Well, I’m glad I’m not alone, TAG. Since I posted my other message, I’ve had small improvements…my dream recall is slowly coming back but it’s still nowhere near the level it used to be. The most dreams I remember are ones when I wake up in the night…lately I think my alarm clock is messing me up more than it used to, causing me to fail to recall my longer morning dreams even though I can feel them, I just can’t reach them. It’s like IRL trying very hard to reach something you can see but your fingers are just one inch too far away to touch it…that’s how it feels lately. I can feel the feeling of having dreamt but no matter how I try, most of the time I just can’t grasp the memory.
I also wonder if it could be residual trauma from my dad’s death back in November. When he first died I didn’t recalll at all for a couple weeks then my recall went back to normal for a while before this drought. But in the last couple months it seems like the few dreams I do remember, almost half the time, have my dad in them. So maybe it’s just that. I just hope I live long enough to conquer this recall thing and the lucid thing, too!
Maybe my lack of dream recall is due to anxiety about school. Almost all of the dreams I can remember feature school in some way and involve me forgeting ot losing something important. I also seem to remember more dreams during the holidays too.
I hope that your dream recall improves soon Cynster and I feel sorry for you losing your dad.
I have been practicing dr and ld about a week and a half now, and in the begining my dream recall was excellent. However, the past few days my DR has been weird. I will have absolutely no recollection of any sort of dream when i wake up, but the afternoon (about 9-10 hours) after i will remember quiet a few things from the night before. I’m glad that i still remember a few things, but anyone have any tips on how to have a more detailed recollection when i first wake up (I do just about everything that you have mentioned).
Well, I haven’t read this thread since I can recall my dreams alright, but I’ll answer you anyway Count.
I don’t have any tips except to be patient. That you think dreams are important is probably imbedded in your subconscious by now. So if you try to remember your dreams, even if it’s just a ‘feeling’ you woke up with, it will probably just take time. Be patient.
About a year ago I couldn’t remember any dreams. I stopped [utting in alot of effort after about a month, but then I noticed that I slowly started to remember them without even realizing it. Now i remember at least one dream a night.
Don’t worry count - you’ll remember in time.
I was thinking that recall might actually help with LDing, not just to remember when you have one, but actually help you to be more conscious during dreams. See, if you aren’t conscious during the dream, then why would it be in your conscious memory? May be why ppl remember LDs better than NDs. Although I don’t really know about the science behind this, it was just an interesting idea I had.
Any thoughts?
there are several good methods for good recall, simply before going to bed set up the intent to remember your dreams when you wake up, write down quick phrases in your DJ and fill in details afterwards, and when your going to sleep at night reflect on your dreams from the previous night and see what else you remember about them.
those increased my recall by a lot, from fragments to full vivid dreams.
My recall is improving slowly but the best recall I have is still usually after my first sleep cycle of the night when I wake up naturally, usually to go to the bathroom.
My biggest problem now is the alarm in the morning intruding upon my dreams…I didn’t used to have such a problem with the alarm in the past, so I need to re-conquer that one.
My mother used to say that if we pass our hand on our forehead after we wake up, we won’t remember the dream… I guess that’s true 'cause sometimes when i wake up and am remembering the dream, I pass my hand over my forehead (like something automatic) and forget about the dream i was just recalling… and then i don’t remember them all over the day
I didn’t know this. Anyway, it’s adviced of not moving from the position in which you woke up in order to recall your dreams. If you don’t move, you’re unlikely to pass your hand over your forehead.
I don’t know about the hand over the forehead thing, but I know I’ve read advice that says not to even open your eyes when you wake up if you want to remember your dreams. Well, gee, for me waking up is synonymous with opening my eyes! Isn’t that usually what happens when you wake up, that you automatically open your eyes? Is not opening my eyes something I can train myself to do, just like training myself to LD (I wish)?
Yes Cynster. It can easily be done through autosuggestion (repeating a sentence before going to sleep). As for me, I didn’t have to force myself not to open my eyes, cause in a certain way, suggesting myself of remembering my dreams sort of include this. When I woke up, the first thing I thought of was recalling my dreams, so I didn’t move and I didn’t open my eyes.
And you’re right, I’ve heard a neurobiology conference recently and they said that something happened in your brain (I don’t remember exactly what) when you opened your eyes, so that opening your eyes seems to be a bad thing if you want to recall dreams.
I’m lucky, my dream recall has always been pretty good. (2-5 dreams a night) Every couple of years, it seems to dwindle, so I restart my dream diary and it comes back that same night.
As for staying still upon waking, I find that I’m so eager to write it down so I don’t forget anything, that I hop right up.
Hmmmm, maybe I should try staying in bed and seeing if more details come. There’s the balance, if I get more details by staying bed, will it be more than I forget for not writing it down right away?
My recall was slooooowly returning, but the last 4-5 days in a row, nothing again. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Right after I wake up and all throughout the day I’ll have a strong feeling of the last dream of the night but it just won’t form into a memory, no matter what I try. I know I could try just not thinking about dreams at all for a while and then maybe, poof, my recall will miraculously return, but I hate to do that because I really like keeping a DJ to be a daily habit.
Cynster, having the same problem. I DJ religiously and try to autosuggest recall before going to bed every night. I don’t think I know the proper way to autosuggest, or something. I’m not sure.
You probably get this all the time, but have you tried setting your alarm 30 mins earlier? Try to wake you up DURING a dream (REM cycle), may have some luck.
Lucid_Mike, I don’t wake up! I can’t wake up to an alarm clock. Period. I don’t know how I’m going to live on my own when the time comes…I’ll probably sleep for three days straight, then stay awake for a couple of weeks, and the process will repeat…I started another entire thread about this subject.
I moved your post into the Big “Remembering Dreams” topic. Could you please give some explanations on what you do currently to recall dreams, so that we can help you?
I already do this but I try setting it 15 minutes earlier instead of 30…like if a normal night of sleep would be 7.5 hours (5 sleep cycles), I’ll set my alarm to get up after 7.25 hours, which usually will wake me from a dream but it seems that lately even the momentary intrusion of the alarm clock causes me to forget my dreams just that fast. I didn’t always have this problem, that’s why I feel so stuck.
Should be easy to spot fellow dreamers. They’re the ones walking around with their eyes shut!
(Actually, that would explain a lot of the bad driving I see here in Sydney)
For me the most important aspect to remembering dreams is to firmly set my intention before bed. My biggest obstacle with dream recall is that after a month or two of solid journal(ing), I get a little bored with my dreams.
I didn’t know that…
CountDonoho introduce yourself in the “hi im new here topic” 
Anyway, it’s adviced of not moving from the position in which you woke up in order to recall your dreams. If you don’t move, you’re unlikely to pass your hand over your forehead. 
I can’t wake up to an alarm clock. Period. I don’t know how I’m going to live on my own when the time comes…I’ll probably sleep for three days straight, then stay awake for a couple of weeks, and the process will repeat…I started another entire thread about this subject.
