Hi!

I really got interested in lucid dreaming yesterday, and im now going to make an effort to reach it eventually. Even if i never reach it, i would like to improve my dream recall in general, so even if i fail at lucid dreaming, it will still be worth it.

My questions are on lucid dreams, and dreams in general. I have had many semi-weird experiences in dreams, that probably totally normal, but i've never paid enough attention to them for me to do research. There are some things id like to get clarifications on:

1) Recollection / Dream signs: My dreams, or my recollections of my dreams, are usually quite choppy, and i usually just remember the ending, or some parts from the beginning and the ending. I have fairly "realistic" dreams, but the only thing that is usually unrealistic is that events seem to happen quite randomly. The last dream i remember, that was two nights ago, i was at my old high school, and my chemistry teacher accused me of stealing her medicine , which she apparently stored in a rec room used for students to hang out in during recess. The room looked exactly like i remember it looking in high school, but the sofa and the armchairs were from my apartment. Of course this isnt really realistic, but there are never any flying puppies or green elephants in my dreams. Its borderline real, with some weird twist.
Is this a problem for attaining lucid dreams, because there are no hugely obvious signs that often in my dreams? It has to be said that the high school theme occurs quite often, and its like 5 years since i graduated, so maybe that could be a good dream sign? I havent been at the high school since graduation, and i live in another city now, so in real life, there is no reason for me to ever be there....

2) How "real" and how aware can you really be when lucid?

When reading people who have "mastered" lucid dreaming, they all say that when at its best, the dreams feel just as real as reality. I can accept that, but i have one question. When you are aware in your dreams, can you think about lets say, what you are going to do once you wake up, or what you have to do the next day etc? I mean, are you totally aware of things like: "when i wake up, im going to meet my sister at the cafe at 9 AM,", or "man, that football game was awesome last night, cant wait to talk to my friends about it when i wake up." Can you really contemplate on your existence in the real world, while continuing to stay in your dream?

3) Are these examples of the hypnagogic state?

I read the article on wikipedia on hypnagogia, and could notice many things that are familiar.

a) Often when im really really tired, the instant i close my eyes in bed, i start feeling a slight sensation of being "sucked" into my bed. Its not a strong feeling, and once i become aware of it, it usually stops, but it happens almost every time when im really tired at night, or when i go back to bed after waking up during the night.

b) I hear sounds, and especially music, when im really tired, or just otherwise not focusing on anything in particular while trying to get to sleep. Its usually music, and i can even stay in that state for a few seconds after i become aware of the "sound", but usually i snap out of it, and im just "WTF". This happens really often as well, and it can happen multiple times per night, and without having any knowledge before what this could be about, i usually manage to "be aware" of it while it is happening for a short time. The next time it happens, im going to try and relax and "clear my thoughts" while its happening and see if i can prolong it somehow.

c) Often, when i wake up too early, and go back to bed, i get these "quickie" dreams, where i just get these flashes of dreams with no context, and i usually just remember that i had them, but lose the memory of what they were about. The are often accompanied with sounds, and something that could be described as music. Its like some weird heavy metal music usually, and for people that listen to progressive metal will know what i mean, if i say it sounds like something the band Opeth could do, just multiplied with 10 in weirdness. Also, whispers and voices can be heard at the same time as these quickie dreams.

d) I get these weird twitches also during this same state, and its usually my limbs and body making a short, single twitch, as i snap to reality. They also happen during this same state of "almost sleeping" i experience sometimes, and usually i have a feeling of those twitches being somehow relevant to a dream, but i can rarely put them into context. I've been meaning to ask this for a while, because the happen quite frequently.
After reading about sleep paralysis yesterday, i made a hypothesis that this twitching is a result of me regaining the use of my limbs after the dream has ended. These quickie dreams are so short, that i cant really say whether im paralyzed or not during them, but could it be that the twitch is a result of me trying to move in my quickie dream, and not being able to, until the dream ends. Because it doesnt feel like the twitch is the thing that wakes me up, and instead it feels like the twitch happens after me waking up. I get the odd feeling of "why did i just do that", as if it had been a concious decision to twitch, but that i just couldnt recollect why on earth i would have done that.

So, are these signs of being in the hypnagogic state?

4) False awakenings or something like that

When i wake up before im supposed to, i often experience something that could be called false awakenings. Im fairly(extremely) lazy in the mornings, and getting out of bed is a huge obstacle for me. Often when i wake up before im supposed to, i frantically check the time on my mobile phone every 10 minutes or so, so that i know how long i can still stay in bed. If i have to wake up at 8 AM, and the alarm hasnt sounded, i sometimes think that i have already checked what time it is, even though in reality i havent. I can do this over and over again, and usually the clock actually seems like its moving in real time, and it can show 7:33, then 7:42, then 7:58 etc. The times i notice that i never watched the time, is when the clock actually is less than what i thought it was, but who knows whether this happens to me every morning, and i just dont notice it because sometimes the time i make up and the actual time are similar enough.
So, then when i think i have checked the time at 7:58, and feel weird that the alarm hasnt sounded at 8, when several minutes have gone by, i usually check the time for real. Very often it can be that the time is something like 6:43, and at that time i know that i have never actually checked the time. Its really weird, because i can be awake and totally concious between these periods where i think i have watched the time, and i cant remember a time where these "fake time check" have shown me unrealistic times, like the time being less than what it was previously.
So, is this a "false awakening", if it happens multiple times every morning, with me being 100% awake between these "false time checks". And im definitely sure that its not all just the one same dream, because i know that im definitely awake in between them, and i think that some times i have even gotten out of bed to go to the bathroom between these "false time checks"

Does anyone have any sort of similar experience, or does this only happen to hysterical time checkers like me?


5) I dont think i can convince myself of it being a dream...

Even though my dreams have many recurring themes, i dont think i will be able to ever convince myself of me dreaming. Because usually the question doesnt even pop into my mind when im dreaming, and usually, no matter how freaky the dream might get, i take it on face value, that its real. Usually when i wake up in the middle of a dream, im instantly either relieved or disappointed it ended, and it always feels like what happened was 100% real. I really cant say that i ever remember myself thinking about whether im dreaming or not, and this is a good example:

I've had this recurring dream for probably 15 years, that i see at least once or twice every year. Its a dream where i learn to fly, or at least take really long jumps, and it always goes the same way. Im always showing off this talent to someone, and 15 years ago it was my buddies at 1st grade or something, and nowadays its my family or friends. But im always showing it off to someone.
I walk with usually 2 or 3 people on the sidewalk, and start taking these leaps, that get longer and longer, and i can reach higher and higher with every leap. I cant really fly, but i know i can glide in a way where i can stay in the air for very long times. I never reach too high altitudes, and its usually me leaping, and then gliding very low for a while. I can remember that my buddies are quite disinterested in this, or at least, they are not as amazed as you would expect people to be.
The thing that has to do with my worry about not being able to recognize that im dreaming is this: Everytime i see this dream, i know that its not the first time it has happened, and i even think that i have the correct sense of knowing aproximately how many times ive done it before, and the last time i saw the dream(3 months ago), i remember knowing that i used to do this when i was a kid. The bad part is, that even if i get confused in the dream, it never occurs to me that i might be dreaming. The thing i start to question is something else, and i always wonder why i dont do this flying all the time, and always get the feeling like i have been constantly wondering how to once again be able to fly. Its like a lightbulb goes in my head, and i think: "Ah...this is how it was done. No way im going to forget how its done this time!!!"
So, i clearly remeber being puzzled why i cant do this all the time, and i know that for some reason i always forget how to do it.

I mean, talk about a dream sign! It shouldnt get any easier than that to connect the dots, and realise that i must be dreaming, but i cant ever remember the thought even crossing my mind during the dreams. Then when i wake up, im so disappointed that it was just a dream, once again, and i quickly stop thinking about it. The dream occurs so rarely, that if i hadnt read about dreams yesterday, i dont think the dream would have even crossed my mind before the next time i see it.

Do you think its possible for me to start questioning that dream once it happens the next time, even though the thought hasnt even crossed my mind the last 30 times ive seen the dream, despite me wondering every time why i cant do this all the time?



I think these questions will do for now