At the cusp of lucidity

I had my first lucid experience today, a few minutes ago. I've been browsing this place for a while now but I finally feel like I have something worthwhile to post.

I dreamed that I was playing a video game with a Playstation 3 controller, in which I was controlling a little drone-- although I don't remember actually looking at a TV screen. It could fly really quickly and nimbly, and could lock on to any target with green square lockon tech. I was flying over a highway in an alpine region, but the environment didn't stand out to me too much. Eventually, I was left holding the controller and actually flying through the air. It was exhilerating and I could feel every motion as though I was actually there. The sound of the drone was still there, and it sounded like an electric shaver in a ceramic bowl. After a few minutes of this, however, I thought I might be dreaming. I started experimenting with control, and found I could do what I wanted and fly wherever I wanted to go. At that point, I pinched my nose and realized I could still breathe. I got really excited because I was becoming lucid,so I closed my eyes to breathe deeply and try and do a dream spin. At this point, however, everything unraveled and when I opened my eyes reality was flickering back around me. I made sure it wasn't a false awakening, but I was indeed awake.

GAH. I was so close, and I was definitely lucid for a short period of time. I had been trying different lucid dreaming techniques for a while now, but it was the reality check and a few personal dream signs that finally clued me in. How did you get over that initial excitement, o seasoned veterans of the veil?

That was a lucid dream, regardless of how short it was. You could be lucid for half a second and then wake up, but it still counts. Congratulations! :banana:

As for the initial excitement, it ebbs over time. Once you have a couple more LDs, you shouldn't become so excited that you'll wake up.

Some people think that as you have more and more LDs, you can become more excited without waking up. Most of the lucids I have now involve me freaking out and running around with some basic tactile and visual stabilization - rubbing my hands and looking around me, maybe feeling the floor.

Awesome! Thanks for the advice and encouragement :>

I've gotten really close a few times before, only to have the butterflies in my stomach drive me to waking.

I'll try some of those stabilization techniques, although feeling the floor would probably have been hard considering I was about 300 feet above it :P

Sorry to double-post, but I used the trick that you recommended, Puffin, and I managed to keep my lucidity! You're awesome!

I tried the WBTB technique when I woke up around 6 am. I recalled the dream that I had right before I woke up (where I was hanging out with the president and we decided to have a race around the world), and then I told myself that when I saw certain things in that dream I would realize that I was dreaming.

When I fell back asleep, I noticed that some things didn't seem realistic, and I tried to pinch my nose. Realizing that I could breathe, I got really excited, and so I started rubbing my hands together. That kept me asleep. I wasn't where I wanted to be, so I did a dream spin and when I opened my eyes I was upstairs in my house. I tried to turn on a light, but it didn't do anything-- which helped to confirm that this was, indeed, a lucid dream. As I turned around a corner, I knew that the light would be on-- and it was. That was really, really exciting! It wasn't the most epic thing to ever happen, but it was my first ever proof of principle that I had dream control.

As I went down into my basement I told myself that my first ever ex-girlfriend was going to be waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. Dunno why I chose her, I guess because I never really got over her. She was, and we had a great time talking and things started to get, uh, hot and heavy. Unfortunately, I started to lose control at this point and I forgot that I was dreaming lucidly. My grandmother came down into the basement and totally ****blocked me, which really upset me. She just sat there talking about inane things and totally killed the mood. At this point, I woke up, and wasn't able to get back into the LD state.

It ended poorly, but it was a very cool experience! Thanks again for your help, you're amazing :D

Oops, haven't checked on this thread in a while. :P

I'm glad I was able to help! As for your grandmother, you can always dismiss her like any other DC. Say something like "hey, I'm dreaming, you can be here another time. Please go away." Expect her to either say "all right" and walk away, or just ignore her.