Is the vividness of dreams directly related to dream recall only?

This has probably been asked a thousand times, but are how vivid your dreams are, lucid or not, directly related to your dream recall only?

In other words, is one's ability at dream recall the only thing responsible for making a lucid dream seem "real" or not?

I've had a few lucid moments, but only one lucid dream worth mentioning so far. As soon as I realized that I was dreaming (DILD), I stared at my hands and observed the detail as instructed in one of the tutorials found here, and when I looked up, I REMEMBER being impressed by the realism, but it doesn't seem as big of a deal now.

What i'm after is an extremely realistic experience that just dumbfounds me. I want to feel completely, absolutely shocked, as if I had entered another plane of existence altogether. I do not remember having this "shocked" feeling on any lucid dream so far. (Keep in mind that my last lucid moment was about a year ago.)

I've read of the insane realism of some lucid dreams, so I hope that I will eventually find myself in such a situation if I persist in my efforts, but I'm trying to figure out if my sub-par dream recall is to blame.

I just started keeping a dream journal again after returning from a year long break about 4 days ago.

Any thoughts? I guess I just want to be assured that such an experience is truly possible, and that the time and thought I am beginning to give lucid dreaming will not render over-estimated consequences.

LD

well, pretty much, but things affect the recall.
Like, if you wake up right after the dream and remember it, the dream will be much more vivid as opposed to waking up later on.
So the short answer is yes.
Some things can affect it, like if the dream is more exciting, or long, you could remember it better, and you could remember it later on in the day, so there are some factors :)

Thanks for the info! So basically if I just keep up with my dream journaling every night I should be able to acquire fairly decent recall?

Thanks again. :D

Well, I have found the two to be completely different.

My latest lucid, I was in the dream and was very amazed at all the detail. Yet my memory of it was kinda blurry.

Recall does not affect what it looks like on the spot, only what you remember afterwards, from my experience with roughly 8 lucids of this kind.

Good point. But could the lack of clarity in some of your dreams be dependent on the absence of your self-assurance that things are realistic? In other words, in dreams that do not seem "realistic," could they appear as such because you never told yourself while in the dream, "This is very realistic?"

I know exactly what you mean. As I said in the original post, my first [true] lucid dream seemed extremely vivid while in the dream, and I told myself, "Wow, this is extremely realistic." But as time passed, the dream seemed more and more like a normal dream, losing its vividness in my memory.

In short, if I hadn't told myself that it was realistic while actually being there, I think I would believe today that it was a very foggy dream.

ooh that is also true, I remember lucid dreams as they happen, i can't explain it...but i don't wake up and have a memory of a lucid dream, i remember it as it was happening? so if you have good recall and the dream was vivid, you can remember it better, well i can at least because those are the 2 main factors.

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Originally Posted by littledreamer

Thanks for the info! So basically if I just keep up with my dream journaling every night I should be able to acquire fairly decent recall?

Thanks again. :D

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yep, and just intending on remembering, maybe setting alarms to wake up in the night, etc.

I feel the exact same way. I just had a lucid dream last night, and even right as I woke up, it had already lost its realism. It was like I was trying to remember specific details from a real life experience a week ago. But like you, after I confirmed I was lucid after my RC's, I remember specifically telling myself, "This is exactly like real life". Now, I can't remember details like the color of the walls, the type of flooring, furniture, etc. However, the logical sequence of events is still fresh in my mind.

I think the key is ADA. In my dream, I never thought to look at the color of the walls, or the type of flooring. Hence, why I didn't remember them. The only thing I remember in full detail is my alarm clock (green LCD, 4 or 5 o'clock each glance, grey casing), because I told myself to focus on it as a RC. So in theory, practicing ADA in real life should allow you to retain the vividness of your dreams in your memory.

I was thinking the same about ADA. If you try to recall an event that happened yesterday while disregarding the fact that it truly was reality, the memory of the event can seem very similar to the memory of dreams.

It probably just boils down to our awareness in general.

Dream experiences can be just as realistic as those while awake. They just tend to be less stable. If you want to test this, try this technique, which was inspired by a stability guide I found here (forgot who, sorry).

Upon becoming lucid, do these things: look, listen, smell, rub, move, and combine, or "LLSMRC." I use an acrostic to remember them: LuLu spanks rude and mean children.

I do this at the beginning of every lucid dream nowadays. For example last night I was lucid and inside a large house. First I looked at the table, which was polished wood, while I glided my hand over it. Next I listened and heard a slight ambient white noise (like a fridge). Then I took a whiff and smelled that wood polisher smell. Then I walked around and felt the weight of my arms and legs as well as my muscles contracting. Then I watched my hands while I rubbed them together. Lastly I picked up a picture frame off the table, looked at its details, smelt it, tasted it, felt the wait of it, dropped it, and listened for the sound it made when it hit the floor.

As usual, it was a very realistic experience. I'm almost always impressed by my dreams when I do my LLSMRC.

Nearer to your question, though: I've recalled some dreams very accurately that were distinctly of a poorer quality. So, I don't think dreams only seem unrealistic when remembered with bad recall. I remember, very well, a few dark and blurry type dreams (i.e. my memory wasn't fuzzy--the dream was), as well as ones where I I had trouble moving or the other senses were defective.

That said, recall is everything. Aim for perfection. Use your journal obsessively. Try to think back and remember every time you wake up (even if you don't remember anything at first, just try anyway). Do reality recall every night before bed (think backwards and recall every event during that day up until you woke up). Practice dual n-back daily. Make it a goal to fill that journal to the brim with dream info.

Great advice. Thanks a ton. I had never heard of LLSMRC until just now. Will definitely try it whenever I'm lucid again. Who knows when that will be? My dream recall is still questionably poor. I've been remembering 1-2 dreams a night since i've started back at my dream journal a week ago, with the exception of last night. I couldn't remember a thing this morning. Very disappointing. However, my first lucid dream came after 3 days of zero-recall. I'll just keep at it.

Thanks again, carwashguy.