Can't see or go lucid

[Mooky]

I have never been able to have a real lucid dream.  But I feel as though I am getting closer to LDE1 (lucid dream event 1).  I had read somewhere that if you notice that you are driving a car while dreaming, that this is a good time to realize that you are dreaming and that if you can do that, then you can potentially go anywhere you want to in the dream.

I keep having two or three dreams a year in which I almost realize that I am dreaming.  But I never quite make that leap.  What happens is that I find myself driving a car but I discover that I can not see where I am going.  This has taken on several manifestations.  Once it was too dark for me to see and I had no headlights apparently.  I could only barely see dim tail lights on the car some distance in front of me.  Another time I dreamt that I was driving and I could not open my eyes.  I was either asleep (well.. yeah..duh) or just too tired to open them.  I knew the road I was on and had to remember when the curves in the road occurred to avoid crashing.  And the last time this happened I was somehow driving from the back seat of the car and could not see over the seat and out the front windscreen.  In every case I simply do not realize that I am dreaming.  Perhaps if I could, then I would be able to see.

The reason for this post is that the other night I had a new type of dream where I could not see.  This time I was trying to get out through a sliding glass door but could not 'see' in order to get out.  And, I kept moving along the wall to the next sliding door but still I could not see and I could not get out.  It then came to me that (no, I did not realize that I was dreaming) if I moved my eyes back and forth from left to right underneath my eyelids, like during REM sleep, that I would somehow be able to see.  How frustrating!  My mind is hell bent on finding solutions instead of just realizing or accepting that I am dreaming and just let it happen. 

I wonder now if I will ever achieve a lucid state in a dream.  I am not the type of person who can close their eyes and see vivid images of things.  I have a good memory and can remember much of what I have seen, but it is not like I am looking at an image when I do recall such details.  So, I wonder if my brain simply is not wired to produce images with my eyes open?

So, my question about these dreams is twofold really.  Does it sound like I am making any strides towards lucidity?  A breakthrough if you will.  And, any suggestions as to what I might do to nudge my subconscious along the path?

Thanks
M

[Christine]

It might help to focus on what you are feeling instead...and see what images arise from that.
Please post how your dreams progress!

[Tony Crisp]

Mooky - Excuse my short replies, and what I say probably goes against all the have read about the subject. But when you explore your dream and realise it you are lucid - in a much better way then when asleep. You will become lucid in sleep when you start to penetrate into dreams. Surely that is what lucid actually means.

See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-understanding-your-dreams/

What Christine said is right (in my opinion).

Tony

[Mooky]

Thank you for the responses.  Christine, if you mean that I should focus on my feelings in the midst of the dream, that is not possible as I have not realized that I am dreaming.  If you mean to analyze the dream after its occurrence, then that I have done quite a bit of.  The main feeling being anxiety in not being able to see while driving and the fear that I will crash.  In the sliding door dream I had no intense feelings and no real anxiety.  It was more like a confusion.  Why can't I see type of thing.  I'll assume you meant to look at them after the dream as Tony has indicated. 

Thank you Tony.  These types of dreams seem to be happening more often.  The fact that I remember them and have indeed analyzed them to some degree likely indicates that I am making progress (in my opinion). 

I had another driving dream last night.  I did not see where I was going nor was I blind behind the wheel.  But, it was interesting in that I was driving around some small town parking in various places.  That is all there was to it.  The good news is, I don't appear to have gotten any tickets.

mook

[Mooky]

Update: It has happened again!  But under different circumstances, which I find fascinating.

Last night I dreamed that I was at a New Years Eve concert and had backstage access.  I marveled at how I had only just recently wished for this in my waking life and now it was coming true.  So, at some level I knew that I was dreaming. It was before the show and I was wandering around going into multiple rooms and hallways.  This wandering about is a recurring theme in my dreams but usually I am at a conference or trade show.  At one point I entered a room that was darkened, like being in a movie theater, and as I walked across the room I was suddenly in front of large spotlights that were shining and making it impossible for me to see where I was going.  It was the exact same feeling as in the other dreams.  No real fear and I kept trying to move forward even though I couldn't see where I was going.  It was like I was groping around in front of me to find my way.  I was sort of concerned that I would run into the equipment or trip up on the wires and cables, but I was not afraid.  This is the last thing I recall from the dream but I am not certain that I woke up right after this little episode.

I have recently had the experience upon waking of trying to recall my dream but being shut out from that remembering by my own mind getting stuck on and repeating a word or short phrase to exclusion of all other thoughts.  This is highly annoying.  Given that I have been working hard on my dreams it makes me think that this is a sort of mechanism the brain has of stopping you from remembering dreams.  So, in the last few days I have tried to trick myself into using a phrase of my own choosing.  Thinking that if I was waking up and trying to recall a dream, that if my mind wanted to repeat a phrase it might choose the suggestion that I gave it the night before.  My suggested phrase is "Go lucid" hoping that as I wake I might remember to go lucid and then maybe I could stay in the dream and start controlling things.

Ok, that's my update.  Still running into blind alleys.