Hello everyone.

I've been reading this site since I found it yesterday. I was reading about how sleep works on www.howstuffworks.com and found a link to this site. I'm amazed. I've had random and brief lucid experiences, but didn't even know what to call them until now. Now I want more. I'm not in a huge rush since I understand that it requires patience, practice, and skill. I'm confident I can reach the abilities I'd like to have, in time.

I actually haven't put a lot of thought into dreams in a long time. I have had occasional vivid dreams, but I forget them so fast, they become uninteresting to me. I even stopped realizing just how vivid the dream world is, and considered it much more random and scattered clips of visualizations, feelings, sound, and ideas. Brief and blurry.

However, last night after reading this site and reading posts on this forum, I decided to start with my dream recall practice. I went to bed about an hour later than usual, which only allowed me 7 hours of sleep. I didn't really do this intentionally, but I think it helped me recall my dreams. Maybe not, we'll see. Anyways, I went to sleep repeating, "I will remember my dreams when I wake up" over and over. I don't know how long it lasted, but I was doing it for as long as I could.

When I woke up this morning, I could remember my dream(s). I think I remembered 2, and I think I remember waking after the first, but falling asleep into the second. Regardless, I rememebered a lot of the second, and a little of the first when I awoke. For a second I reflected on it, then suddenly I remembered how important it was to write them down. So I did. It's fantastic. I remember them pretty well even now, nearly 10 hours later. More importantly than remembering the content and its order, I remember how REAL it all seemed to me at the time of dreaming. Until today, I never realized how vivid and real the dream world really is. If I could have gone lucid and told myself I was dreaming, it would have seemed exactly like reality if I could go as far as to say so.

So, now I'm completely excited about learning this skill. I look forward to some fun times with it, and some serious learning and growth.

Now, I do have one question for all of you. How do you deal with the disappointment of waking into the real world after an incredible lucid dream? All of the wonderful things you have or use or experience in the dream are all lost once you awaken. That is, unless you can WILD whenever you want.

Happy dreaming.