My dreams never seem real

[MartinB]

Hi everyone! I just wanted to introduce myself and my dreaming background. I'm new here, having only discovered the concept of lucid dreaming yesterday by accident on an unrelated forum. I must say that I really like the idea of lucid dreaming and am definitely willing to give it a try. I've already started by recording the dream that I had last night using the record function on my portable MP3 player. Anyways, I've only experienced lucid dreams very rarely, long before I even knew that lucid dreams were possible, and I must say that I loved every minute of those dreams. The thing that strikes me as odd in my most recent lucid dream (which occured about 2 months ago) and the only one I can remember in any great detail, was the fact that it was actually one of the most realistic dreams I've had, despite not being terribly realistic. I thought I woke up, just lying in my bed in the morning and for some reason I took a pillow and just lay it over my head, and then I started feeling kinda really horny. Then out of nowhere I realised that it was a dream. Somehow I imposed my will on the situation and the next thing I know, the pillow turns into this naked woman sat who is sat on my face, and well, you can guess the rest. The strange think is though, lucidity occured before anything unusual happened. This seems remarkably odd, given that my dreams almost always involve bizarre occurances. Some examples: If I'm in an open space, anywhere outside or even in large room, more often than not I will have an ability to fly around. I love dreams like this. I haven't quite mastered my flying technique yet, but it's still cool to do. It's more like jumping really high (perhaps several hundred metres) and kinda pushing the air down with my hands to stay up. It's a very floaty weightless feeling. Even more bizarrely, I've had at least a lot of dreams where I'm dying or the universe is ending, but I don't fear it at all. In one such dream, the entire Earth had become flooded and I was drowning. I knew I was going to die, but I wasn't suffering and actually remember looking forward to seeing what would come next in that dream, but I woke up before anything happened. Another such dream I was hit by a truck and re-incarnated into another child of my same parents. I remember that in the dream after re-incarnation I was about maybe two or three years old, but had the ability to do everything from my previous life, and of course my parents were amazed that my 'soul' had obtained the new body. I've recently had even more bizarre dreams that take place in a reality that was entirely different from our own. For example, living in the limitations of a 3D computer program is a common theme. One of the more interesting recent ones involved a strange mystical reality that was beatifully vivid in shiny colours. About half-way through the dream, a "black-hole" opened up and the reality collapsed on itself pulling me into another completely different reality. Wow, talk about hard to explain. Other common dreams involve X-ray- (or wireframe)-vision, ability to move through solid objects, very warped versions of places I know and many that I don't know. Strange theme parks / water parks seem to be a recurring theme also. Anyways, my point is, I have a lot of dreams like this, and yet I never gain lucidity when it should be overwhelmingly obvious that what I am experiencing is not reality, and yet, the one time I remember becoming lucid, there were really no clues at all. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I feel like the clues are there in overwhelming numbers but I never even notice anything odd about all these strange occurances during my dreams. Thanks for reading, love the site! Martin

[nesgirl119]

Welcome to the forum! BTW, as long as you know that you are dreaming, you are still Lucid, even if they are not realistic (believe me, they are!).

[MartinB]

Thanks for the reply! That's typically the problem though, no matter how unrealistic my dreams become, I'm never aware that they're dreams, and so never become lucid. During the dream, it just seems normal, like having the ability to fly in dreams is something that has always just seemed natural to me. Nothing ever strikes me as odd. It just worries me that I won't be able to spot the clues in my dreams. I mean, many people here can look at something small like some text or a light switch, and notice something strange in it to clue them in on the dream state, and yet, I don't even notice that my entire reality has changed.

[Mirath]

Originally posted by MartinB It just worries me that I won't be able to spot the clues in my dreams. I mean, many people here can look at something small like some text or a light switch, and notice something strange in it to clue them in on the dream state, and yet, I don't even notice that my entire reality has changed. You could try to pay attention to the reality, rather than a specific detail. People who look at a lightswitch probably notice the clue probably because most of the dream is consistient with reality.

[TygrHawk]

Martin, I think it all has to do with being in the right frame of mind. Your body must be asleep while your mind is awake, if that makes any sense. Learning to spot dreams signs or doing reality checks is all well and good, but if you don't have even the first flicker of awareness that you are dreaming, they will do you no good. Like you, I often have dreams about very strange things, but do not realize I'm dreaming. However, other times, I will just get the feeling that I am dreaming, even if the dream is not all that unusual. I'm no expert, but I have gotten much better about having that awareness that I'm dreaming, at least on occasion. The best way to achieve lucidity is to prepare your mind for it, and to believe that it will happen -- confidence is key. Read the DV main site and the tutorials section, and practice one or more of the methods described. Give your chosen method a fair shake (like a week or two) before deciding to try something different. Personally, I have the best luck using a combination of MILD and WBTB. If you have any questions, just ask.