a full Lucid Dream yet either — I've heard there's a difference between dream you being able to control the dream and you really being able to control the dream. The later is true lucidity while the former is a dream where you have special powers. I would imagine, if one was honest with oneself, one would know which was the case.

Lucidity is not synonymous with dream control. You can definitely have one without the other. :) It seems like you had control without really realizing it was a dream.

:cookiemonster: Hello and welcome to dreamviews! :cookiemonster:

I agree with what Jimmy said above me. You can certainly have control in a dream without being aware that you are actually dreaming.

Do you keep a dream journal? Have you researched different lucid dream induction techniques?

Good luck!