unsure of whether I'm dreaming or thinking

Last night was my second night of dream recording, I awoke once at 3am, once at 6am and then again at 12 in the afternoon (shows how late I like to sleep) However each time I awoke I could not remember dreaming but as I lay there trying to go back to sleep I'd start thinking about things and upon waking up the next time I remembered what I was thinking about and it seemed clear like a dream but I was unsure as to whether I was dreaming or thinking. The thoughts I had seemed unusual for my normal dreams and I found it hard to remember exactly what happened but it didnt feel like a dream.

that's a good question...I'll have to check up on the answer so I'll know if that ever happens to me.

Hi StsDude,

It's likely your mind was going through its usual wandering just before falling asleep. Sometimes it's as if you're daydreaming, only that you don't have as much control of your thoughts. This type of thing also happens if you slowly awaken from a dream. You might be completely involved in a dream, then find yourself "making up" the rest of the dream even though you're already technically awake.

It just seems odd to me, I've never actually had that happen before, I generally remember my dreams or know that I've been dreaming upon awakening I just never wrote them down til now, the dream the night before was clear as day and I wrote it down and I still remember it, but last night just seemed so odd. I was thinking about some anime show I had been watching and I never dream about those sorts of things and it made me wonder if I had been watching too much and maybe I did dream about it or if I was really thinking. Its all so strange >.<

I feel that too, my dreams are more like intense thinking. In the end, maybe there's no difference anyway and I would just write it down. Hopefully we can reach a level where questions like that answer themselves :D

I get the thought/dream crossover confusion as well, especially if I'm thinking a lot about lucid dreaming. I think this experience is actually typical, but usually forgotten by most people.

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Originally Posted by Tornado Joe

Hi StsDude,

It's likely your mind was going through its usual wandering just before falling asleep. Sometimes it's as if you're daydreaming, only that you don't have as much control of your thoughts. This type of thing also happens if you slowly awaken from a dream. You might be completely involved in a dream, then find yourself "making up" the rest of the dream even though you're already technically awake.

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perfect

Well I did just remember my dream from last night as I was being tutored for math it hit me what I had been dreaming about, I think I tried to block it out because of what it was and it scared me, I knew that because I snapped my pencil in half upon thinking of it.

This happens to me a lot, and it's usually while Im trying to have an LD. I feel like I could see the images that I was thinking, but I was never really dreaming them. I dont know, it's hard to explain, obviously.

I was just about to make a thread on this but I didin't know how to put my feelings in to words. Just like tornadojoe said, When i slowly awaken from a dream, the dream goes from a dream to more of a daydream thing and I make up the things that happen. When I realise what I'm doing I become really annoyed because I only remember the things I made up and not the dream, although I know there was a dream before it!

Do I have to use an alarm to yank me from my dream directly to stop myself from messing up my dream?

Ah yeah. Same kinda thing happened to me. After I started recording my dreams as of yesterday and being more aware of LD my night was messed up. I didn't know if I was dreaming or awake.

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Do I have to use an alarm to yank me from my dream directly to stop myself from messing up my dream?

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You could, but then you run the risk of disturbing your natural dream cycle and that could lead to bad recall. When you wake up, you have to try and sit there and relax to think about the dream you were just in.