Thread: Lucidity

How does it feel to be lucid in a dream?

Because I've said "I'm dreaming" in many dreams I remember these dreams clearly and in none of them was I lucid. Or at least, it didn't feel that way. I am very confused, I mean...I realize I'm dreaming but I don't become lucid. What's up with that?

If you realized that you were dreaming, then you were lucid. Most people describe their experience of lucidity as this amazing feeling of bliss. But, for me personally, nothing changes besides me no longer being in autopilot mode. If you know it's a dream, then you are lucid and however you felt was how lucidity feels. I think it differs for each person.

I had a lucid two nights ago, so let me give you my experience with this. I have been a lucid dreamer for 5 years. So I was looking for a parked car that had just been there but I couldnt find it. This is a dream sign I have occasionally. I thought or said "this is a dream...things just disappear...if it doesnt want to be found I wont find it...so dont stress about it." Now technically I guess I was lucid. But then I thought..."hey.. I am dreaming!" At that point I decided to act on that and "entered the dream" and things became real...I touched, I felt, I flew (and I had sex). This is similar to a WILD dream entry. Entering isnt hard.. it is just a decision to act independently within the dream. But WOW what a difference it makes. The alternate reality snaps in and becomes real, and you are then present in the dreamscape.

@Rothgar - Thats intersting if you could elaborate on the whole leading up to and ' entering the dream ' stuff - thanks

It is kind of hard to articulate but once you experience it, it makes sense. I first heard about this when reading about WILD dream entry... they say you watch the dream form and then at the right time you "enter it". I too wondered "what the heck does that mean? How do you enter a dream"? But its like you just decide to be an active participant and "move" your dream body intentionally, , becoming part of the dream you were just "watching". I am almost exclusively a DILD person, but have had a couple unplanned WILD experiences in the morning before getting up. This is when I first experienced this. I was drifting asleep and a snow scene appeared before me. It was clearly a dream but like I was just seeing it. Then I thought, "well, try to move, dont just watch it". Not sure what would happen, I was suddenly "there" not just watching a dream. Now, sometimes this applies to DILDs as well. Occasionally I have to decide to be an active participant, not just an observer to truly become lucid.

Set three things you wanna do in dream. If you did them, you had been lucid.

A lucid dream feels like a dream. If your dreams are vivid and present, then your dreams can be like looking around right now and realizing that you are dreaming. Or they could be blurry and kinda more like a hazy memory. Depends on your awareness.

Like other people have said, if you realized that you were dreaming, then you became lucid--period. Some people say that there are different "levels" to lucidity, however, so if your dreams aren't very vivid then it may be that you just had a low level of lucidity. I have yet to actually have a truly vivid lucid dream, even though I have excellent control; for me it is all in how I need to stabilize it.

Well I beg to differ. My lucid dreams are not like my regular dreams. They are more like real life or at least some have been. Some are very dreamy and not at all vivid. A few have been very vivid and I have all my memories and feeling of self.
Some of my non-lucids have been so vivid that they felt like the clearest lucids except my memory of them was very hazy after waking.
I guess we are all different.

^^ That is an important point, Goldenspark.

Lucidity has nothing to do with vividness. It is all about the presence of waking-life self-awareness in a dream, period.

You can be full-on lucid (in complete posession of waking-life self-awareness and memory) in the dullest of dreams, or not be lucid at all in the most vivid of dreams...and vise-versa. Personally, some of my most amazing lucid dreams took place in the dullest of settings, and some of my most vivid dreams were NLD's without even a hint of self-awareness.

Yes, if you are lucid and in control you can certainly make a dream more vivid, but that is something else altogether. I'm not sure where or when vividness entered into the popular definitions of LD'ing, but it really is not part of the formula.