Thread: Titles are hard, but this was my first solid lucid

I usually don't share dreams, I think "who cares," but I felt so good about this one that I really want to share it, if nothing else to maybe motivate some people who aren't quite there yet with lucid dreaming (like me), to keep trying and don't give up. After this, I can only try to imagine what awaits me in the dream world.

Today I had what I would describe as my first "solid" lucid dream. This is a very important step for me, and I will try to remember this dream, especially the moment when I became lucid.

As a preface, I think it is important to state that I went to bed at 10 PM, and awoke in the middle of the night, at about 4 or 5 PM. I didn't check the clock, but due to previous experience I believe this is a good assumption. I didn't get up, however, and began sleeping soon afterwards again, waking up at about 7:20 for the second time. I don't remember very well, but I would say the dream took place entirely on the second sleep.

In the dream I was in some sort of "park", or "hotel". There was a very large main building, resembling a shopping mall, and it even had some sort of train station. This place was simply an entrance or resting place, and was connected to what seemed to me like the big attraction, and the place where most of the action took place: behind the big building was a huge field with lots of small houses randomly dotted around. The whole place was arid, and the houses seemed really old. Connecting the houses were paths of dirt, some were even inside small trenches with walls of stacked stones. The houses themselves were often a single room, some bedrooms, some bathrooms, some living rooms, and some completely empty. It was really weird, since all the houses seemed similar, but each house had its own atmosphere (down to its own unnatural lighting), when you got inside. Some were very dark, when outside was plain day.

I don't know what the point of that place was, but there were a ton of people around here. I can't give you numbers, but I don't remember ever being alone in there, not even when walking around from house to house. There was always someone (often many people), in the same path as me. Age wise, the people were mostly my age (young adults), with some exceptions of some older people (but not by much). My guess after the fact, is that it was some sort of place where you could just do whatever you wanted with whoever you wanted. I'm not familiar with any rules, though there might've been some. Of couse your dear author, being the classy gentleman he is, was trying to get laid. Spoilers: he failed.

I walked around the place, trying my best to achieve my goal. I saw lots of people and visited lots of houses, all of them with someone inside. The place was very lively, and in each house it was not unusual to find three or more people. I went on with this for what seemed like hours, maybe even days, but eventually I got tired (or frustrated), and decided to walk around the big building to think about the whole situation. I was walking in front of the suposed train station, and I remember thinking to myself something along the lines of "this could be a dream," and then, bright as day it hit me. I thought "that's it! This is a dream." I didn't even do a reality check or anything, I just felt it in my bones at first. I don't even know why I was so sure that it was a dream. Maybe I was subconsciously assessing the previous events as very unlikely, or maybe I just don't remember myself analizing the situation. Soon after the thought I had pretty good confirmation, as my surroundings started to get wavy and out of focus, I felt myself slipping away. I remembered what I had said to myself and read a ton of times before "try to keep calm," and I did. I did like a champion. I stopped and focused on the black armature holding the TV right over the exit of the train station. I remember looking around and focussing on some things, like the beautiful, blue mosaic floor, for instance.

Soo after I began trying to focus everything went back to normal and I could really look around and try to make something out of this situation. I looked up at a sign that said something I can't remember, but I do remember reading it clear as day, it was amazing. I remembered reading that many people had trouble reading in dreams, but those words were clear as can be, even though I don't remember what it said (the most I remember is that it had a W in there somewhere.) I thought about doing something "dreamy" and decided to make a guy in the hallway disapear. I said something like "you! You're gone," and poof, he just vanished. I remember thinking this was really cool. After this I went outside to test my newly acquired powers further, and to use them to aid me in my chivalrous quest, remembering to, for the first time, try to breath with my nose plugged as I ran for the exit. It was amazing.

Once outside again, I kind of lost track of what my original goal was, I guess. I wonder if somewhere along the dream I actually forgot I was dreaming, but didn't forget I had dream powers. I made a ton of people disapear spontaneously, and even tried to make some appear. I remember trying to make a specific girl which got lost from me appear, and remembering that usually it is hard to just materialize something out of thin air, so I just went in circles around a rock, trying to make her be there as I turned. If I recal, it didn't work. So yeah, things were pretty eventful for what seemed like a couple of hours again. Now that I think about it, I don't think I lost the reasoning of "I'm actually sleeping," I just think my goals got buried in the many activities I took part in. I don't remember ever having less than 3 people with me during that time, and those people often changed. Eventually I remember entering a small house that was a simple, empty room. There was about 10 other people in there, and there was a guy in the middle of the room we were all circling. I tried making him disapear, and I did, but something unexpected happened: from the middle of the room, all kinds of small, furry animals started appearing and running in circles after one another. Things like racoons, small dogs, even squirels, it was pretty weird. I remember trying to make them disapear, and while I could do that I couldn't stop more from coming. After that I don't remember anything, but I take it that we all drowned in a sea of small, furry, cute creatures.

I am really proud of this. Even though it wasn't perfect, this was like a green light that said "ok, this world is available. Let the exploration begin," and it really dissolved many of my fears and insecurities about lucid dreaming. I remember having amazing visual and thought clarity. I don't have much memory of how my other senses behaved (I have a faint memory of someone touching me, but I think I remember even at the time thinking it didn't seem solid), so this is something I want to really look into, and work for. I am also particularly happy with how much I could actually remember from when awake. As for the length of the dream, it's not usual for me to have big (or seemingly big), dreams, but I know usually people don't experience this. I'm aware that the dream was probably very fragmented, but keeping continuity and time in general might be something I also want to experiment with.

About the time, do you think it is feasible to extend sleep (and dreams) for long periods of time? In my case, sleeping about 6 hours for the first sleep period is not too uncommon, so I was not really tired when I went back to sleep the second time. Could those 2 hours have been 2 hours of just dreaming? What are your general experiences/observations related to time?

I think that's everything. I hope the story was at least a little bit entertaining, and again, if you're someone new to this like me, do not give up.