New; Not really sure if I lucid dream, and I have some questions.

[kd91]

Hello! My name is Kelly, and I've known about lucid dreaming for quite some time. I've had very detailed, bizarre dreams my entire life, but I'm not really sure if they're lucid dreams. I've read about what lucid dreaming is in the past, but I've seen such varying definitions that I can't really figure it out. Anyway, a little about me before I get to asking questions. I am a college student from Georgia. My hobbies/interests include music (ranging from classical to 70's/80's music mostly), reading, writing, collecting instruments (I have four guitars, two keyboards, a violin, a flute, and soon, I'll have a cello as well), and learning foreign languages. I spend a lot of time thinking about my dreams and trying to figure out what they mean. Every dream I have is sort of the same in the way it feels. So, it's normal to me. I've been dreaming like I have since I was a child, and it wasn't until I was telling some of my friends about my dreams that I realized it wasn't exactly normal. For one, I feel everything in my dreams. All the texture, temperature, etc. Recently, I had a dream that I grew an extra tooth, and it broke off. I remember running my tongue against it in the dream, and I could feel it as if it were real. Also, a lot of my dreams are not in first person. It's like film quality. Like watching a movie in the theatre. Really high resolution, and a lot of artistic angles for everything. I am always self-aware. I am always myself. I can hear my thoughts. Everyone else can be acting out of character, but I'm always me. I'm always in control of my actions, except a select few times that I remember very well. The reason why I'm never sure if I'm lucid dreaming is because I usually feel like everything in the dream is normal. It's just life. Like I'm awake. Yet, somewhere in the dream, as I'm going along with everything, I always have a thought in my head, "Wow, this is such a weird dream." Having the thought doesn't change the dream or how it feels to me. It always feels real. It always feels like it's actually happening, and it doesn't matter if that means everyone around me has super powers, that's just life to me. So, I'm rather confused as to if I'm lucid dreaming or what this even means. I know of one time where I'm certain I was lucid dreaming. It was one of the select few dreams where I didn't have control of my actions. My mom decided to go for a walk. The entire family decided to go with her. We walked down a main street in town, and the entire time, I was just following, thinking to myself about what a weird dream it was and how I wanted to wake up. The air smelled like honeysuckle, and I remember saying, "I think I'll keep dreaming for that smell. It's nice. It sort of evens out the fact that we're walking through town for no reason. I'll have to tell my mom about this dream when I wake up. She'll get a kick out of the fact that she wanted to go for a walk in my dream." I was completely aware the entire time that it was a dream. So, I guess the questions I have are basic. Do I lucid dream based off the description of my average dream? I don't think I do, except for maybe in those moments of thinking of what a strange dream it is. Is it normal to dream the way I do? I have a ton of bizarre symbolism in my dreams, and I often find myself trying to find answers for days as to what is going on in my dreams. Where can I ask about specific dreams? Well, I look forward to meeting people and talking about dreams. Thanks for your time, and thank you for reading this. Have a great day!

[gab]

Welcome to Dreamviews. What a nice introductory post I'm not much of a music buff, but I do love foreign languages. And smell of honeysuckle OK, so, for a dream to be lucid, the dreamer has to realize, that he is dreaming. You don't always have control in lucid dream and you can have different level of awareness. In a regular dream, I would say, most of the time you have no control, but you can have some, and you can be thinking rationally, to a certain degree. From your description, it sounds like in those dreams, where you are self-aware, when you tell yourself "what a strange dream" or something to the effect of you recognizing you are dreaming, you are lucid. Did you ever have a "WOW, I'm dreaming" moment that comes with great joy? Most of the dreamers wake up at this moment, just from sheer excitement of realization. This excitement diminishes with experience, at least it does for me. But the moment of becoming lucid is unmistakable. If youl'd like to get some imput about meaning of your dreams, you can post them in Dream Interpretation subforum. But I guess, this would only make sence, if the dream is non-lucid. So look around and have fun. Happy dreams