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.