matt wrote:... I started realizing that I was dreaming, so I tried to exert control over the dream, but it mostly failed and only succeeded in waking me up.
...I guess by definition, it was a lucid dream because I guess that just means you are aware you are dreaming. However, in thinking about past dreams where I realize I'm dreaming, it is usually because I am waking up. At that point, the dream seems to fall apart. Maybe that's why I can't exert control on the dream.
Well, I'd say it was definitely a lucid dream, since you realized you were dreaming while still asleep--just a really short one. What were you trying to control in the dream? You should have control over what "you" do in the dream, but controlling external factors, say making a certain person appear or teleporting to a completely different setting, is much more difficult. Obviously the dream environment comes from yourself in some sense, but it's generally a subconscious part of your mind, and the subconscious and conscious don't always cooperate. One time I had a lucid dream where I started out in my old house, which was pretty boring. I tried going outside by walking through a wall, and that worked just fine. Then I laid down, closed my eyes in the dream, and concentrated on traveling to Mars (not in a literal astral projection sort of way--I don't believe in supernatural stuff like that). When I opened my eyes, I saw an endless red landscape spread out around me. Except it wasn't red dirt; it was eggcrate foam. I'd essentially teleported to a cheap B-movie set.
Waking up quickly is actually the biggest problem I have if I do have a lucid dream. The best advice I've read is to keep rubbing your hands together. The thinking is that it increases your sense of embodiment in the "dream body" as opposed to your real body. Also, keep in mind that you'll often have a false awakening from a lucid dream. Essentially, you have a dream where you wake up in your own bed. So try to remember to ask yourself whether you're actually still asleep.
I find lucid dreaming quite interesting. I've tried to get better at it in the past, but with fairly limited success. I might try again sometime, though. It can be quite entertaining, and I think it actually says a lot about how our brain gives us the sense that we're in a unified body. Some people have even used it to get over frequent nightmares. If anyone else is interested in lucid dreaming, maybe we could make a thread in the off topic forum to discuss it more.
