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.
Help! I can’t remember a single dream! huhuhu
Hi janossyd!
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’ve had this problem, I keep thinking when I wake up that I haven’t had a dream because I don’t wake up out of any dream or remembering any image instantly. Sometimes I won’t write anything down because I kept firmly believing that I hadn’t had any dreams. The technique of going back to the last thing you remember in your mind has been useful for me. Just don’t get frustrated about remembering your dream which might impose other thoughts on your mind. If that doesn’t work maybe just relax and try not to think of anything. My dream always comes naturally to me, but it comes later depending on my state of mind.
…Of course, this only happens to me when I’ve awakened from a non-REM stage, so trying to wake up during one of those cycles might help.
Topic merged to the BIG Remembering dreams topic
I’ve been working on improving dream recall for a little over a month. I’ve been using the method where you repeat a mantra in your head until you fall asleep to set your intention to wake up after each dream and remember it. I’ve had very inconsistent results with this technique ranging from remembering 1 dream 4 nights in a row to nothing for several nights. I’ve tried 5 different mantras, none of them worked any better than the others. What am I doing wrong?
Welcome Mkutblue 
Mantras are all well and good, but there’s very little point reciting them over and over unless you feel the intention which goes along with the mantra. Perhaps you should focus more on your desire to remember your dreams when you repeat your mantra, and try avoid reciting them mindlessly.
If you did not already know, there is a BIG topic in the first steps to lucidity forum dedicated to dream recall.
Thank you. I removed the link when I merged the topic because it pointed now towards to this very thread
I am having difficulty understanding what is meant by “focuing intent.” How will I know if I have done this? How will I know if I have consistent enough recall to try lucid dreaming induction techniques? What specifically has worked for other people?
I’m with mkutblue, I still am unsure what things like this mean and I’ve been working on this topic for quite some time. 
I have tried DR for the first time last night and I was able to remember all 3!!! I don’t know if this is normal, but I did not write anything down until I woke up to go to work. I followed the advice to ramain in the same position when waking up.I thought about the very last image and back tracked from there. It was all very clear. I hope this continues…
I also had the feeling that I was dreaming, but was unable to do anything about it, then I woke up. Everytime. I know, I know, be patient and keep practicing! Why I didn’t do a RC I don’t know…