Hi, I'm Rainah, I'm 24, and there's a whole lotta things I could put in this intro that have nothing to do with dreams, so I'll just skip all that I'm married and have a 4 year old. My friends J, C, and L sometimes feature in my dreams along with my hubby and son.

I've had lucid dreams since I was a child, only I didn't know that's what they were. It started oddly ... I was very little, 3 or 4, and used to have dreams that I was using the bathroom, only to wake up and find that I HAD, right in my bed. Well, clearly, not good. I trained myself to do reality checks EVERY time I used the toilet, even though I didn't know that's what I was doing ... I wouldn't 'let go' till I was SURE I was awake, and if I became aware that I was in fact dreaming, I would say, "Wake up!" ... and I would, and run to the bathroom. Via this method I was able to get myself to stop childhood bedwetting.

I let the ability go once I didn't need it for that anymore, though it would happen spontaneously every so often, until I was an adult and suffering a recurring nightmare ... unfortunately, the old habit of waking myself was too hard to break and I never did manage to stay lucid enough to confront the attackers (not a chase dream, a 'gang' type, with 3 men accosting me in the dark).

Ever since then, I've had lucid dreams once or twice a month, but the same thing always happens ... I wake up, or my attention gets caught and I lose lucidity. The other night though, I had only had 2 short naps all day after staying up all night (Saturday) with friends and being unable to really sleep all Sunday. So Sunday night I went to bed, ready to really sleep, and I instead became lucid while dreaming. It forced me into another dream, where I also became lucid. That time, I had a false awakening, and after a few minutes, became lucid AGAIN and had ANOTHER false awakening. At this point, I was angry and wanted OUT, it felt like a horror-movie cycle. I was lucid and WANTED to wake up but I couldn't make myself until a minute or so had passed.

And of course when I did, I was thoroughly distressed, and set out to learn everything I could about this phenomenon, and am now annoyed at myself for passing up a great opportunity, because for once I didn't wake up automatically! I could have had some real fun with it, if I had only known. So here I am, seeking answers and very excited about learning to control this ability that I've had off and on for most of my life, but never really tried to control. I already have very good recall (I can, without any effort, recall 5 dreams a week, though I tend to only write the ones that really strike me, though I am of course going to start a dream journal because, well it can't hurt), and I know I can do it, because I have.

Anyway, that's what brought me here, and I'm just really hoping this is a place where encouragement etc is easy to find, because dreams are so private that I think this might be lonely without understanding equals to share experiences/questions etc with

Rainah

P.S. Golly, I want one of those pretty BANNERS you all have ... and a picture icon, how do I DO that?