Lucid Dream V Normal Dreaming Options

Hello!

I believe this is my first substantial post to these forums.

I've been working on my ability to astrally project and lucid dream for a few days now, though I have been working on it on and off for a while.

Last night I had what I thought initially may have been my first lucid dream. After failing to astral project I kept chanting to myself 'I will take control of my dream' until eventually I fell asleep. At first it definitely felt as though I was projecting, though eventually the environment around be began to distort a little. For example, things that were in my room or the upper floor of my house when I was 'projecting' wasn't actually there. I vividly remember initially having a -lot- of trouble moving. I was stuck in my bed. I then got the idea of pulling myself up via some shirts hanging on the door, only these weren't actually there.

Basically I definitely had awareness of what was going on at the beginning, but I'm more tempted to label it a lucid dream rather than a astral projection per se. This however leads me to the topic.

On reflection I'm a bit skeptical as to whether it was, in fact, a lucid dream at all. Towards the end of the 'dream' laid back down in bed and put in my mp3 player (that was actually downstairs) and listened to music (that I didn't actually have on my mp3 player). It may have started out as one, but I'm assuming as time wore on the natural inclination to sleep got the better of me. As an aside, I do notice that a few recommend keeping any initial projection as short as possible and I'm assuming this is the reason why.

How does one tell the difference between a dream and a lucid dream? This may seem a bit obvious, but is it really? Could I not have easily dreamed I was in control of my actions through a subconcious desire to do so? Can anyone recommend any firm tests to tell?

Thanks!

A lucid dream is when you are aware that you are dreaming. Like Vagrant said, it comes in degrees but I want to mention that I'm pretty sure dream quality comes in degrees also so even if you are able to wake up in your dream every time you dream, you still may not have the perfect clarity everyone wants. For example think of lucid dreaming like watching a tv. If you have bad vision then you won't be able to see the amazing quality of a high def tv. But even if you have amazing eyes (as in you are fully lucid during a dream) you won't be able to make out the picture of a poor quality tv no matter how good you can see.

Also I don't use hands or objects to wake up in my dreams, its just sort of a habit because I concentrate on it every night which works fine for me. Good luck with your dreams!