# Lucid Dreaming > General Lucid Discussion >  >  Waking up, going back to sleep, continuing the dream!

## WolfySnackrib

Does this happen to anyone else? Sometimes when I've slept really well and am in the middle of having a dream and I suddenly wake up but I'm so tired I go back to sleep within a minute, then I sometimes actually pick my dream up where I left off. Does this happen to anyone else?

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## Theresa

Yes, all the time. I'm learning to do it intentionally, because sometimes it allows me to become lucid when I re-enter the dream.

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## Wolffe

I actually find it quite hard to do this! I've only managed to willingfully do it once or twice, and not very successfully! Wish I could though, its so useful for becoming lucid.

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## Theresa

I find that it only works if you do it less than five minutes after waking up. You can't become too awake. 
What I usually do is close my eyes and picture the last scene I saw in my dream, as vividly as I can. Try to replay any sounds you heard in the dream, and remember how you felt. Eventually, I'll look around and I'll be back in the dream, not just picturing it! 
Give it a shot if you haven't already; I find it's quite reliable.

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## resonate

yea thats how i had my first real LD, and after that i got the hang of it i had like 5 in a row that morning. i've tried it a couple of times again, but it works best for me when i wake up striaght from a dream instead of coming to, like if my alarm goes off or something. just put yourself back in the dream.

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## Amethyst Star

That's happened to me to a degree, though I haven't been able to do it since I learned about LDing... funny how that works  :tongue2: 

Anyway, the official term for it is dream re-entry.  When I would have a particularly interesting or vivid dream I would try to "finish it" by laying in bed and visualizing how I would like the dream to continue.  Sometimes it would take me back into the dream, but I would usually lose control and it would go back into a normal dream.  I thought it was a great imaginative exercise, though.

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## Asclepius

I've just had this once in last 3 months.

I try to practise MILD every night.  So I'm surprised that it doesn't happen more frequently for me.

More common for me is for a dream one night to refer to events in a dream from an earlier night.  This happens once every week or two for me.

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## aenima

I can do that pretty much whenever I want, if I wake up in the morning. I just imagine carrying on the dream in my head, and it turns into a dream without me realising. It doesnt turn lucid though.

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## TravisE

I only know of one incident (which I recorded in a journal) about a decade ago where I had that happen purely by accident (it was a neat dream to me at the time). I would like to try that eventually, but I haven't yet remembered to do it. My main concern is whether, if I decide to attempt continuing a dream I just had instead of taking notes about it like I usually do, I run the risk of forgetting the dream entirely (or almost entirely) if I fail. I don't like to lose dreams I remember upon waking!

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## lord soth

yep, i've done it to LDs before too, except they can keep going like a skipping stone, shallower and shallower, in both length of time and depth of the dream. until i wake up.

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## Axis

This has started to happen to me *WolfySnackrib*. But my dreams are mostly over a longer time, about a month or two apart before they pick up again.


- Axis

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## ShYne123

Yeah this is hard for me too, i will fall asleep invisioning my dream, and i have a COMPLETLY different one.

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## MattReynolds

I have unintentionally re-entered a dream twice now and I INSTANTLY become lucid, even if i dont even realize that I re-entered the dream.

I would really love to be able to do this intentionally.

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## Trocious

Yes, this has happened to me more than once.

I remember on one occasion, I was in an Action dream.  This dream didn't go so well, I messed up in many places and I died.  I woke up then.  In a groggy state, not really knowing what was happening, I promised myself to have the same dream but make sure everything went right.

Well, I had the exact same dream... this time I knew when the bad things were going to happen would kill me, so I avoided those.  I dodged bullets, left buildings before they exploded, and took all the right streets.  

It was quite amazing actually... almost like going back in time and fixing the mistakes you made... What a great night that was!

You could consider it a lucid dream but I don't, just an odd happening of consciousness.

-Troc

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