I guess I haven’t make it clear.
I’m wandering if ‘imagining in bed’ can be lucid dreaming.
If I go into bed and try to sleep, I start imagining sth.
In this moment, I’m not sure is it just imagination or dream.
The one thing that I know is ‘I feel half-real’. I can sence both reality and imagination(dream).
Although most of time I maintain that imagination to normal dream, I want to know which state of dreaming could be lucid.
Hi,
Yes, for beginners it can seem hard to distinguish sometimes, ‘Am I dreaming?’ or ‘Am I having a vivid imaginary experience?’
In my first lucid dream (about age 10 or 11), I found myself in my public library, looking at books. So at this point, I assumed that I really was at the public library. Then I watched a small T. Rex walk through the book aisles! And I suddenly thought, ‘Wait, dinosaurs are extinct.’ Then I thought, ‘How can I be having this experience?’ Then I thought and concluded, ‘Oh, this must be a dream!’ Then I became aware that I was dreaming.
I bring this up to make clear that 1) Dreams seem real, 2) When we question them or analyze them, we may (or may not) come to a new realization and 3) When we correctly realize, ‘This is a dream!’ then we have achieved lucidity.
So some people spend a lot of time in #2 — questioning their experience! It looks real. It feels real. But the context is dreamy. So you may be getting stuck in the questioning — and failing to come to the conclusion, ‘This is a dream!’
My advice: Whenever you find yourself wondering, ‘Wow, this seems dreamy….’ — train yourself to immediately perform a Reality Check. Jump up and see if you float. Or pull your left index finger and see if it gets longer. By doing a Reality Check, you can confirm, ‘This is a dream’ (and stop the questioning state….).
Best wishes!