Still not sure I´m awake

I had the single most vivid dream of my life last night. It all look place over the span of maybe 3 hours, but it seemed like years had past. I kept shifting in and out of lucidity and had many false awakenings. I even had recurring dreams within the dream. It´s been a while since I´ve tried to become lucid, and this one hit me out of nowhere. I can´t remember it all, but I´ll share what I can remember.

Some friends and I flew to Dublin, Ireland to spend a few days. It was some kind of party. The sky was beautiful as we were leaving. The most spectacular sunset I´d ever seen. (I was in Dublin a few months ago, and did see some beautiful sunsets and have a picture of one of them as my wallpaper on my computer, this is likely what triggered this part of the dream).

I fell into a series of recurring dreams. In these dreams I would walk up a set of stairs, find an ornate red lantern, approximately 2 feet tall sitting on the ground. As I walked further, I kept encountering people wearing red shirts. They grabbed their shirts and told me to remember. I realized that it was a mnemonic, and that they were trying to get me to reality check. Each time I would become lucid I would have a false awakening soon afterwards. Eventually I became lucid just upon seeing the lantern. I pointed at it and made it levitate. I continued onwards, making people and things disappear. After a while some dogs started running at me and attacking me. I very calmly picked up a snake and turned it into a branch to fend off the dogs. Then I turned it into a sword and started cutting the dogs in half. I continued on, determined to find the interesting character in my dream (a friend and I had convinced ourselves we were dreaming while awake, and that we needed to find the interesting character). I kept making characters disappear until I came across a man with a piercing gaze. I told him he was the important character. He cast me a wry smile and sparks crackled in his eyes. Everything disappeared and we were standing in a cloud-like space. He spread out like a deck of cards being swiped across a table, dividing into numerous people (like a painting of the Hindu pantheon). He led me up a stair case to were a woman with 8 arms was clinging like a spider to the inside of bubble. She was casting objects down at us, and I realized that this wasn´t what I was looking for. I told myself it was just Coyote (The Native American mythological figure) playing tricks on me.

I had a false awakening and was on a couch in a human knot with a bunch of women. There was one woman with whom I felt sexual tension, but I knew that it was a bad idea to get involved with her because she bring drama into my life. I don´t remember much else about this part of the dream. I think that there was a wedding about to happen.

I had another false awakening and quickly became semi-lucid. I saw more people in red shirts. I had the feeling that I had to go down a canyon for something.

I had another false awakening and met a woman. I told her that I was afraid I was still dreaming. I paid attention to my senses, trying to determine if it was real. I grabbed handfuls of dirt and sifted them through my hands. The sensation was real. I held her, and smelled her hair. She smelled real.

She rode me like a horse. That´s not a euphemism. In this dream, women used men as a means of transportation.

I kept trying to wake up, and at some points was semi-aware of the real world around me.

Eventually I did wake up (I think), but could not convince myself it was real.

Well this is most certainty real. If it wasn't real you would be a DC in my dream XD

Besides do some reality checks to prove it to yourself. Also look back and forth at this text and notice how it doesn't change.

thanks for sharing its a graeat story. all i know is that when i cant fly im back to reality :) it sounds a little like parts of my dream last night. i was in a massive bed with loads of other people. more relaxing than sexual really but just really really nice and comfortable. also when not in bed i had a pen of young crocodiles to look after who kept on crawling out from under the fence :D

ive also had a reccuring dream a little like yours and im still to figure out what it is about but its amazing non the less

Indeed, try doing RCs and the like to prove it is real right now.
Also, only that many FAs? Thats nothing!

Zebrah,

I did do some Reality Checks, but they don´t work as well for me as they used to. What I have been doing lately is paying attention to my senses and trying to find a problem, so I will feel something with a unique texture, smell things, listen carefully, but my dreams have become so vivid that there isn´t any sensory difference. Continuity is the best reality check though. If I stay in the same story line without dramatic shifts, I know that I´m awake. I think, however that having that feeling of uncertainty is a good thing. It allows me to question the true nature of reality.

You mentioned people grabbing their red shirts and telling you to remember. Have you been using the mnemonic that when you see red you will remember to reality check? Because I seen someone else mention this one time and it seems sensible considering red is not so common of a color as most and isnt around you constantly. lol

Atkins,

I have used that as a mnemonic before, but I haven´t been trying to be lucid in a while. I think that my mind was trying to make me lucid and that´s why dream characters kept doing that. It´s the first time that my dream characters have acted that way. All in all, a very weird dream.

I really hope you aren't serious about not being able to tell that you are AWAKE right now.

When in doubt...do not pull the trigger. :facepalm:

I´m awake. But at one point in my dream, I was sure I was awake. I jumped up and celebrated, only to be greeted with the truth. When I first woke up I really wasn´t sure.

Ah, but aren't all non-lucids like that? You think you are awake, only difference is yours seemed more real, but not so much.