Yeah, I have had a similar awareness in my dreams for a good while now. I have yet to turn it into consistent results wrt lucid dreaming proper, but I do act on it in subtle ways even when not 'really' lucid. If a dream is enjoyable, but seems to be nearing its end, I will try to avoid doing things that might awaken me, and if a dream is nightmareish, I will experience little to no fear, because I know in the back of my mind that I can just awaken myself if the experience gets really unpleasant. If something happens in a dream that would have adverse consequences on my life if it actually occured, I might either avoid worrying about it because I know it will be fine upon waking up from the dream, or stop for a second and think about the consequences (this one sometimes results in 'proper' lucidity). That sort of thing. Sometimes the awareness is more clear, and sometimes less.

This dim awareness seems to be gradually growing in intensity, leading me to hope that I can someday use it to my advantage in a more substantial way.