I’m going to get to the point. I have had almost NO dream recall before coming to LD4all. Before, it was like I didn’t dream at all. But then I found this. Because of my previous recall problems, I knew I would have to work on dream recall before actually trying to LD.
On 8-4-06 I tried the Dream Remember exercise found on LD4all.com and it worked, to a certain extent. I could remember a small fragment of a dream, but that was all.
Last night I tried it again, and I could not fall asleep after completing the exercise. I suppose somehow I fell asleep and woke up later, but I just turned over and went back to sleep.
This morning I tried to recall my dreams but I got nothing.
I took into account how I’ve only tried it twice, and how I may just need more practice with the technique I’m currently using.
But I still wonder, should still use the Dream Remember technique? Or should I try something new, and if so, what should I try?
My dream recall has shot up big time since I first discovered LD4all. Here’s a summary of my techniques.
On the weekends when I had some extra time, I took a regular deck of 52 playing cards. I sorted out the cards into a grid-like fashion, with 13 rows and 4 columns. Then, I just played the memory game. (Incase you haven’t heard of the game, you start by flipping two cards over. If they are the same number and the same colour, you have a pair, and you take the cards out of the grid. If not, you turn them over and pick two cards and see if you have a match. Repeat until you have found all 26 pairs. The trick is to remember where each card is). This helped me pay attention to detail, and as a result, I started recalling “the little things” in my dream, like dialogue, lighting, and position (I’m working on remembering clothing and accessories).
Sometimes just keeping a DJ is enough to trigger better DR. Don’t neglect your DJ. Write in as many themes and ideas you have seen in your dream as possible. Compare these two (fictional) entries:
Also, it helps to use your DJ more than for just writing down dreams. You might want to add in some cliffnotes about things you felt in your dream, or perhaps some things that you think helps you induce LDs. You can go back to your DJ entries and highlight/underline common dream signs, or maybe have a special space where you can make a list of things you want to do in a LD. You can put the letters “RC” on any page so that you’ll do a RC when you write. You might want to tell about dreams you can recall from before you started a DJ, or write a little bit about what lessons/symbolism you’ve found in your dreams.
Just be sure you keep your DJ neat Remember, the primary focus is on what you dream about. But the more time and effort you put in your DJ, the more messages you send to your mind saying, “remember more dreams!”
Thanks, that sounds like it might work. I do keep a DJ, but I have nothing to write in it as a result of MEGA-CRUMMY recall, But I have a template of sorts for neatness. (By the way, I’ll start an Online DJ as soon as my recall improves)
This last part is sort of unimportant, but in a DJ, do you record the date you had the dream, or do you record the date you wrote it down? That’s been sort of bugging me. EX: Let’s say I had a dream last night, do I record today’s date or yesterday’s?
Well, if you had the dream when you were sleeping last night, you probably dreamt it in the morning hours (in most cases), so it’s the same date as today’s, if you see what i mean
So yeah, i record the date when i had the dream, not when i wrote it.
I have thought lately about dream recall that maybe one could listen to the parody of “free falling”, the one called “total recallin” while at the same time resolving to remember all ones dreams. That is to have total recall. ofcourse one would do this as one is fallng asleep.