Do they have to be vivid?

[AstralJames]

Do lucid dreams have to be vivid? I ask, because last night I believe I had a lucid dream. I remember being able to 'delete' people out of the scene. I even remember staring at my hand asking if I was dreaming. Although I believe I was lucid dreaming, it isn't that clear. I remember the dream as if it were any other. So, do lucid dreams have to be very vivid?

[Astralzombie]

Not all projections will be lucid and completely mind blowing. In most, we just have to be lucid enough to remember the important details so we can recall then later and decide what they mean

[Lionheart]

 Some areas of the NPR are completely devoid of color. But, It's normally color which makes a NPR scenario vivid.

All you need to be is consciously aware/Lucid that you are there or "Dreaming".

[proyect_outzone]

Lucid dreaming means just, that you know, you are in a dream or at least that this is not real.

[Lionheart]

Lucid dreaming means just, that you know, you are in a dream or at least that this is not real.

This quote is from Edain McCoy from her book "Astral Projection for Beginners". She says "Astral Projection is defined as any state in which your consciousness is immersed in a different time or place from that of your physical body. By this definition the act of Dreaming is also a form of Astral Projection". She goes on to say that "It surprises many beginners to find that most regular Astral Travelers make little or no distinction between Dreaming and Astral Projection - rather, they have discovered that harnessing the "Power of Dreams" can become an excellent conduit for controlled Astral Travel".

[deepspace]

Lucid dreaming means just, that you know, you are in a dream or at least that this is not real.

True, I know it's not real, but the problem I have is believing that it's not real. On the one hand all of my "senses" are telling me it's real, but I am somehow supposed to ignore that, because I know it's not real. There's always this struggle going on between what I somehow know, VS. what all of my "senses" are telling me. One time I was walking with a group of people on a trail, feeling the ground under my feet with every step, marveling at the beautiful scenery. Then right in the middle of it I just decided to stop and basically threw myself onto the ground and started grab the dirt and weeds with my hands, thinking "how can this not be real?" Everyone stopped and waited for me to get back up again. It's quite amazing really.

This quote is from Edain McCoy from her book "Astral Projection for Beginners". She says "Astral Projection is defined as any state in which your consciousness is immersed in a different time or place from that of your physical body. By this definition the act of Dreaming is also a form of Astral Projection". She goes on to say that "It surprises many beginners to find that most regular Astral Travelers make little or no distinction between Dreaming and Astral Projection - rather, they have discovered that harnessing the "Power of Dreams" can become an excellent conduit for controlled Astral Travel".

I completely agree with this as it has been my experience as well. The exact method you use to get there doesn't matter, just that you get there. What we are learning is how to navigate once we are there.

[Szaxx]

One time I was walking with a group of people on a trail, feeling the ground under my feet with every step, marveling at the beautiful scenery. Then right in the middle of it I just decided to stop and basically threw myself onto the ground and started grab the dirt and weeds with my hands, thinking "how can this not be real?" Everyone stopped and waited for me to get back up again. It's quite amazing really.

I've dropped to the ground in a few retrievals kicking up a fuss to stay grounded. Your comment made me laugh. You do feel rather stupid doing it but failiure isn't an option and you do anything to succeed.
The people you are with just stop and wait as if it's perfectly normal.
This too is strange but a good thing.
These actions appear more common in the highly lucid experiences.

[raditus]

I remember years ago, I decided to experiment inside of a dream. In this dream, I am outside during the day.

it is this main road that goes through from the outskirts of town right to the town proper. I was, in my dream, coming back from town, walking. There also were cars on the road and everything. I decided then to say the words to the talisman that faciliates Astral travel. I used to wear a pen and paper version around my neck in a necklace to sleep back then. (Don't anymore as it quickly gets ruined by sweating/moving in sleep.) my dream had the numbness, the just-out of focus that makes dreams some of the time be like not feeling right or like you're really there - detached.

I was still on the road in the daylight after I said them, but everything changed. The road, the sun and the traffic didn't, but the numbness went away. The slightly out of focus air dissipated. What resulted was my feeling the true wight of the backpack I was carrying, hearing all sounds crystal clear, and even feeling the aching burn in my ankles and backs of my legs I get when I have to haul arse in the waking world on real roads! Vivid, but I knew beyond of a shadow of a doubt that somehow I was really on that road. Not necessarily in my own time-frame, maybe not even my reality, but I was.

Yes, I do agree we go astral to places we dream about.

[deepspace]

I've dropped to the ground in a few retrievals kicking up a fuss to stay grounded. Your comment made me laugh. You do feel rather stupid doing it but failiure isn't an option and you do anything to succeed.
The people you are with just stop and wait as if it's perfectly normal.
This too is strange but a good thing.
These actions appear more common in the highly lucid experiences.

I try to do things to increase my conscious awareness during the experience like just making spontaneous unplanned decisions right in the middle of something. Also digging into the environment (sometimes literally), testing things, evaluating and comparing things with waking life reality all in real time, then consciously committing the results to memory. Especially love touching things and feeling their texture, solidity, weight, temperature, etc. That's so mind-blowing to me. One time I walked straight through a door/portal shortly after closing my eyes. I went into a city, crossed the street and straight into a store. I asked the person behind the counter if she could just open the packages and let me feel the contents. I even told her I didn't really want to buy anything, just touch. I spent around 15 minutes in there just letting her rip open the plastic coverings, then feeling the contents of the packages. She was very patient with me, even after a lot of "O.K., now that one, no the one next to that one. O.K. how about the one over there, that's the one." It's just absolutely incredible to be completely outside normal physical waking reality and yet experiencing another world, experiencing your environment as something totally separate from "you".

[Szaxx]

These high integrity experiences are what others need to experience.
It's the totalitarian reality of another physical world thats not our alpha state of existance that's so enthralling. These locations seem so real they can't be imagined. We know what to do to stay within the experience and at times crazy things occur in order to achieve this.
For the OP, vivid doesn't come near, It's a replica of the awareness you have during every physical day. The location is that real, you would think its the physical.  
Overstaying and fading out normally takes the memory away somewhat. If you keep things vivid and leave before your snatched away the memory can be almost perfect.
This means taking crazy measures at times.