h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I don't know if this would be termed as lucid, or maybe something else, but it occurred for the first time after reading this post last night. I dreamt I was at work (should that be changed to nightmare? as if I don't spend enough time here already), and everytime I went to exit the building, I got as far as the doors and then couldn't see anything, unless I backed up from the exit, when I could then see the exit again until I moved forward. This happened about five or six times, then I realised I was at home, in bed, with my eyes shut. There was no sense of having just woken up or anything, I was just suddenly able to attribute the darkness to the fact that - outwith my dreams - my eyes were shut.

Another similar experience would be flying in the playground at about six years old. In that dream, I was aware that I was the only one who could fly, but I couldn't fly above 9 - 10 feet, and was only able to hover and swoop within that height. Then suddenly I would realise that flying was impossible, and that I must therefore be dreaming. I would then flap my arms continuously, changing from a drop, to a hover, to a gentle swoop back down to the ground. On the ground, I would then suddenly realise it was possible, and would take off again. This became a recurring dream, and from time to time it comes back again.

Maybe I should be discussing this with a pyschoanalyst, instead of posting it here, but I am curious as to whether or not this would be classed as lucid dreaming.

I had a similar dream once, but it was with the bicycle I owned at the time. I figured out a way to pedal that made the bike take off. Still, it was tricky and I couldn't get more than a few feet off the ground, it was tenuous. I started to analyze it and realized I dreaming. This made the dream kind of transparent and flimsy and I lost interest in it soon after and got up.

Those do both sound like lucid dreaming...of course, a more advanced type of lucid dreaming would be actually gaining control of what goes on in the dream. Myself, I haven't been able to do that too often so far, but it's great when I do manage it.

OK, having determined that this was a form of lucid dreaming, I believe it will be much easier in future to recognise this and, having done so, maybe play around with it.

Thanks for the input.

No problem. Good luck.

Although I haven't had lucid dreams in quite some time (and really miss it), I used to have them fairly regularly.
I was usually in control in my dreams--as in, if I didn't like what was happening, I could change it, but the best
part is that I could choose who I wanted to be! It was really neat--for example, there would be several main
characters in my dream and I would start off being one person. But then if I got bored of being that person,
I would suddenly become one of the other people. It was basically a one-person play, where I was all the people.
And if I wanted, I could just sit back and watch everything happen, like it was a movie. (sit back, relax, and eat
popcorn! )
The weirdest thing, though was that I never cognizantly thought, "this is a dream" except once--I just happened
to know that I was in control, and it wasn't real life, but I didn't explicitly state what it was. The only time I
did that I immediately snapped out of the dream and entered a new dream, where I wasn't aware of my surroundings!

So--if you can achieve it, I highly recommend it.

Come to think of it, that's usually how my lucid dreams go; I know I'm in control of them and therefore that they're not real, but I never think "This is a dream." I've never been able to change who I am, though. I've had a few dreams where I wasn't myself or where I was a spectator instead of a participant, but never through my own choice although I did enjoy them.

Being able to change who I was was the extreme of my
lucid dreams. Although probably half of the time I'm not
myself in my dreams, the only real remnants of lucid dreaming
I have is that I can do instant replays of events, or I can force
it to be done again in a different way if I wasn't happy with the
first way. Sometimes I have control over what way is used, but
that's usually only if I'm starting to wake up.

Also--I wonder why it is that the only time I cognizantly thought,
"this is a dream" my dream changed from a lucid dream to a
different non-lucid dream. It's as though I'm not allowed to think
that!

I think that happens a lot. I once had a dream where I realized I was dreaming a split second before I woke up--and then a while later I realized I was still dreaming and woke up again--and then again a few minutes later, and it wasn't until the third time that I realized I hadn't really woken up the first two times. Very unnerving.

Totally wild. This happened to me just last night.

I was lying in bed, thinking of nothing much, and suddenly realised I must force myself awake. I rolled over and looked about the room, realising I didn't live there. This happened several times, until I rolled over - opened my eyes - and was in my room surrounded by Christmas Presents, I thought to myself - 'wow, this is totally hoopy' and realised that I don't speak like that.

Then I thought, 'it must be lucid dreaming, and I should wake up'. I rolled over, opened my eyes, and was confronted by an American freeway entrance, with trucks zooming by a diner.

I thought, hang on you don't see this kind of thing in Scotland, realised I was lucid dreaming, and thought 'wow, I'm just gonna lay back here and see what happens, then record it to post to the froods in H2g2.com.' Again, I don't really talk like that.

To test out if this was indeed the case, I placed my hands behind my head, lay back - hovering slightly above the ground - and listened to the sound of an approaching truck. I reached over for a gargleblaster and I thought 'if I close my eyes, when I open them, instead of a truck, I'm going to see a big blue banana drive by.'

I just got this image, lying back, that I was dreaming of being Zaphod Beeblebrox, but that was cool 'coz it was only a dream.

I opened my eyes again - expecting to see the big blue banana- , and found myself in my own room - wide awake.

It was a really amazing experience.

If any further events of lucidity happen, I think I want to post them here, to have a complete record.

Good idea. That last one was more bizarre than anything I've ever experienced...or can remember experiencing, at any rate.