Normal Dreams About Lucidity

Ok, I know this sounds weird. I have been trying to lucid dream for a few months now, and a few weeks ago i got a lucid dream, and another one the day after. The thing is, I'm not sure if they were actual lucid dreams. In the dreams, i literally said "I'm dreaming," and started controlling people around me and all of that, but i don't really feel as if i'm the one choosing what to do.

I know this is really confusing. I'm not really sure how to explain it.
Basically what i'm asking is, is it possible to have a non-lucid dream about being lucid?

If there is any confusion PLEASE don't hesitate to ask so I can try to explain a little better :)

This has happened to me so often I came up with my own acronym for these kind of dreams: DAWA, "Dream Awareness Without Agency."

From my own experience, it seems like genuine lucidity is composed of more than the mere awareness of the dream state. I have plenty of non-lucid dreams in which I comment to someone on the fact that I'm dreaming or even make decisions based on it, but just as you describe, "I don't really feel as if I'm the one choosing what to do," that is, I'm not conscious of my own agency. Because of this lack of agency, I don't make the same kinds of decisions as I would if I were fully lucid, such as remembering to work on my current projects or tasks, and instead just tend to follow along with the dream narrative, much like in an ordinary non-lucid dream.

Because of this, I've started to look at genuine lucidity as a two-level state of awareness: awareness of the dream state is necessary but not sufficient, and must be supplemented by conscious agency before a dream feels fully lucid. And perhaps I shouldn't even use the term "fully lucid," since the more experience I have with lucidity, the less it feels like a binary state and more like one that admits of an extraordinary variety of degree.

I would have to agree with Verre, where she surmises that Dreaming has an 'extraordinary variety of degree.' I have experienced dreams along a frequency ranging from;

1 - completely non-lucid, no awareness of self present [no awareness]

2 - my 'dream self' possesses a rudimentary awareness of the dream state in that it notes 'I am dreaming, so I'll change this bad thing into a good thing', however I have no awareness, it feels no different to dreaming that my table is walking and talking and I note 'oh, look at the table' without thinking it's strange [rudimentary dream awareness]

3 - I experience a situation and do not seem aware of how much control I have, so instead of completely leaving a bad situation and creating a desirable one, I merely change one aspect of it (e.g. I am being bullied and I make him leave whilst I stay, instead of just going to a tropical island with my ideal lover) [dream awareness]

4 - Full awareness of the fact I am dreaming, and awareness of self. I have complete control over every aspect of the dream, and can do anything I want, or be anywhere I want, with whomever I want. [full dream awareness, full self awareness]

This means you are extremely close to turn lucid!

Awesome job! You will soon be lucid :)

A lucid dream is any dream in which you realize that you are dreaming. Controlling your surroundings does not make one lucid, as you can do that in a non-lucid dream. If you realized you were dreaming while you were dreaming, then you were lucid--it's truly as simple as that.

You have to understand that some would say that there are different "levels" of lucidity, and those same people would say that you're merely experiencing semi-lucid dreams.

As long as you've realized you were dreaming, you were lucid . . . but you may not have been "as lucid" as it is possible to get.