Funny you should mention that.
I have a thing where, when I'm slowly falling asleep, I can "look" around my room and see everything in it, even though it's dark and my eyes are closed.

As for changing the outcome of your dreams, that sounds like lucid dreaming - once you're aware you're dreaming, you can take control and do whatever you want. I manage to do it now and again, and have incorporated such highlights as flying down a staircase and walking through a brick wall. And I do quite often use it to wake myself up from unpleasant dreams.
( john3ners has relocated to the Highlands, Sat 25 Jul 2009, 22:17, 1 reply)

wake myself up from unpleasant dreams.
You use lucid dreaming to wake yourself up from unpleasant dreams? Why would you do that? If it is a lucid dream, why take control and make it pleasant? :)
Actually, this goes to the heart of what I think lucid dreaming really is: you are just dreaming that it is lucid, the lucidity is as much an illusion as everything else you dream.
( Sextant goes to him is emotionally erect, on this day, Sun 26 Jul 2009, 2:55, closed)

Good point.
Thinking about it now, I think there are two reasons: (i) despite being aware that I'm dreaming, I'm often not particularly rational, so it doesn't occur to me that I can rewrite the dream's storyline; and (ii) I'm a lazy fucker. Easier to wake myself up than put thought energy into a rewrite.
( john3ners has relocated to the Highlands, Sun 26 Jul 2009, 9:21, closed)

I, too, do this
In nightmares, I'll sometimes stop and think -- hey, why aren't I blinking? Oh, that's because it's a dream. I'll try to change the dream, but if I can't, I just blink, thus waking up.
(FleetlordVT, Sun 26 Jul 2009, 11:44, closed)

The worst bit is..
..when you realise it's a dream, try and wake yourself up, and can't - thus making the dream even worse.

Then Freddy shows up..
(danniekavanagh did nothing constructive on, Sun 26 Jul 2009, 11:53, closed)