Can You Tell if You Are Dreaming?

Some people can tell if they're dreaming while they are in a dream.  This is known as a "lucid dream" because the person is aware of their surroundings.  Being lucid - or aware - in your dream is one step to being able to control your own dreams.

I was not aware of the term before I had a very interesting conversation with a friend about his dreams.  He explained that sometimes his dreams cause him to lose sleep because so much happens in his head while he's asleep.  He described his dreams in a very unusual way.  He said that most of the time, especially if he was going through some stressful situation in his personal life, his dreams were more working sessions.  He said he was always standing to the side watching his brain work.  He could see his brain working through whatever the problem was that was bothering him when he was awake.

Only after, when I came upon a description of lucid dreaming did I realize that this is probably what my friend had been doing without knowing it.  In a followup discussion, he confirmed that yes, in fact, he knew he was dreaming while still in the dream.

Interestingly, in the past we had also both completed a behaviour assessment test.  We have very similar personalities with one distinct difference - he has a stronger "feeling" side to him than I do.  It's not that I'm uncaring or unsensitive, this particular characteristic definition simply meant that he tended to be very sensitive to the needs of others and that his emotions were more impacted by emotional situations than I would be.  I've wondered if this trait didn't assist him in being able to tell if he was dreaming more than most.

If you want to develope the ability to tell if you are dreaming, you are supposed to work on being more aware of what happens to you while you are awake.  When you have a strong eye for detail during the day, you can develop a stronger eye for detail during your dreams - including the ability to tell that you are, in fact, dreaming.