Aware but not lucid ?

As far as I knew the only reason dreams didn’t have any details in them was because we were not aware we were dreaming . They seems so 2D to me and brief mainly just emotions and vague visual and sound. But I am confused now I was having a nightmare were I was on a train and it stopped at first I thought it was because of the snow then I realised aliens were ambushing the train (sounds funny but it was actually very scary ) then I actually become aware I was dreaming but still there was no details it was all just 2D then I decided to wake up because although it was without detail the emotions seemed very real and I was scarred because I knew that I was going to die (in the dream) if I stayed there any longer . So why if I’m aware that it’s a dream why doesn’t it seem as real as this world?

:welcome: to Dreamviews, dude!

Seems like you had a lucid dream! You became aware that you were dreaming, and that counts. Try to do it again, this time thinking of cool stuff to do. Go down to the Attaining Lucidity, Dream Control, and Tutorials sections for more info.

It isn't as real as this world because it isn't the world. It is your subconscious mind. In a dream, practically anything is possible, unlike the real world. (just ask anyone who tried to fly in real life :P) And since you know that nothing in the dream is real, you should be able to manipulate it.

To increase vividness, there are a few tricks when you are lucid. One is rubbing your hands (your dream hands, not your real hands) which I know, sounds silly, but it works. Another way of changing it is to spin in a 360 degree circle. The entire dream should have changed.

Always glad to help out a fellow Metallica fan! :D Have a good one!

hey man, welcome
I hope you find this site useful for attaining lucidity
there are many helpful people on this forum,

The 'reality' of lucid dream worlds can vary greatly from dream to dream. One night you could have a lucid dream that is hyper real, the next lucid dream might be nothing but water colour type dream with low vividness and control.

Hopefully your next lucid dream will be more realistic.

Welcome Miketallica...:).

Sorry your lucid dream didn't seem very vivid. As Vex said some dreams are more vivid than others. And I do think you can increase the "realness" in dreams by trying a few things. Some of the things that worked for me are to do what suttsman suggested and rub my hands together, or to rub my hads up and down my arms. That helps stablize my dream, and makes me feel more physically involved. Other things that have worked for me are to look around at things and touch them. Usually when I really focus on one thing, I am amazed at how real it seems. But the trick is to consciously focus on it. I think sometimes our minds don't want to do the work to make everything around us very detailed--but it can easily make single things very detailed. Start with trying these things and see if it makes a difference.

Good luck!

Thanks all! i will try those techniques the next time i become in a dream aware again

you should read topics about prolonging lucid dreams. You've already passed the hardest part, realizing you are dreaming. Now you must realize that because you are dreaming you can do anything you want. If the dream fades say "Increase lucidity now!" or something to that effect. Usually lucid dreams are very vivid which is where the term lucid dreaming comes from. The word lucid means vivid.

Actually, the word lucid means "having a clear mind" and is nothing to do with vividness. You can have a vivid dream that is not a lucid dream :)