Hi All,

I searched out this forum after having my fifth or sixth accidental lucid dream two nights ago. I only average about one of those per year these days (ever since I saw Inception), and before that, I averaged about one every two to three years. I'm hoping to make them more frequent, because for me, they are AWESOME.

I'm 40 now, and I had my first one back in college. I had come home between classes for a nap, and as usual, my alarm went off and woke me up for my next class. I stepped out of the apartment, and as I turned to lock the door, I suddenly wondered why the sky was black. Then I realized that the pine forest across the street wasn't supposed to be there. I said out loud, "I'm dreaming!" and then everything literally began to run like wet paint down a canvas. And I woke up.

The next time it happened, I was trying to read a sales ad, and I was amused by the wide selection of fruit-flavored milk for sale at the grocery store. I tried to turn back to it to show my roommate, and the page had changed. That triggered my awareness, and I was literally able to fly (unfortunately by flapping my arms, and I still have to flap my arms even to this day in my flying dreams). I made a mental note while dreaming that first flight to remember upon waking how incredibly DETAILED everything was. I could see every sparkling grain in the shingles on the rooftops below me. That just amazed me.

After that, it was long years before I had any more lucid dreams. Then, after seeing Inception, I got interested again, and somehow another dream was triggered (I don't remember by what). I found myself in a house I wasn't familiar with, and I happened to be standing in a room with a closed window. I approached the blinds, thinking to myself, "Since I have no idea what to expect out there, and yet my brain is making all this up as I go, I shouldn't find anything on the other side of that window if I suddenly yank open the blinds." I did just that, and I was somewhat disappointed to find just another room that had been added on to the house, apparently without a door. I then wandered outside to see what was there, and I found myself in an urban setting similar to the downtown area of a small city. I rounded a corner and saw a machine shop across the street with large open bay doors. This didn't mean anything to me, but I saw a large drill press inside the shop that gave me an idea for an experiment. I walked inside to see if I could levitate it, but the heavy thing wouldn't budge. I found this odd, since I thought I should be in control of everything, and I stretched out my hand like Luke Skywalker for another attempt. It still didn't budge, but I started to notice everyone looking at me like I was crazy, and I actually started to feel embarrassed. And that was where I lost the dream.

Now, two nights ago, I was sharing a hotel room with my parents. I dreamed that I was in an open residential garage on a pleasant morning, for some reason conversing with a priest. The next time I turned to look at the street, it had gotten very foggy all of a sudden. I remarked to the priest, "The weather wasn't like this just a minute ago. This isn't natural." He replied, "No, it's not." The fog faded within a few seconds with the sun shining beautifully through it as it dissipated. And that was when I became lucid. I forgot all about the priest, and literally said to myself, "If this is a dream, then I'm going to have sex with somebody." Now, I know this forum has rules, so I'll spare you the graphic details. I headed down the street to search for my target, and within a block I found an AMAZINGLY perfect waiter taking out some trash in the back alley of a restaurant. I made my rather forward approach, and he initially tried to resist as he asked, "What are you doing?" I said, "Shut up. I created you, you're mine, and you're going to enjoy this." And I'll just stop there with the details that you really don't want to hear. But suffice it to say, he amazing did exactly everything I told him to do. In the end, my fear and self awareness woke me up. I didn't finish the act, because I was terrified to think about what my real body might be saying or doing in a shared hotel room. I woke up briefly, and quickly drifted back to sleep. I didn't achieve lucidity again, but the dream continued in a way. I found myself on a very high tower overlooking a beautiful, very futuristic city. It was twilight, and the lights were already coming on below, mostly in shades of blue. The large clouds above were roiling, and suddenly their bottoms began to fall out in the center, not entirely unlike food coloring in water, but without all the outward curls. I watched as they landed in the city below and swept outward in every direction before fading quickly away, briefly shrouding several city blocks at a time in fog. I said to someone nearby, "So THAT'S why it got foggy so fast earlier! I didn't know clouds could do that!" But that somehow wasn't enough to trigger a return to lucidity. Still a really awesome dream, though. For some reason, the two themes that tend to return in my dreams are clouds (always moving or roiling impossibly fast), and falling snow.

Well, anyway, so that's my first story. I hope to have more experiences, and maybe with the help of this forum, I'll figure out some more techniques for achieving lucidity. Thanks for reading!