Has anyone been able to do anything with the perspective that dreams and thoughts are basically the same other than the change of our attention, focus, and overall consciousness which is involved. I believe that to this day, and wonder if anyone else does.

I noticed a distinction that dreams have as it relates to "scene changes". I found that they were very inconsistent with how it happens in waking reality: one moment you could be on a bridge, you turn around, and the next you can be in a field. This to me reminds me of our thoughts and how they link together. Often when we fall into a thinking trace, scenes will link together based on 1 bit of information, for example, you're remembering about your family BBQ, and all the interesting things that happen. Say you play chess with your uncle at that BBQ and you see yourself playing, that could connect you into your most recent memory of playing chess with a friend in the park by which the entire environment switches instantly so you can visualize that memory. Which can then lead you to an ambition you may have to play chess with a grand master which has a completely different environment (and characters, feelings, etc.).

This sort of understanding got me to try something similar to lucid/vivid dreaming, but with thinking. I waited until my mind started naturally visualizing a thought, then recognized it, held onto the environment, started asking questions, and tried to just allow everything to happen without creating anything consciously. It led me on a fascinating trip through my mind, which I won't get into the details here, but I felt was a pretty successful start.

Anyway, this leads me to believe that if I can continuously recognize when I'm in a thought trance (it happens a lot...actually), hold on to that environment, and become aware that I'm thinking while aware of the environment, I will create a habit which will effect the ability to become aware in dreams.