Second LD..and some more cloud washing needed.

Hey people!

So. so. so. so. I had my second LD! Great news, right? Probably, except for the fact that I THINK I had my second LD, and I'm not sure.

The doubt is the same as my first. But let me elaborate and tell you how I reached the LD.

I put on some white noise as music, and relaxed my entire body. I imagined up a dream, and let it go it's own way, while passively following it.

In a few minutes of lying down, my body was probably asleep and I was conscious that I was dreaming.

Now this is the cloudiness that you need to clear from my mind: How do I know if I was actually just really relaxed and awake, and was imagining things, almost like day dreaming with my eyes closed......or if my body was really completely asleep and I was LDing.

That it what confuses me. It's almost as if I cannot draw the line between visualization and lucid dreaming. I did not fall ASLEEP and end up having a period of REM sleep and then lucid dream, which is why I'm confused. I just visualized a dream, passively followed it till I think my body was asleep, and my mind was conscious of it.

So, how does a lucid dream really feel like? This is what mine felt like, does it match up?

I did a number of things in it. I spoke to a turkey. I created winter in my head. I sky-dived. I visited my old house again, and spoke to my dead grandmother. I had sex with a woman I always fantasized about, and I kissed my ex really passionately. I also got closure from my ex by imagining her saying farewell.

I did all of this really consciously. I could feel the wind when I was sky diving. I could feel the heat when I was in the throes of passion. Sometimes things were not so clear, and then I said "clarity...clarity" and it became clearer.

I guess I'm re-iterating the same thing again and again-- so I'll stop rambling and end at my question:

How in God's name do I know if I really did experience an LD or if I was just relaxing and visualizing the whole thing up like a day dream?



THANKS!

Well, that sounds like a lucid dream to me. I would say its not a day dream because day dreams are usually more random and free flowing. It seemed as if you were on a determined track. The thing that really seals it for me is the fact that you willed clarity, which would be more difficult in a day dream. In fact that would even take you out of a day dreaming state, but not a lucid dreaming one.

Can you tell the difference between day dreams and regular dreams?

In my opinion day dreams aren't really dreams. They're visions consciously conjured in the mine while one is in a waking state. And while it is easy to get lost in vivid daydreams, they still aren't considered dreams. I think they are referred to as dreams because people often get a dreamy look while engaged in these intentionally created internal worlds. (something i read somewhere along the line)

I think by "daydream" he meant hypnagogic imagery, the way he was describing it. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between HI and a true dream. I've had experiences that seem kind of in-between - micro-lucids. In one of them, I tried the dream name task but failed it...the guy said some long thing that I didn't remember what it was and didn't sound like a name. (I finally pulled it off this morning with a FILD though, after a week of not only no clear lucid dreams but also poor dream recall.)