Have I had a lucid dream? Or was I just dreaming about having one?

Here's one experience I've had and I haven't quite found a similiar one here yet (even though some interesting cases close to mine)

I was dreaming one time and after a few moments I also realized that I was dreaming.
Being interested about lucid dreaming and having read some articles about it before I thought: Well, this is my chance.
I tried to alter the dream and it seemed to work. I was in some rooms with my boyfriend. It reminded me of a museum. In the dream, I could make the walls change their colour and things like that. Everytime I felt like I was kind of losing the dream, I held my boyfriend's hand a little bit tighter. And there I was again. We walked through all of the rooms and I showed my boyfriend what I could do. In the end, we kissed each other (even though I knew getting too excited would wake me up).
Then I woke up, confused, and said to my boyfriend: Woah, I think I just had a lucid dream!

And then I woke up for real.

So my question now is: Have I really had a lucid dream? Or have I just, well, dreamed about it?

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Originally Posted by MaryJ91

I was dreaming one time and after a few moments I also realized that I was dreaming.

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Yes. This is the single factor in having a lucid dream...knowing you are dreaming.

It seems you have also experienced a false awakening (FA) where you seem to wake up but actually are still asleep. It's rather common and can get particularly frustrating/unsettling when you wake up over and over and over again just to discover you are still asleep.

The best advice for this kind of experience is to make it a habit to RC every morning immediately after waking. When it becomes second nature you have the opportunity to turn every false awakening into lucid dreams!

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Originally Posted by RebelSeven

Yes. This is the single factor in having a lucid dream...knowing you are dreaming.

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Hey, I also have a question. I had a lucid dream a while ago and I think it was a lucid dream because I realized I was dreaming. I watched my hands because I did that while I was awake. So when I realized I was dreaming I stared to do stuff that I always wanted to do in a dream (waterbending/firebending etc, google it if you don't know what that is). My skills were very basic but I remember some details about that dream but not very many (I feel like it wasn't me totally under full consciousness in that dream, it was something I had planned what I wanted to do in a dream). But everything seems so blurry from that dream. So my question is, can lucid dreams be more detailed and not so blurry? Does this blurriness come from dream recalling? If im able to recall dreams better, will they be more detailed etc?
(was that even a lucid dream?)

Thanks for your insight!

I haven't heard of the false awakening before. In my case, it felt totally real even though I woke up in a room I couldn't remeber seeing it before. That's why I was very confused when I woke up for real. Maybe next time I will remember it and continue my lucid adventure.

As for the lucid dreaming in general, I think it is a rather philosophical question for me. I was just wondering about that lucid dreaming is, of course, a dream. So how can we ever know if we really control our dreams or if it is just an illusion? Of course, this s the beginning of questioning our whole existence which is not what I want to.

Maybe I should just be fine with knowing that if a dream does what I think of, I am lucid dreaming. Do you know if that weird "dreamy" feeling will go away with more experience in lucid dreaming? When I get more experienced and thus more comfortable at lucid dreaming, will the lucid dreams feel more "real"? Or am I just missing the whole point?

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Originally Posted by Knuff

So my question is, can lucid dreams be more detailed and not so blurry? Does this blurriness come from dream recalling? If im able to recall dreams better, will they be more detailed etc?

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This is about the same question as I postet in my first response. I'm happy to know that I'm not the only one wondering. I think the blurriness can come from dream recalling but it kind of felt blurry in the dream itself to. As I said, when it got "blurrier" I held my boyfriend's hand to get it clearer. I wonder how that worked, too.

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Originally Posted by Knuff

So my question is, can lucid dreams be more detailed and not so blurry? Does this blurriness come from dream recalling? If im able to recall dreams better, will they be more detailed etc?
(was that even a lucid dream?)

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Yes :) it was a lucid dream. The only requirement for a dream to be a lucid dream is being aware of the fact that you are truly asleep and in a dream. That being said, lucidity is a full spectrum, not just a switch that is "on" or "off". So you can have lucid dreams that are blurry and non-vivid.

There are a lot of techniques designed to help dreamers solidify their dreams and bring them more clarity and lucidity. These stabilization techniques are usually simple, like rubbing your hands together quickly, telling the dream out-loud "Be more vivid, NOW", and touching surfaces and objects around you. I find an important habit to develop is taking a second, when you first become lucid, to fully think about the fact that your body is in your bed, unconscious. That everything around you is a projection of your mind and a product of your thoughts. This usually sharpens my lucidity significantly.

Also, clearer lucidity and better dream recall usually go hand in hand, as you get better at one the other improves, so you can't go wrong trying to develop both skills in tandem.

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Originally Posted by MaryJ91

As for the lucid dreaming in general, I think it is a rather philosophical question for me. I was just wondering about that lucid dreaming is, of course, a dream. So how can we ever know if we really control our dreams or if it is just an illusion? Of course, this s the beginning of questioning our whole existence which is not what I want to.

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You are asking the right questions! The philosophy of dreaming is definitely one of the most interesting topics out there imo.
I take it this way: In both lucid and non-lucid dreams the things you see and interact with have no physical reality, they are both projections of your mind and memories. Therefore "trying to control" the dream is impossible, because it's already controlled by you. The illusion is then in your non-lucid dreams. The illusion that you do not have control and can only simply "react" to the dream. My conclusion is that lucidity is actually just overcoming the lie that the whole world around you is apart from you, or out of your control.

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Maybe I should just be fine with knowing that if a dream does what I think of, I am lucid dreaming. Do you know if that weird "dreamy" feeling will go away with more experience in lucid dreaming? When I get more experienced and thus more comfortable at lucid dreaming, will the lucid dreams feel more "real"? Or am I just missing the whole point?

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Keep in mind that dream control and being lucid are two different things entirely. I have had countless dreams where I had complete control but was utterly unaware that I was dreaming (therefore non-lucid) and also lucids that I had no control over whatsoever.

And yes, you can definitely have lucid dreams that are astoundingly real. In some ways they can feel even more real than reality itself. (which may seem like a contradiction but you can find hundreds or thousands of examples of other lucid dreamers saying the same thing) The total awareness of a high-level lucid dream is arguably a spiritual experience.

Though "That dreamy feeling" is an interesting topic. Even in the highest levels of lucidity there is this quality to your mind that is uniquely dream-like. This abstract impression is actually reliable enough to use as a reality check, and most of those famous dreamers that achieve lucidity literally every night claim to do it by recognizing this feeling.