I had terrible nightmares as a child (diagnosed as night-terrors after I was an adult, a little too late ). Once I became a teenager, in self defense I began to teach myself to control my dreams. I began by telling myself every night before falling asleep that these were MY dreams and I could decide what happened in them. It took a while, but I finally was in the middle of a nightmare and managed to tell myself that it was my dream and I didn't want to have this dream anymore. At that point my dream experiences finally began to change for the positive! Now, at 42, I can do the following: change a dream in the middle if it is emotionally upsetting, continue a positive dream after being awakened by concentrating on it before going back to sleep, and choose what to dream by meditating on it before I go to sleep. Lately, I've started to feel like occasionally I'm either leaving my body during dreaming and travelling somewhere else OR having exceptionally clear dreams. Also, two or three times a week, I have a musical dream - ones with clear and complete songs in them, many of which I don't ever remember hearing before. So, does anyone have any idea what kind of "level" of lucid dreamer I am? I'd really appreciate any input, thanks.