# Lucid Dreaming > Attaining Lucidity > Induction Techniques >  >  I wake up after I realize I'm dreaming

## PatrickMcgann

I wasn't exactly sure where to post this so I decided that this was the closest section. Anyway, I had my first lucid dream last night (since I started trying to have one). I was in a dream just doing weird dream things when I suddenly realized that I was in a dream. Almost immediately the dreamscape blurred and vanished and I ended up in some sort of limbo. Normally this would probably be caused by either over excitement or the subconscious belief that as soon as you become aware, the dream ends. However I stayed calm once I realized that it was a dream and I believed that as soon as I became lucid I would continue on and do things. Also as soon as the dream started blurring I tried to bring my hands up to stabilize the dream but it vanished within a second of awareness and all I was left with was a vague image of my hands in limbo. i tried to return to the dream but I couldn't so I eventually surrendered and went back to sleep. Thinking back I should have tried a DEILD but it didn't occur to me then. 

I'm wondering why I lost the dream as soon as I gained it and how, for future reference, to prevent it happening again.

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## dolphin

When you became lucid, you became aware you were dreaming, but you lost awareness of the dream itself. All that exists in a dream is what you're paying attention to. So, if you're paying attention to nothing in the dream except your hands, only your hands will exist in the dream. 

This can happen easily as it can be tough to maintain awareness of the dream. It becomes easier with practice, though!

When the dream becomes blurry the best thing you can do is focus on the current dream scene until it becomes vivid. If you black out but are still dreaming, you can focus on a new dream scene until it's created.

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## PatrickMcgann

Thanks

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## MrOMGWTF

Your brain has a sort of security mechanism when dreaming - once you become lucid, it tries to trick you into believing that you just woke up. From what I've heard it happens to everyone. For me it happens like this:
1. Realize I'm lucid.
2. Dream destabilizes, everything gets shaky, get sort of dizzy, black out.
3. Find myself back in my bed.

When I first started lucid dreaming, I'd be tricked at step 3, and I'd just go back to sleep. But not now. Even though I know it's still a dream, it's very difficult to move in that dream. So here's my tip for you: rub your hands. Just keep rubbing them in your dream. Even if you get teleported into a vast nothingness of space, you'll still feel the rubbing of your hands, and it gives you an idea as to where your body is located... if that makes sense. Your dream should start stabilizing with each second. I usually then jump out of my window, and enjoy my lucid dream. Thanks to this hand rubbing, I now have 30 minutes lucid dreams, instead of 1 minute ones.

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