Unintentional LD

I just got back from a couple of weeks overseas and had a long flight where I couldn't sleep, so my patterns are all over the place. I have been a bit ill lately (which has been worrying me), and I have a fear of flying (I had to do four flights in ten days). So my anxiety levels have been quite high. This morning I woke up at 5 and was still really tired from all the travel, so I went back to bed at 7. I fell into a strange sleep that I feel was a lucid dream. I was able to control my actions and do things that I wanted to do in the dream. The first part of the dream was quite fun, but then I started to freak out because I knew I was asleep and wasn't sure how to wake up. I felt like I should know but I couldn't quite grasp it. Then something in the back of my mind said to listen for a noise in the real world as something to help me wake up. Eventually I heard my two year old son playing in the living room, which did wake me up. I felt like I'd been asleep for days, but it was only an hour. I then had a bit of a panic attack because I felt like reality wasn't the same anymore, and I had been scared about not being able to snap myself out of the dream. It was a bit like the movie Inception - and now I wonder what the point of our existence is because won't it be the same when we die? This whole plane just disappears?

Sorry for being dramatic. I'm normally an upbeat kind of person but I had a close family member die a few months ago and just found out another family member has breast cancer (treatable, but still upsetting).

I feel like I'm turning into a basketcase!

Hi there my friend.
Don't be afraid when you're inside a dream. There's a way in, and a way out. So don't freak out and enjoy the things you can do inside a dream that you can't do in real life. Treat it as a worry-free paradise. Remember, it's quite rare to achieve an LD without practice. But if you really want to wake up, there are a lot of ways. Try killing yourself or commanding your self to wake or close your eyes forcefully then open it quickly. Hope this helps my friend :)

You're lucky that your problem was not being able to wake up. The problem is usually the opposite.

People are considerably more likely to LD after undergoing intense changes in their lives (like traveling), so that is probably why you had one then. A lucid dream is simply a dream in which you know that you're dreaming, so if you did, you were having a lucid dream. People also sometimes experience partial awareness that they're dreaming, and it sounds like this might have been the case for you, since it was difficult for you to wake up and you felt fear even though you knew that you were dreaming on some level. If it happens again, try to make sure that you're completely aware that you're in a dream. Remember your daily life and that nothing you can do in the dream will hurt you. Then you can do whatever you want. Experiment, fly, talk to your subconscious. It's much funner than waking up right away.

I doubt that death will be like a never-ending dream.

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Originally Posted by misskm

I then had a bit of a panic attack because I felt like reality wasn't the same anymore, and I had been scared about not being able to snap myself out of the dream. It was a bit like the movie Inception - and now I wonder what the point of our existence is because won't it be the same when we die? This whole plane just disappears?

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This is not a reason to panic. It is something to celebrate. You are so much more than your physical body.

Thank you everyone so much for your kind words - years ago I was quite interested in the idea of LD'ing, but had forgotten about the concept in recent times. I have very vivid dreams, but have only been aware of actually dreaming a couple of times. This was the first one where I could change things to suit my wishes. And while this was good at first, I felt like I had entered this new world without being fully prepared. I will read through the forum and see what else I can learn. Thank you again. I feel much more relaxed now - and perhaps I can explore the concept that reality isn't as fixed as I want it to be :)

I had another one last night... this time when it started, I decided not to go too deep because I wanted to focus on how to wake up without freaking out. With both dreams, there was an element of fuzziness at the beginning where I could choose to push through into full manipulation, or just let it go. So this time I let it go, and the dream changed into another scene that was a wake-up from the previous scene, but I knew it wasn't reality, so I relaxed a bit more and told myself to just wait for a moment. Then I was able to wake up properly. So yay - I'm not scared anymore.

I wonder if there's anything in my naturopath herbs that increase the chances of a lucid dream. I only started taking them a few days ago.