Hello!

Okay so I posted a thread here quite a while ago, and got some very good tips. I attempted to follow them but I didn't really get anywhere...I left lucid dreaming for a while, and have recently come back to it. I had two lucid(ish) dreams. I didn't do anything at all, they just happened.

In the first one -well it was more a nightmare than a dream - I was being chased by this man who I knew wanted to kill me. I locked myself in my bathroom and suddenly became lucid. I just realised, without any apparent trigger, that I was dreaming. I quickly did the most reliable reality check I could think of; plugging my nose and breathing through it. Except, I couldn't breathe through it. Thankfully I was still convinced it was only a dream, but instead of trying to gain a little control over it, I started bashing my head repeatedly against a wall in order to wake myself up and escape being killed.

The second one was even more unnerving. I was watching children playing with hoops and sticks, and again, suddenly realised I was dreaming. This time, I didn't perform any reality checks, I just started walking in a random direction in what appeared to be a very long and deserted street, before losing my consciousness and falling back into a normal dream once again.

My question is this: How can I sustain my stream of consciousness in the dream?

Having said that, right now I'm more concerned with trying to become lucid again. I haven't been able to do so since, and as I have no clue what triggered the lucidity in the first place, I'm a bit lost as to how I should proceed.

I know this is a rather longish post so thank you for reading lol, and I hope I will be able to get some help!