First, a little background: I have been practicing LDing on and off for quite a while, but I have never had any really good LDs (bad for motivation). I think this is because when I have had them (or remember having them) they happen when I’m sleeping in, and almost awake. They are pretty much a constant struggle for stability. Of course, with each LD I have had of this kind, I have become better at staying in them, but only marginally, and thats all. I think this is because staying in such a ‘shallow’ dream is far more difficult than an ordinary one (for me, NDs of this kind seem to fade in and out along with waking thoughts). I think that if I can have LDs at a more ‘normal’ time (like, second to last REM cycle, or earlier), then finally I will be able to experience some long, vivid LDs that will really jump start my motivation and success. Also, I have poor recall at the moment. When I awaken in the morning, I usually only remember a quarter of my last dream (this is in the shower after getting up).
Technical: I have had about 20-25 LDs total, mabye more. At the moment, about 2 minutes seems to be as long as I can get them (I had one this morning, just then. About 2 minutes).
I think that my problem is my DR, and that may be what’s been ‘holding me back’. I want to fix this. However, the concept of a dream diary seems very unpleasant to me, and I would prefer not to force myself to keep one, as it would make trying to get LDs seem too much like work.
My question is: Has anyone managed to get exceptional (read: almost complete) dream recall for their daily sleep just by using autosuggestion, and then going over your dreams in your head in the morning? Or has anyone found another way that doesn’t involve immediately recording them?
EDIT: Oh man, wrong forum. Oh well. I’m still on the old forum names.
Well, a couple nights ago I started using MILD/Autosuggestion to try getting LDs, since then i’ve had one LD (for a few seconds) and one ND (few minutes), which is up from about one dream per month. So i’d say, yes, it’s possible, although I have been keeping a DJ, I don’t have it down on paper, and I tend to wake up slow and write it about 30 minutes to an hour later. I think a big part of autosuggestion is that you need to not only believe what you’re saying, but also have confidence.
Maybe if you don’t have the time to keep a full DJ, just write down little bits and pieces? Like if you think of dreams as a movie, and relive the events of, say, Star Wars in your head, instead of writing down the entire script, you could just write down “On spaceship, boarded, escaped, met some kid on a desert planet, saw an old friend, went to a space station, rescued a princess, got out of a garbage pit, escaped the station, attacked the space station, blew it up.”? Even an abbreviated version is better than nothing at all, i’m sure. And yeah, going over your dreams wouldn’t hurt, as long as you’re careful to not let yourself make up parts of your dreams. Just make it part of your morning routine, do it while you’re in the shower or something. Or maybe get a voice recorder, and talk about your dream on your commute to work or school.
For me, my recall came back after continually trying to remember my dream’s in the morning. I think that once i get a shred of it, I can keep thinking about it and it willl get back to me. I also think that if you keep trying to remember them, you will get you SC to know that you want to remember your dreams. After about thre weeks, I was able to get my recall from once every 2 weeks to 3-4 night’s in a row.
I found two things really helped my dream recall… One was not smoking Pot before bed… The other was taking Calea extract before bedtime… i recently found these pills that are supposed to help with dream recall…they have the cali extract and Mugwort in them … if you google " Dreamboost" you will find the site…
Since i have started taking different forms of the Cali extract, I seem to have more controll over my dreams… and can usually wake up … and them go back to sleep and continue the dream…
I think it depends on how good you are generally at remembering immense amounts of things in detail which not necessarily have anything to do with your daily life without taking any kind of notes (sounds difficult? ).
Dreams have the additional complication of probably having not much to do with your WL surroundings, so while you are more or less reminded of what you should remember in WL all the time by subtle cues, there is no such thing that reminds you of the dreamworld.
So, I think the DJ is a replacement for the “persistence” which is otherwise missing for your dreamworld. I believe the important thing is not so much just remembering dreams in the morning, but remembering them for an indefinite time or being able to remember them if needed.
For me it is very important, but if you think you can get along without it, you should try it.
For me it was all about remembering the dream as I wake up, if I get too distracted when I waked up, I tend to forget the all dreams I had that night. But I did have the same problem as you, not remembering my dreams.
I’ve been powernapping for such a long time now, sleeping for 1½ hour, waking up and remembering my dream. This really helped me ALOT to remember all my dreams, by now I usually remember 2-3 dreams every night.
Maybe you should try to take some naps during the day, if you have the time. I really helped me.
Meditation is supposed to make you remember more dreams, but then again, it may be more “work” than keeping a journal. I can often remember more while I write wich for me is a good motivation to write down dreams. I know it sounds like a chore and in the beginning it is. But it doesn’t take long to get used to it. It’ll be a natural part of getting up. Ofcourse. just starting small is probably best. at any time during the day, make a note of it. then take it from there.
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