Last night, I was sleeping and apparently there was a very, very intense thunderstorm occurring in waking life. I was in the middle of a dream, just walking, doing my thing, when suddenly it was like a camera flash went off right in front of my eyes (in the dream). I said to the dream characters "I can't see anything!". I was awakened by one of the loudest booms of thunder that I have ever heard, my house was shaking!
Anyway, others in my house confirmed that a flash of lightning illuminated the house and woke them up also, whereas it took the actual thunder sound to wake me up as opposed to the flash of lightning. It appears the lightning influenced the content of my dream, creating a flash within the dream itself.
I am curious to hear your experiences with real-world factors influencing your dreams while sleeping. Have you ever experienced something like this? A sound, flash, tactile sensation? My experience reminds me of the lucid dreaming sleep masks to guess your REM cycle with the flashing lights😂