I have been able to remember my dreams for years now, but I never tried to have a lucid dream, although I had heard about it. Last night, I decided to give it a try. I consulted wikipedia and decided to use the MILD method after sleeping for 5 hours and staying awake for 1 hour. Before I went to sleep, I was thinking about lucid dreaming. While I was falling asleep, I would daydream and think to myself, "I'm dreaming", but nothing would happen. Eventually, I began a real dream, and remembered thinking that what was going on was bizzare. Then I thought to myself, "I'm dreaming", and achieved lucidity for the first time. I only remember being in front of a large, blue, ghost like entity. I feel like I was watching in third person but I am not entirely sure. Immediately after this, my ears began ringing, and my dream was replaced by bright white light. I was in a state of fear and panic, and woke up as if from a nightmare. This experience was very unexpected and unpleasant. Even more unexpected was that I had achieved lucidity on my first try, and without using the method that I intended to use. I also felt that I gained consciousness that I was dreaming the moment my dream began.

I guess this leads me to a question for you more experienced people out there-I am interested in controlling my dreams but I do not want to experience these unpleasant sensations again. What are the odds of them occurring again?

Was this an uncommon occurance for a first LD, and do you think that this blue ghost I saw was my dream or hypnagogic imagery?