Couple of newb questions

[Fattoxthegreat]

Hello DV world! I recently found this site after a spontaneous googling of "Lucid Dream" and thought I'd try this stuff out for myself. It's been about a week since I started actually trying to attain lucidity and have experienced a few things I'd like clarity on. Just for reference, from what I can gather, I have Recalled about 8 dreams in the last six days, I'm not sure if that's adequate or not. Alright, first question is of something that occurred last night. I was going to try WILD (I think, could be WBTB), so I set my alarm for about three hours after I went to bed. I then re-awoke because of it's ringing but didn't actually turn it off. I just let it auto snooze. I remember thinking, man, I didn't dream, what a let down. I laid there waiting or it to go off again....but what seemed like 5 minutes passed and nothing...what's wrong, I thought. Then I checked the time again an d it was actually 15 minutes before it was supposed to go off. This blew my mind because I new I had dreamed it going off, but it was sooo real, I even felt the minute vibrations on the bed of the vibrator (it was my phone...). So my question is, though painfully obvious, whether this was a false awakening or some other technical term I'm unaware of? My next question is what constitutes a "dream"? When someone says they recalled three dreams last night...how do they know? Is a dream just per storyline. How do you know it wasn't just one dream that changed? I've been curious about this since I started but just want clarification. I base my aforementioned DR count on the per storyline idea. Thanks!

[Saturos]

I will usually wake up after I have finished a dream, so that is how I know.

[KingYoshi]

Yes, you had a false awakening. They can be extremely realistic sometimes. Often times I wake up and know for sure that I am awake. I then do an RC and boom! I'm really dreaming. Then I will look around the room and see some strange things and wonder, "Why did I think this was real?" Dreams (to me anyway) are separated by actual awakenings. If I have a false awakening, I still consider that part of the dream I was having beforehand. Hope that helped some.

[Fattoxthegreat]

Cool. After perusing the forums here for a week or so, I have noticed that some people consider an FA to be either a form of, or an actual LD. What's the general consensus on this?

[Baron Samedi]

FA's and LD's are two totally different things. A false awakening simply means that you have a dream about waking up. Sometimes people become lucid after an FA, but not always. It's good to get into the habit of doing RC's after every time you wake up, so you will end up doing it after having FA's also.

[Kordan]

I usually think of a dream as a path of storyline, or several paths that somehow meld into eachother, or in other words: a dream is whatever happens between periods of "blackness" or just a general void or no dreams. For example, I may have a dream that I'm interacting with characters from a book, then I could just be sitting in my kitchen, then I could be somewhere physically impossible, then (continues...) until I get to where there is no "imagery" or other sensory input.

[KingYoshi]

Cool. After perusing the forums here for a week or so, I have noticed that some people consider an FA to be either a form of, or an actual LD. What's the general consensus on this? FAs are very common in LDs. An FA is a part of an LD, it is an obstacle really. It is just another way your mind tries to trick you and remove you from your lucid. FAs aren't lucids themselves, but like I said before, I don't separate dreams by FAs. I separate dreams by true awakenings.

[Mancon]

I would get into the habit of doing a Reality Check each time you wake up so if you have a FA then you will know.

[Fattoxthegreat]

FAs are very common in LDs. An FA is a part of an LD, it is an obstacle really. It is just another way your mind tries to trick you and remove you from your lucid. FAs aren't lucids themselves, but like I said before, I don't separate dreams by FAs. I separate dreams by true awakenings. So in the time that I looked at my phone to check the time during that false awakening, I probably had six or seven fingers? Eww, I have no idea why, but that is one of the biggest things I fear when it comes to success: looking down and seeing a messed up hand. It's not gonna stop me though, I will get there! Thanks for the elaboration. And @ Mancon, I have been trying my damnedest to make that habitual. I also have a DVD player that always says "PLAY" (I'm just too lazy to turn it off), and I always look at that when I wake up.

[KingYoshi]

I also have a DVD player that always says "PLAY" (I'm just too lazy to turn it off), and I always look at that when I wake up. That actually can be a good defense against FAs. Make sure you look at it, look away, and then look at it once again though. Text changes alot in dreams so this could most definately work. Like I said though, look at it, look away, and look back several times to make sure you aren't dreaming. Good Luck.

[CarmineEternity]

You should set your alarm a few more hours later. 3 hours after sleep is not an ideal time to WILD. Also, your dream recall is pretty good. Better than mine, I know I can say that. I used to think I remembered 4 or so dreams a night, but those were actually just different scenes from the same dream. Good luck in your lucid endeavors!