Thread: Didnt become lucid?

So in my dream I pulled out my phone, and I remembered to do reality checks. I looked at the time, which changed when I looked away and looked back, I plugged my nose but could breathe, and I looked at my hand and I had extra fingers. But I don't think I became lucid. I didn't feel that I did, maybe I wasn't really aware I was dreaming. I think I woke up after doing this. It's the first time I've done RCs in a dream, im kinda confused.

When you RC in waking life, do you seriously question reality? Do you really stop and think that this could be a dream right now? Could you be doing RCs too much on autopilot? There is always the danger of that. However, even if you do seriously question reality when you RC, there is a possibility that the dream awareness may just not be enough to realize it is a dream. RC failure happens.

On the bright side you have just seen that your RCs are enough on your mind to incorporate them into dreams, that's a good step. Now once your awareness is higher, either because you work on awareness or because you happen to be having a better night next time, you are more likely to become lucid soon.

I did it again. I don't remember the whole dream because I forgot to record it in my journal but I remember I actually asked someone "Is this a dream?" and she said yes. I don't know if that actually triggers lucidity for people or not, but I feel stupid for not realising.

Originally Posted by DarkDreamer13

I did it again. I don't remember the whole dream because I forgot to record it in my journal but I remember I actually asked someone "Is this a dream?" and she said yes. I don't know if that actually triggers lucidity for people or not, but I feel stupid for not realising.

Don't feel bad. I think everyone on here has stories about things that should have made them lucid but didn't. Like JoanaB was asking, you perhaps are doing the reality check without really thinking about it and thus do not think about it enough in your dream. Have you ever seen a scary movie and find yourself looking over your shoulder that night? That feeling of wondering if something could be behind you is kind of similar to the way you might want to do your reality checks. Look around for something strange, is this or that out of place, could this be a dream, and do your reality check...hear a strange noise in the house, do a reality check, etc. That is my take on it at least...

That is normal. This thing happened to me twice this month, I performed the finger-count RC and I said: 'Oh! I am dreaming!' and I thought about a few things I wanted to do, and I did them, but when I woke up it all felt like it was not a lucid dream at all, and more like a dream about lucid dream. I think it is just because you didn't have enough awareness.

True, as GigaByte was conveying, you could have just been dreaming about lucid dreaming or lucid dreaming related activities. Perhaps you should have 2-3 goals of things you would like to do in a lucid dream if you don't already think a lot about such goals. The act of thinking about those goals during a dream and choosing one could fire up that portion of the brain that is normally inactive while sleeping. But I still think that if you put more meaning behind the reality checks you will be less likely to just dream about reality checks.

That sounds like you were lucid dreaming, but with a low of lucidity, or clarity? How is your general dream recall?
And I assume this is your first lucid experience?
I've only had a few short Lucids, but the clarity was way in excess of my normal dream recall. Try the techniques described on this site for dream stabilisation and clarity if you can.
That usually means asserting to yourself that you will get clarity, and interacting with all your senses in the dream.

Good luck!

Isn't dreaming about being aware of dreaming and reality checks a paradox? A time paradox would be a guy going back in time and shooting his grandfather...therefore he wouldn't be born...therefore he couldn't go back in time and shoot his grandfather. I wonder, at what level, does a dream about being lucid become "self-lucidating"?

Like Goldenspark, my lucids were short, but with extreme clarity and I thought about doing things, then did them and I think he's maybe right about a low-level of lucidy

This is what Xanous said when I had self-doubts about my lucidity. "The fact that you said, "I must be dreaming" and the fact that you wanted to tell your wife about your lucid dream is a good indicator that you were lucid. Don't complicate it. I see too many people complicate lucid dreaming.

JoannaB said this "You realized that you were dreaming, you felt joy about it, and you wanted not to lose the dream. That's definitely a lucid."

Nyxcc said this "There are many levels of lucidity and there even was a thread about this somewhere."

There's an awful lot of experience and common-sense in those comments and you should use them to re-evalute your experiences and try to reach a conclusion. My biggest failing so far is, in my excitement in both dreams I forgot to RC. If I do that again I think I'll condition myself to give myself a good kick up the arse

If you had realized in the dream that you were dreaming, that would be a lucid dream. And that realization is unforgettable. It's a unique feeling. It changes you from observer into an actor inside your dream. If you had realized you dreaming, you would not have forgotten about it. You would have most likely woke up from it, all excited. Especially, if it was a DILD.

But dreaming about lucid dreaming, Rcs, and all your practice you do, is normal. And a very good sign, that you are doing it right, and your fist lucid is near. Just make sure you are doing your Rcs correctly - using emotions. I use same emotions as fogelbise described. Then this startling thought will make you stop anything yo doing in your non-lucid dream and will get you lucid.

Originally Posted by fogelbise

... Have you ever seen a scary movie and find yourself looking over your shoulder that night? That feeling of wondering if something could be behind you is kind of similar to the way you might want to do your reality checks. Look around for something strange, is this or that out of place, could this be a dream, and do your reality check...hear a strange noise in the house, do a reality check, etc. That is my take on it at least...

Thanks for all the support everyone. I'll go through all your comments and use your information to help me. I believe that I would have been at a low lucidity level. My dream recall has been getting better although some nights I don't remember anything, but it could be due to not sleeping well, happens sometimes.