Waking Up From Dreams

Can anyone else wake themselves up from dreams? I sometimes have this ability to wake myself up from bad dreams. Usually it involves me realizing that the dream's situation is totally absurd and/or too movie-like for my normal life. Other times, I find myself in a situation so totally dreadful that I think that it couldn't possibly be real. So I wake myself up. Examples would include being in a plane that's about to crash, or having rockets shot at me by a Terminator.

One element that helps me to know that I'm in a dream is that I will be running, but can't run much faster than a walking pace. It's very frustrating, especially when one is trying to run away from a guy who has a flamethrower (like Sunday night's dream). Once this running-slow bit happens, I can usually recognize that I'm in a dream and wake up.

As for how I wake myself up, I'm really not sure. I tell myself that it's a dream, and then once I have that in mind, I sort of feel like I force my eyes open. (If all of us were really plugged into the Matrix, maybe I'd be one of those who was able to unplug himself!) On occasion, I have attempted to stay in the dream while being aware that I'm dreaming, but this turns out to be disappointing. It's disappointing because I feel detached from reality, in that sort of dream-state way. It doesn't feel real, and so it's not fun. For example, flying always turns out extremely unsatisfying when I try to do it while being aware that I'm dreaming. Either I flap my arms and don't get very far, or I think I have been able to zoom around, but I felt no acceleration or any other type of force on my body, so it's about as somatically satisfying as watching a movie of a rollercoaster ride.

Anyways, after I realize that I'm dreaming, it's usually not long before I wake up.

There is a bad thing about having this ability. It's when I find myself in a dire situation and try to wake myself up, but can't, because it's real life. There have only been one or two times in my life where I've felt like that, and they are not times that I'd like to re-visit ever again.