I wouldn’t agree on that because I was in one particular LD and it was very vivid and life like but when I did RC just to confirm myself that it’s a dream and when I reinforce the link between myself and the dream, dream became even more vivid and colorful!
But again, even if the dream is vivid by itself only our memory isn’t keeping DJ makes our memory more vivid by that it increases the vividness of the dreams or at least we have the feeling of that…
Pseudo-philosophical answer: what if… both are the same thing? The dream is only as vivid as we recall it, so…
anyway, I think that to remember a dream you need to be aware in it, at least a tiny little bit, even if you aren’t lucid. So the more you focus on DR and the better it gets the more things you will start remembering (in terms of things and theirs details) and the more overall awareness you’ll have in your dreams, which makes it easier to spnotaneously get lucid.
Thank you both very much for your answers You’ve sort of confirmed what I thought, only you were able put it much better
However, mattias, while it does seem to make sense that focus will increase overall awareness, I’m still wondering if you don’t focus on the details in the dream anyway. Isn’t it just that it depends on the DR if you remember the details well or not?
Or is it really so that by focussing on the details while recalling, you will increase the focus on details in the dream itself? Because you somehow let your subconscious know that “hey, those details are important”?
I guess I’m just looking for the link between keeping a DJ and vividness/awareness/lucidity here
I remember moments when I was really focusing on DR, at night I would think “I will remember my dreams tonight”, with the intention of typing out as much as possible in my ld4all DJ in the morning. Sometimes it felt in the dreams that there was this extra “background awareness” that was paying extra attention to things because I knew I would want to remember all the details later. And this extra awareness led to many FLD’s and even LD’s (the kind where you just are lucid, without the need of an RC). If you look in my DJ you can see how my DR and lucidity increased a lot in the first 2 or 3 pages. I went from typing 10 lines to 7 or 8 pages! I started having so much fun with my dreams that that great happiness feeling helps put you in the right mood for LD’s as well .
*mattias slaps himself on the face and decides to really focus on DR again
I see That’s very interesting! And goodness, you do have very long dreams/very good DR. Maybe I should set myself a goal: remember more dreams than mattias
I think the trouble I have with remembering my dreams is that I usually don’t find them all that interesting, boring even… So I’m just not motivated! But maybe they’ll become more engaging if I can remember them entirely or make them more vivid
Setting goals should help! And my recall suffered a lot when I started classes again . But I’ll always have those dreams to remind me that I CAN have that good DR if I want to (and now I want to again!!).
I’m very used to weird and fun dreams , but I do have boring ones too and I know what you mean. Remember that the more dreams you recall the higher the chances of you remembering a fun one . Plus I got to a point were I had lots of fun remembering the boring ones too, because there was always something that stood out and was weird in it’s own way, or I’d recall smell or taste, which is rare for me in dreams, and that would really motivate me.
Oh, and my dreams seem longer than they are exactly because I was describing every single detail I could remember, so a 5 minute scene could end up filling a whole page
I’ve been avidly keeping a dream journal since starting trying to LD and the progress for me has been very noticeable every night. You make a lot of good points which seem obvious but to a beginner, like myself, you get so engrossed in researching everything you almost forget to focus on the key elements. I was almost getting overwhelmed by all the techniques but after reading this I’m planning on sticking closely to the basics and letting the rest unfold. Thanks again!
i’ve just gotten back into dreaming and i’ve been having problem remembering my dreams. i’m following TS advice, keeping a journal as i did before when i did LD:ing. But it seems like its not getting through.
I wake up 6 hours after going to sleep, keeping a journal, and reading something about lding before bed. the first day of trying i remembered 3-4 short dreams. second day, none. and today when i snoozed i remembered the dreams i had while snoozing(acctually LD’s) but the dream during night is a complete blank.
The LD’s i had this morning was very vivid, smell, touch, sight, hearing. all of them but NDs at night is comeplete blanks! advice?
Don’t worry so much about it. DR needs some time to reach and stay on a standard of a few dreams a night. The night’s sleep is deeper than the sleeping time in the morning, so remembering the morning dreams is easier. Try a mantra if you haven’t already. Keep it up, you will get there again!
Thank you so much Now I have so much courage to go and try this. I use to have LD all the time when I was young but then I stopped. This thread really is going to help me get back on track! I can’t wait to have more LD!!!
It’s actually quite logical.
When you actively try to remember your dreams you teach your brain to be more aware of everything in the dream, and thus you notice much more details.
Think of it like daydreaming in real life - whenever you are lost in thought you very easily lose track of everything around you, and people may even call at you and you won’t react.
But if you “wake up” you suddenly realize where you are, what’s going on around you and what people around you are doing.
It’s the same with dreams.
I wrote in my dream journal and I remembered all 5 dreams I had in one night. Does this mean anything because I just started and I heard that in the beginning you dont really write much but it ended up being about 3 pages…
It’s common for people to not remember much of their first dreams when they start out, but you can certainly have a great memory even on your first attempt.
The amount of sleep you get is a very important factor, because if you sleep long enough to be able to wake up naturally without an alarm you will normally wake up in the middle of a long REM stage, which makes dream recall a lot easier.
I don’t pop in much here as of late, but I’m glad this guide is still helping those learning how to lucid dream. I still teach this same very method to friends who show interest in the dream world, and they are always amazed at what they learn in their dreams.
To answer some questions of why dream recall increases vividness (which have been quite well responded to already), vividness implies high amounts of detail, and detail comes from awareness. By training your brain to be aware of details, dreams will become increasingly more vivid as you are aware of more things around you. I know this may seem circular or backwards, but the reason things are so vivid when we are awake is that our brains are active and constantly analyzing the details of our environment; in dreams, we are not, but we are trying to change that! Think about some vivid memories you have; you mostly remember all the details, but you also remember very minor important details as well!
I don’t go too much into the theory for two main reasons: 1) Its a beginners guide and theory can been complicated to those unfamiliar with the dream world, and 2) dreams function a lot off self-assurance, and self-confirmation. Your dreaming capabilities will be far greater if you figure things out for your own in the dream world, which is also half the fun! This guide simply helps get you to the dream world.
I’m love to read the posts in this thread, and am happy you are all finding it helpful! Happy dreaming!
I hope im going to keep up my journal now cuz of this, it all made sense and I really understand the importance of writing my dreams down. This guide helped me alot!
Thank you
This guide was posted more than 3 years ago. Most of the participants of the thread haven’t connected to the site for at least one year or more - including Rathez, the op.
Still, this is possibly the best guide possible for an aspiring lucid dreamer. Simply amazing and motivating and yet - simple:
To summarize in a nutshell (including some of my own contributions)
Record your dreams, to the finest details. Everything you remember, including feeling, people descriptions, expressions, hair style, clothing, smells, sounds, sights, colors - everything.
If you are unsure about a detail, write it and specifically write you are not sure about it. Try hard to remember and try to visualize that detail see if it jogs your memory.
go over the entry again a bit later, and add more detail if you can remember it (easier when you type)
Analyze your dream logically while still visualizing it. Seriously ask and try to answer, all kind of questions about the deam like: “How did I get there so fast”, “How did that happen, it is not possible”, “Why was I thinking about that, I never do” etc… Question anything that is not logical. If you remember more details about the dream - add them!
Don’t be lazy - this is THE way for LD. Everything else (WILD, MILD, SSILD, VILD, DEILD etc…) builds on top of that.
I’m a total beginner in the lucid dreaming world, but I’ve already a pretty good DR…
Following the advices in the guide, I started my DJ a week ago, and I have had some great results so far
One of the best thing concerns “boring” dreams… I used to not pay too much attention to them, because nothing amazing or of interest was happening. But I did pay attention to some details in those dreams and I did recall some weird details
Also, by trying hard to remember the details, I realize that I had a smell sensation recently…
Again, thank you for writing this guide, as all the induction methods seemed rather confusing to me. I will proceed with augmenting again and again my DR, and then maybe I’ll try a method (though I have no idea of which one would best work for me )
The dream is only as vivid as we recall it, so…
You’ve sort of confirmed what I thought, only you were able put it much better 
.
But maybe they’ll become more engaging if I can remember them entirely or make them more vivid 
. But I’ll always have those dreams to remind me that I CAN have that good DR if I want to (and now I want to again!!).
, but I do have boring ones too and I know what you mean. Remember that the more dreams you recall the higher the chances of you remembering a fun one 
Now I have so much courage to go and try this. I use to have LD all the time when I was young but then I stopped. This thread really is going to help me get back on track! I can’t wait to have more LD!!! 
