First off, I would like to say Hi to all the dreamers on this forum. I am new here, and am impressed by this site. I have been following my dreams for about 4 years, and have experienced quite a few lucid dreams and obe’s over the years, though not as many as I would have liked! I thought I would share a method I use for recalling dreams if I am in a hurry in the mornings and don’t have time to write them down right away. It is basically using very simple mnemonics, but with a little practice has been a great help, as it enables me to recall up to 10 dreams instantly at a later time, and thus banishes a lot of the annoyance of forgotten dreams. This method can also be used to recall short shopping lists, names, things to do, whatever.
Memories are linked by association…that is the mental linking of images, sounds etc. Any sensory data can be used to trigger memory, once it has been actively linked or nailed to mental “posts” in our mind. First we need to imprint mental images of the numbers 1 to 10 in our minds, so that we can then link to those numbers whatever we wish to remember.
For each number I use a simple mental image starting with:
1 = paintbrush
2 = swan
3 = heart
4 = sail of a boat
5 = hook
6 = elephant trunk
7 = cliff
8 = snowman
9 = balloon on a string
10 = bat and ball
As you can see the associated images are visually similar to the actual numbers. This helps us to remember them. Now the first thing to do is to learn this list with it’s associated images…this should not take long at all, a few minutes perhaps. Once we can successfully link all the images with the numbers, we can then start to link other data, such as dreams. Now, going by my own experience, on some mornings I awaken with maybe 3 dreams in my head. I know I will forget them if I don’t write them down quick, but I am in a rush to go to work. So I do this…Say in the first dream I was back at school, and I was with an old girlfriend. There may be lots of other data, but these are the key elements. So to link this dream to number 1 in my memory, I strongly visualize myself painting a girl with bright red paint, while a noisy crowd of school kids chants around me. Running this through my mind a couple of times quickly should suffice. Now say in the second dream I was down at the local arcade, playing pool. I now strongly visualize a massive white swan running around an arcade with a pool cue in it’s beak, smashing up everything in sight. Again I run this image several times to allow it to grip. For my third dream, I have to use number 3’s associated image which is a heart. So if my dream had been about myself cycling in the mountains say, I visualize myself sitting on a bike with a big red heart balloon tied to the handlebars, which then floats me off the ground. The trick is to exaggerate the images and sounds we use, as this helps to ingrain them better in our memory. With a little practice, this process can be done very quickly…but allows us to go to work or school or whatever…then come home and recall our dreams of that morning.
So I get home, think to myself…“ok, number 1 is a paintbrush, so what did I paint? Ah yes, that girl! And it was in a school, all the kids were chanting!”
And with this memory of the key elements, I guarantee plenty of other detail will flood into your mind from the dream, as like I said, associated images link and link untill the whole dream is there in your mind. Then on to number 2, the swan…“ah yes, that gigantic swan with the cue, wrecking the arcade”…and so on. If you find you forget the linked images, then you are not exaggerating them enough. Don’t just settle for say, using a tiny paintbrush to paint a small picture, make it a foot long and an inch thick, and the paint as bright as you can! We can see how this method can easily be used to recall 10 items, say off a shopping list.
1 = paintbrush = oranges = visualize yourself painting a gigantic orange with bright purple paint
2 = swan = bread = visualize yourself feeding a massive swan whole loafs of bread, and it snapping at your hands. feel that pain!
And so on. Sorry for the lengthy post, but hopefully some of you may discover some method to my madness. Like I said this is simple mnemonics, I actually use a more advanced system too, which allows me access to as many things as I want, from 1 to 10,000 if I needed to! But this simple version is used regularly by me to aid my dream recall. Try it and see for yourself, I know in the mornings or sometimes in the middle of the night one can be reluctant to get out of bed and write down dreams, but if you use this method, you can actually go back to sleep and when you awaken later, if you did it right, your earlier dreams will be waiting for you, still linked to your memory! No more lost dreams! I have used this method quite a lot this week myself actually, and as on some mornings I had up to 7 dreams to remember, it came in very useful! let me know how you get on, if anyone tries it.
Practice memorising a shopping list or something first untill you get the feel for the system. Notice how long the list will stay in your memory, if you do it well enough you will be able to recall the list for days. Of course once a list has served it’s purpose or say your dreams have been recorded, just mentally “wipe” the list clean, and start again, with new images. Again, if they are visualized strongly enough, they will easily take the place of the last things that were linked. The good thing about mnemonic systems too is that they force you to use your imagination, as well as giving your memory a boost. Helpful things when it comes to dreaming.
Just imagine and dramatize something so you can remember it easier. Just use the basic keywords and you will mostly likely to be able to recall the rest.
