I'm a bit confused here

[UnexpectedDream]

Hello, I am new to the forums and I have a simple question. So what really is a lucid dream? What do you consider a lucid dream? When I dream, I know I am dreaming but I can't control what I do in my dreams, is that a lucid dream? Well actually the memory of dreams just rush to me right when I'm about to wake up so I'm not really living the dream, it just appears to be a memory if that makes sense :/

[gab]

If you have a dream, and suddenly you realize you are dreaming, you continue with a dream that is lucid. (unless you doing a WILD type of dream initiation - look in DV Wiki).This realization comes with unmistakable feeling of great joy and excitement. Lucid dreams are most of the time more vivid, focused and they can get as realistic as real, waking life, so it's practically indistinguishable, unless you do a reality check. But sometimes they can be fuzzy, and you don't always have control over what you do in a lucid dream. Go ahead and read up on some tutorials in DV Wiki and see, if it resembles your experiences. Also read some threads in Forum about people having their first lucid dream, and compare notes, if what you are having, are lucid dreams. And go from there. Of course, feel free to ask more questions. Welcome to DV and enjoy!

[Darkmatters]

That doesn't sound like a lucid dream - lucidity means knowing that you're dreaming while you're dreaming. What you're talking about sounds more like some kind of supercharged dream recall. Like an instant replay or something. I've never had that happen, but it must make dream recall easy! I HAVE done something kind of similar a few times - where I'll have a dream and then I['ll have another dream right after it that's almost the same, as if I'm trying to really impress the first one in my memory, but the second one ends up being different. I think this happened because I was so intent on remembering dreams - I had done memory mantras and stuff. But it was a problem because then when I woke up it was hard to separate the two dreams, and the second one sometimes confused me about what happened in the 1st.

[Binsk]

As was stated above, a lucid dream is a dream which you, yourself, you actually know that you are dreaming while inside the dream. Often people will say they are dreaming in dreams, or talking about how they are dreaming in dreams, but don't actually realize it. That is NOT lucid dreaming. When you wake up directly from a lucid dream, usually it is like waking up from an actual event because you were personally experiencing it while being consciously aware. Yes you can forget your Lucids and remember them later, or forget them entirely, but usually if you wake up during the actual lucid it feels different. As for control in your dreams, that doesn't technically have anything to do with Lucid dreams, but Lucidity does generally make it easier.

[cedward1]

When you have a lucid dream, you know you had a lucid dream. There is something fundamentally different than just dreaming that you "know" that you are dreaming. It's strange, but I have had dreams before where I only thought I was lucid. Somehow you can tell the difference when you have a real one though.

[ladoys]

I've had those where I thought I was lucid but I really wasn't. For example, I thought I was and I ran and flipped off my parents for no reason. I wouldn't have wasted my time in doing that if I really knew it was a dream

[Robot_Butler]

You can still act illogically or interact with the dream narrative in lucid dreams. It is not necessary to be 100% lucid. I think the most insightful lucid dreams are the wacky ones where you catch yourself doing stupid stuff.