Newcomer at the ready!

[MaverickUK]

Hi all, I have been interested in lucid dreaming for quite some years now, however after trying for a while i completely gave up and just watched my dreams from 3rd person perspective and gone along with whatever is happening. I was talking to my friend the other day about lucid dreaming, he thought i was obviously talking rubbish fairytales - so i looked up lucid dreaming and it brought me here, to you guys! Anyway i have a few questions that maybe some of the more experienced lucid dreamers can help me out with. 1) Basically, i think in almost all of my dreams i know that i am dreaming and i try to alter the environment around me but if i try too hard, i wake up - why? 2) If i'm aware i am dreaming, does this mean i'm lucid? 3) Lots of times when i know i'm dreaming i try and look at my hands, but i don't have any hands or i just can't see them - why is this? 4) I have (many times) had circumstances where i'm in a dream and someone would say, call my mobile phone and in my dream i have a phone in my pocket and as soon as i answer it i wake up and realise my phone is ringing in real life - why? 5) I can hear the outside World sometimes when i'm in a dream. I am asleep, but i can hear the real World at the same time (i.e. if someone is outside going past my window talking etc) - why? 6) When i wake up sometimes i can go back to sleep within say 5 minutes or so and my dream just carrys on where it left off. When i awake i know i have been dreaming and i know aspects of my dream so i usually try and go back to sleep to carry on with the dream but don't seem to be able to have control - why? 7) Whilst lucid, i have the mental power to wake myself up when and as i wish - i assume this is normal? For example if i know i am dreaming and i know i have to wake up at x time the following morning i can wake myself up to check the time and then go back to sleep and carry on dreaming. I'm sorry for all the questions but i don't see how else i could get my answers other than from you guys. You could say i'm new to the whole lucid dreaming, but i've been doing it for quite a while without even realising i'm in a lucid dream or what a lucid dream is. Thank you in advance guys, i look forward to speaking to you all! Regards, Nick.