Lucid Dreaming Guide : 1 : Improving Dream Memory

Goodshape

What techniques do people use to better recall your dreams?

Personally I find that keeping a notebook or 'dream diary' to be the best practise.

This involves keeping a notebook close to you when you sleep, within reaching distance, and writing down anything you remember as soon as you wake up. When you're starting out you'll probably find that you don't remember much - but don't be discouraged. Even writing down a couple of lines or just a few words will still improve your memory.. before long a couple of words will turn into full paragraphs and even entire pages.

Also, if you find that you remember nothing at all - write down that you remember nothing. The idea is to get into a routine of waking up and writing down.

Ruu_Old

Yep I used to use the notebook idea but if I can't remember the dream I just mark down the keywords I can think of and try and piece it together from there.

ST*

It is said if you give yourself a moment before sleeping, that you stop and tell yourself you are going to remember your dreams, that it sometimes works.

I think the reason why I remember a lot of my dreams is because I think they can tell you a lot about yourself. Intriguing stuff.

Goodshape

ST* wrote:

It is said if you give yourself a moment before sleeping, that you stop and tell yourself you are going to remember your dreams, that it sometimes works.

Yea, I find that to be true. The notebook also helps with this.. making sure it's there the night before, placing it beside your bed, etc, will remind you to remember, so to speak.

Oobie

I've considered keeping a notebook beside the bed as I have quite vivid dreams but I was worried that writing down notes during the night would make me wake up too much and I'd have trouble getting back to sleep. I don't want to end up exhausted the next day. Does this happen??

Goodshape

Not that I've found.. but then I'd usually write them down when I wake up in the morning, rather than waking myself up during the night to do it.

(I wouldn't usually wake up mid-sleep anyway)

ST*

Oobie wrote:

I've considered keeping a notebook beside the bed as I have quite vivid dreams but I was worried that writing down notes during the night would make me wake up too much and I'd have trouble getting back to sleep. I don't want to end up exhausted the next day. Does this happen??

I doubt it. Just a scribble about the things that stick out most in your dream would be enough. You could always write it out properly the following day if you wanted to keep a proper log of you dreams.

Rhyme

I tried writing down my dreams for a few months but i found the details slipping away much quicker than normal. What works for me is relating each portion of the dream to something already in memory (a face, a name, words, places) and i can work through picking out symbols etc during the day.

Someone once mentioned the phrase 'associative memory' once... that could be what i do

abetarrush

Everyone has like 10 dreams a night, we just dont remember them. You only remember the last one you had before you woke up, and that fades away prettys fast

You can do this yoke called a dream Recall. You basically fall asleep telling yourself that when you have a dream, you will wake up, write down all the keywords, and go straight back to sleep. Its like self-hypnosis

Havent tried it myself so dno wha to say, but sounds feasable

I jus write down stuff about any dreams I remember, then once you read over em again later, you wont forget

Faith

ST* wrote:

I think the reason why I remember a lot of my dreams is because I think they can tell you a lot about yourself. Intriguing stuff.

Yup, me too. And if they're suitably interesting, I like to think about them the next day. It's like thinking about a good movie you saw the night before!

iFight

Ruu wrote:

Yep I used to use the notebook idea but if I can't remember the dream I just mark down the keywords I can think of and try and piece it together from there.

I tried this for the first time this morning, I got a good 5 lines on a dream, fairly pleased with it.

Tar.Aldarion

Hmm, I seem to have recalls a lot of last nights dream, it wasn't a happy one.
To the notepad! The majestic sheets are a bit confusing...

Anybody else relive things that have happened to them in their life that hurt a lot but in ****ed up ways?
Dreams are weird,unless they include avril, then they are really weird.

Ruu_Old

Along with the notebook idea, I used to have a computer program that would take all the keywords and from the dream or what I could remember, then give me a number of emotions associated with the keywords. I can't remember the name of it though.

stevenmu

Another good technique, that would work well with writing dreams down afterwards, is to just lie completely still for a few minutes after you wake up. Try not to move at all and just lie there thinking about your dream and more and more of it will start coming back to you in lots of detail. It does seem to work if you move a little to turn off an alarm or something and then get comfortable again, but not if you get up for the toilet or anything like that. Of course the danger with this method is that you can actually fall back asleep and carry on with your dream. Have another alarm set if you need one

Black Swan

I write short-short fiction. Sometimes I incorporate a dream I just had into one. Makes for strange reading on occasion, but a source of creativity none-the-less.

Aard

I can usually remember the last part of the dream, but the worst thing is when something distracts me (alarm clock, other people making noise in the house, cars ...) I always forget everything that happened *instantly*! I guess the trick is to have a peaceful wake-up.

Shiminay

It's been pointed out to me that not remembering dreams is maybe not such a good thing. By this I mean I have never remembered any dream in my 28years plus of existence. I never really thought much about this until someone told me that this is highly unusual and a potential sign that I'm not getting proper sleep. It's got me thinking because I've been working nights for the last while and I'm completely shattered most of the time cause my brain wants to be awake during the day-light hours etc (I'm sure this is a common complaint for people who've switched sleep patterns), but now that I've been thinking about it, I've started wondering if it's not a sign of a bigger problem.

Just curious I guess - do other people normally remember dreaming?

iFight

I normally remember bits, not the whole thing, but over the last few days, it's been on my mind first thing in the morning, and when i wake, im normally thinking about it, so Ive remembered alot more lately. If that makes any sense.
There is already ready a thread if you want to improve your dream memory

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054969133

Karoma

I can't remember a lot of the time, but I know I do from time to time.
Dreams get dumped or recycled. Keep pen&paper next to your bed- if you wake up and remember dreaming-jot something down. One you're hitting R.E.M. - it's all good (Pun very much intended. Bastards)

Goodshape

I'll do a proper write up of a few techniques at some point, but this thread stickified for now (it seems to be quite a common question).

Ruu_Old

Theres a heap of information on that link the iFight posted, Kharn.:) I find writing it down when I have the notepad handy by the bedside, even parts of it or keywords and try to piece it together in the morning.

Tori

Yeah, it's not unusual for me to remember sometimes 2 dreams that I've had, but that's if I've wakened for some reason during the night and remembered the first one and then in the morning when I get up I remember the second one. I would also remember the really bad dreams 'cause they'd normally waken me too.

Goodshape

Not everyone remembers dreams, and if/when they do the memories can fade very quickly (as in the space of minutes)

I've just stickified the thread iFight linked to, so check that out. (//edit, actually - I'll merge them.)

I think regular sleeping patterns is definitely a factor, as is the method in which you wake up. If your forced out of sleep by an alarm clock, chances are you're going to forget everything by the time you find the thing and switch it off.

Shiminay

I had someone tell me all these techniques mentioned (hypno-therapist) - the "tell yourself you're going to remember your dreams" and keeping a journal. In retrospect, I was smoking a lot of very potent grass all evening, every evening at that time of my life, so I'm pretty sure that would have had an adverse effect on things (having had a quick read of the drunken sleep thread). Still though, I find it unusual that I have never rememberd a dream. I think that I have sleep issues, my mother once told me that as a baby, my father would come in from the pub at all hours and wake me to "play" with me (alcoholic - logic didn't enter into his brain). I shall do some googling on the thing this evening (last night shift - 6th in a row!) Thanks for the input, I'd have posted to this thread originally if I thought it was related, but I guess the title I put on it was mis-leading. I'm not looking to try harder to remember them (I'm sure it'd be nice), wondering if anyone knows if it's the sign of a sleep problem/disorder.

Goodshape

Kharn wrote:

I'd have posted to this thread originally if I thought it was related, but I guess the title I put on it was mis-leading. I'm not looking to try harder to remember them (I'm sure it'd be nice), wondering if anyone knows if it's the sign of a sleep problem/disorder.

No worries. I think the same advice should help though, whether improving or developing a dream memory for the first time.

AFAIK, unless you've got a seriously messed up sleeping routine, everybody dreams. It's an integral part of sleep - ever see that episode of Star Trek where the entire crew stopped dreaming? Whole place went mental fairly quickly.

If you think you've actually got sleeping problems then maybe you should get it checked out (*mod hat on - not a medical forum, etc.*) but I'd say a lack of dream memory is a common enough thing, and something which can be remedied with a bit of effort and will-power.

Shiminay

Goodshape wrote:

AFAIK, unless you've got a seriously messed up sleeping routine, everybody dreams. It's an integral part of sleep - ever see that episode of Star Trek where the entire crew stopped dreaming? Whole place went mental fairly quickly.

That'd be me - I don't really sleep regularly - the joys of shift work etc. I also have a habbit of just not going to sleep when I'm tired - sleep is for the weak! I tend to have stuff to do, another knock on from the shift work, have to stay awake for hours to be able to go to shops, bank that sort of thing. Saw the ST episode you mentioned, I'm removing all sharp pointy things from my reach incase

Thanks for the input again, I'll have another google and see what else I can find (have found a couple of interesting, but inconclusive bits).

The Bollox

the method I have of remembering dreams is discussing them with a friend and he discusses his with me. We try to break the dreams down and see what the meanings are, hidden or not. I think I will start with the dream diary tho. I meant to get into it months ago while I was big into lucid dreaming, I was told the first step to being able to lucid dream is remember dreams. That way you have a few tells when you are dreaming and can try controlling it. I did it once or twice but I only had small control, it was interesting none-the-less

madhitchhiker

Originally Posted by Marts

the method I have of remembering dreams is discussing them with a friend and he discusses his with me. We try to break the dreams down and see what the meanings are, hidden or not. I think I will start with the dream diary tho. I meant to get into it months ago while I was big into lucid dreaming, I was told the first step to being able to lucid dream is remember dreams. That way you have a few tells when you are dreaming and can try controlling it. I did it once or twice but I only had small control, it was interesting none-the-less

funny but my grandmother used to say never discuss dreams with somebody else.that is, if you wish your dream to come true. tell it only, if it's a bad one to counter it..how true?...:rolleyes:

DeVore

Why not do what I do. Keep your mobile phone on the sideboard and most of them have a "quick record" button or can be set to have one. Then just mumble it into the phone in the dark!

DeV.

Hobbes

DeVore wrote:

Why not do what I do. Keep your mobile phone on the sideboard and most of them have a "quick record" button or can be set to have one. Then just mumble it into the phone in the dark!

DeV.

I have visions of Devore hitting speed dial instead of record. Would explain a lot.

I_and_I

I have to be honest, I have been tormented for the past month by how lucid my dreams have been. You see up until the day after christmas I had been smoking pot everday for the past 5 years and in that time I had a total of about 20 dreams that I can remember, but now things have just gotten out of hand. I wake up in the middle of the night alot due to the fact that my body is pretty much going through withdrawls, pretty much every two hours so I am waking up usually in the middle of the dream or directly after it and its freaking me out totally. The funny thing is they do not dissapate and I can fall right back into them or recall them perfectly days after. Like a couple of days ago I dreamt that I was in a forest with a load of my friends and they offered me a joint and for some reason I smoked it, which is like my worst fear now that I would fall back into the habit. Anyway I woke up drenched in sweat it was freakin crystal clear like I had done it just the day before I was really unsure of what was real. But I guess its what I get for living the past 5years on cloud9. Bottom line if you want to stay sane don't smoke pot everyday for any amount of years, but if you have been don't stop unless you never want to have a full nights sleep again. That last one's a joke stopping is a very good idea....

gline

Kharn wrote:

It's been pointed out to me that not remembering dreams is maybe not such a good thing. By this I mean I have never remembered any dream in my 28years plus of existence. I never really thought much about this until someone told me that this is highly unusual and a potential sign that I'm not getting proper sleep. It's got me thinking because I've been working nights for the last while and I'm completely shattered most of the time cause my brain wants to be awake during the day-light hours etc (I'm sure this is a common complaint for people who've switched sleep patterns), but now that I've been thinking about it, I've started wondering if it's not a sign of a bigger problem.

Just curious I guess - do other people normally remember dreaming?

same problem here, i never remember dreams, its really weird, i always wake up with an empty head with no recollection of ever dreaming.... strange