Yesterday night, I knew that I had to wear specific clothes in the morning, and so I put them out on top of my backpack so that I would remember. This morning, the second I woke up, I knew that I had to wear those clothes, without seeing them at all.
I do things like this often, and have found that usually, if I go out of my way to put something in a place that will prompt my memory when I see it, I will remember what I had to do with that item well before I see it. Basically, the intention to remember something is reinforced with an action. I think this could probably be applied to DR in some way, and will try to test this tonight.
Okay, this is what I ended up thinking up. Probably not the ideal solution, but it’s worth a shot. I currently have my DJ in the kitchen, and will be bringing it back into my bedroom before going to sleep tonight. To be sure that I remember it, I’m going to put it on the corner of my bedsheets, and suggest to myself that I will remember my dreams in the morning; since I always lift this corner up to get out of bed, I’ll have to remember that my DJ is there, and hopefully by association remember my dreams.
I’m not entirely sure if this will actually test my theory, since whenever I put things on my backpack, I know that I will see them in the morning, and so I won’t forget them (it’s the same way with my computer); it could also be this expectation that leads me to remember, rather than the action itself.
Please post your findings, no matter what – because I’m quite interested in these explorations.
I am a life-long novice hypnotist and still struggling with DR. The suggestion to “wake up after each dream” was working, but I forgot to keep up this suggestion or countered it with doubts and excuses.
Well, sadly, it didn’t work. But it’s more than likely this was a result of my alarm waking me up (even though it shouldn’t have). I’ll be trying this again tonight, hopefully with better results as I’ll make absolutely sure that my alarm isn’t set (and the one on my phone, for that matter…).
Since it’s a hypnotic world, and the more we focus attention on something the more real and detailed it gets – then focusing attention and yes applying an action should reap rewards in terms of dream recall.
When you want to remember something, you must realize that you can only remember it if this memory is triggered by something else.
If you only think: I must remember to do 10 RC today, then there’s nothing that will trigger this memory and it won’t work.
If you think: When I see object X, I must do a RC. Then seeing object X will automatically cause you to remember to do a RC.
When I want to make sure I don’t forget something and there’s no way of setting an alarm or anything, I look for an item/place that I will certainly see/pass that day and then I visualize seeing it and remembering my intent.
That’s why dream signs are so effective to become lucid, if you properly visualized seeing them and doing a RC.
I think this is also one reason that keeping a DJ improves recall and vividness; knowing that you will have to write about your dreams in the morning forces your brain to remember them better.
and I realized I pretty much repeated what the OP wrote. Sorry.