Thread: a "hello" introduction

Hi all...here's my quick intro:

I've been casually interested in dreaming/lucid dreaming for awhile, but was long the type who rarely recalled any dreams apart from a few vivid ones here and there.

A couple months ago something made me think of lucid dreaming for the first time in years, so I decided to try a dream journal. That night I went to sleep telling myself I'd remember my dreams and woke up with 5 good recalls.

I'd never had a lucid dream and the whole idea of being aware during a dream seemed almost impossible for me to imagine. My dreams are typically very hazy and vague; those that are vivid are normally filled with obstacles and frustrations.

Anyway, flash forward to about 5 nights ago...I was having a vivid dream filled with the usual batch of frustrations: on vacation in a strange town, got separated from my family/group, couldn't find the hotel, when I did find it my bag was missing and I was late to dinner, etc. etc. one thing after another. As my annoyance reached a near boiling point I said to myself, "dammit, this is just like one of my %&#@ing dreams."

And click, the thought finally entered my head - "this is a dream."

For some reason my first thought was to try to fly (I've only had one flying dream that I can remember in my life, and I was about 8). I was alone in the hotel room at the time and figured it was as good a time as any since there was nobody else around to laugh at me hopping around.

So I jumped in the air...and came back down. It was just like real life, but not quite. A slight hesitation at the top. So I tried it again, this time almost positive I was dreaming and made it about 4-5 feet before coming back down. Being positive that it was a dream I gave it one last shot and literally shot in the air, through the ceiling and into the void. Pure exhileration.

As I was flying, I tried to relax since I'd read that you'll almost always wake from excitement during your first lucid experience. I also decided I should try to land, but started feeling frustrated because I didn't know how. Suddenly I was starting to fall back into dream mode and struggled to retain lucidity. I tried to spin, but found that my body felt "stuck", even though I was still flying. Then I woke up.

It was an amazing experience, just those 5-10 seconds. So, again, greetings everyone, I've enjoyed reading some of the stories and tips on here.