TheoryCat

After trying to lucid dream for the past two weeks, I finally had a lucid dream where I was able to maintain lucidity. I woke up at sunrise this morning (as I normally do), checked the clock, and went back to sleep because it was Saturday and I could sleep in .

I went back to sleep with the intention of lucid dreaming. I lied down, completely relaxed, imagining myself literally "falling" into my dream world. Gradually, I noticed that my body could no longer feel itself. And then I lost consciousness; this was the beginning of my first lucid dream.

The Dream

I found myself walking with my classmates outside on a warm rainy day. A friend of mine (a dream character who exists only in that dream) was shielding me from the downpours with his large umbrella as we walked outside on a school field trip. We walked leisurely in the rainy park for a bit before it stopped raining. As my friend closed his umbrella, I looked at his wristwatch and saw that it said 4:00 PM. It was then that I realized that I was dreaming. No. This can't be real. I went to sleep at 12:00 AM this morning and there was no way that I could have slept this many hours.

Normally, when I find myself to be dreaming, I would instantly wake up, but this time was different. I noticed that my consciousness and awareness increased but I did not let myself become fully conscious. I find myself in a state of consciousness between wakefulness and REM sleep. It was then when I felt the sensation of lucid dreaming for the first time.

In the dream, this sensation translated to a drunken dizziness that I had to struggle against. The colors and the sensations of the dreamscape were slowly dissolving into an unconscious sleep as I fought to keep my eyelids open. I mentally held on to the colors, sounds, and the sensations of the dreamscape around me. And, in a "Eureka" moment, it just clicked: I was completely lucid! I was able to see the colorful dreamscape clearly with perfect vision. I was able see my reflection and the reflections of the surrounding Romanesque architecture, the clouds, and the blue sky in the puddles on brick roadway. I was even able to smell my synthetic jacket against the backdrop of the petrichor of the summer rain. I was finally able to hold on to and experience lucidity in a dream.

The dream continued for another hour or so. It was a fairly mundane dream in very peaceful settings but it was exciting nonetheless. I drifted in and out of lucidity throughout the rest of the dream. I focused on my body and my environment whenever I started to drift out of lucidity. I recall walking around a lake in a beautiful park where humans and animals were enjoying the scenery together. I walked around the town in my dreamscape and visited a bakery. I took out my phone and decided to prank-call the cops but decided against it (because it was starting to feel almost too real to be a dream at this point). Instead, I prank-called my brother and left a silly message. Then I found myself at home, sitting at a desk next to my brother. Just to be ridiculous, I asked him, "Am I dreaming?" He rolled his eyes and sarcastically replied, "What have you been smoking?" At this point, not only did I completely lose lucidity, but I lost awareness of the dream.

Reflections

Dream signs: clocks, watches, imaginary animals, anachronisms
Do's: Focus on the body and sensations in the dream, colors, smells, tastes, food, surroundings
Don'ts: Ask someone whether I'm in a dream; Try too hard to conjure up of places and things that don't exist