Originally posted by TygrHawk
However, remember that controlling your dream does not make it a lucid dream. A lucid dream is when you realize that you are in fact dreaming while the dream is taking place -- whether you are able to control your dream or not is another issue entirely.
So how can you tell a lucid dream from just a regular dream? What if you dream that you realize that you're dreaming (but you're not really conscious, rather its just another part of the ongoing dream) and you start taking control, but you're not really taking control cause its just you in your dream taking control? I dont know if that makes sense.

For instance, I had dream, in which I'm going around talking to people normally. But i get this bugged out feeling like something is wrong, and I ask somebody for a watch cause I remember that's a reality check in "waking Life" and I had read about it in some places, so I do as a way to figure out if I'm dreaming or not. So they show me a watch, but its not digital. Finally I find a digital watch and at first the numbers look normal and then I look again and the time has change and well it sort of looks like what goes on in the movie "waking life" and how its been described in some places. Then in my dream I realize I'm dreaming, and that's when I start doing crazy things.

How do I know I'm not just having a dream based on the movie or things I read. How do i tell it apart?