This experience was far more fulfilling than any other lucid dream I'd ever had. I've never had a dream anywhere near this long, with this much control, with so many different dream characters, with so many different dreamscapes and experiences, and all of it with so much clarity of mind.

It was incredibly long. I estimated, while still dreaming, that about an hour had passed.

Before I went to bed, I mentally set the intention that I would have a lucid dream.

I became lucid after noticing my face itched strangely and felt funny; I did a reality test, and realized I was actually dreaming.

Upon waking, I was able to recall up to 13 different sequences or "dream scenes." Here are the more interesting details from the dream:

• I sent myself two emails from within the dream. I'm not sure why--I didn't ever think it would work, but maybe it just seemed fun to do. It wasn't all that hard to type, although I do recall the typo I made on the second email, where all I wrote was "deram tsest" and hit send. Later in the dream, I stumbled upon a conversation with others who were discussing this idea of emailing yourself from a dream. I told them I had actually already done this and they got all excited, but I tried to explain it's not going to work because it was just dream computer, and dream internet!
• Flying! Oh my god, I've never flown so well in a dream. For a moment, I had a hard time getting off the ground but I thought about the advice I got from visitors to the blog--basically, don't try so hard!--and it worked. I flew through the sky at the treetops. I purposely allowed my skin to graze the leaves, and I vividly recall the feeling of the leaves as they brushed against my skin. I used the trees as a sort of "mental grounding" to propel myself through the air, from one tree to the other. It was fantastic.
• Discussing with another dream character the idea of awareness in a dream. Where is this awareness? This isn't my hand, this isn't my body... where is this all coming from? I felt that the only "real" part of my dream body was my brain, which was connected to my real brain, sleeping on the bed. This is some shady thinking, as my dreaming brain is no more real than anything else in the dream. The question remains though, what is it that's aware in the dream? Where's that point of awareness coming from?
• Laughing with my wife after purposely punching a wall and then shying away from purposely causing pain. I thought I would welcome dream pain because I'm simply curious to see how the dreaming mind makes everything so real. I thought about Mad Hatter's post on dream pain [sorry, can't trace this posting so far--Ed.] and laughed--I didn't want to feel pain, even if I knew it was only "dream pain"!! When you're feeling it, dreaming or not, it feels real. This was a really interesting moment for me in the dream. I also recall looking at my wife, smiling and laughing at the situation because I knew she was just a dream character.
• Getting into a group conversation about Hardline [again, can't trace this so far--Ed.] because a dream character asked me to explain it. Before getting into I thought, "I can't believe I'm getting into this in a dream..."
• Constant reality tests. I would put my arm into the wall all the way up to my elbow. I was able to do this to a mirror too, which was much harder to do than a wall. In two parts of the dream, other characters were doing the reality tests with me. I can easily recall the feeling of having my arm submerged into the wall. It reminds me of the feeling of having my arm submerged into water. The next day I kept looking at the walls at work, thinking of this experience. I also merged my entire body with the structure of the house, moved upwards through the ceiling and onto the roof, and mentally collapsed the house together, with the intention of adding onto it.
• "INCREASE LUCIDITY NOW." I shouted this a few times in the dream when I felt the clarity of the dreamscape fading. I tried this before in a lucid dream with no success but this time it worked. I would shout "Increase Lucidity NOW!", and maybe punch a wall at the same time, and things would snap back into focus.
• Discussing with 2 friends within the dream how much time had passed so far and that maybe it was time for me to wake up. We came to the conclusion that about an hour had passed, and that it was time for me to get up. I flew through the air and passed a building, emailed myself one more time from the side of the building (strange, I know), and then promptly woke up.

Normally, if I have a lucid dream it's the first thing I talk about upon waking up.

But this time, the experience was so great that I kept it to myself until that evening. When I talk my wife about it, who is at best only vaguely intrigued by lucid dreams, she asked me "What's the reason for lucid dreaming? What's the point of it?"

Such a simple question, but I struggled to answer it! I couldn't really express my reasons to her at the time.

Naturally, this got me to thinking about why I want to have lucid dreams and what's the point of it for me. Later this week I'll be posting my thoughts on the answer to this question.

"I have tingles now, like I took too much B6." --last entry into the dream journal before going back to bed

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