Why can't I remember? Someone help!

[RyanBigDog]

For some reason, I can not remember my dreams. I don't wanna say that I don't have them, because I probably do and can remember VERY select dreams, but 99% of the time I wake up every morning as if I just blacked out or went into a coma for 6-8 hours and NOTHING happened. I'm sure this isn't normal, but is something with me? For the most part my short term memory is OK. But I do start to forget things after just a few days, and I can't remember anything from my child, even my middle school and most of my high school years (and I'm only 24!). And 90% of the dreams I DO remember have to do with my death or something being wrong. They're never happy dreams. And as far as I know, none of them were lucid. I always remember these dreams from a 3rd party perspective and I had no control over there. Here are the only 4 dreams I remember in the last THREE years (short versions): 1) "The Girls" I recently, about 1 week ago, had a dream that included a girl I'm currently "dating." In the dream her, and 2 other girls who I'm assuming were her friends because I could not identify them, were chasing me alongside some highway. I recall that I was very panicked, and/or scared and was almost running for my life to get away from them. I remember that I ran onto the highway itself, it was dark with few cars, but a state trooper passed right by me. I started waving my hands and screaming at him as he passed and I clearly remember saying "Help me!" but he just kept driving. Finally the girls caught up me and some words were exchanged between us (that I can't recall) and then boom... I wake up. 2) "The Bridge" - Death Dream This dream was very short, but very vivid. I remember I was driving home from somewhere and going over the Indiantown Rd. bridge in my old hometown of Jupiter, FL. I was driving by myself and paying attention to the cars around me. As I reach the top of the bridge, it all of a sudden collapses. I remember hitting the brakes as hard as I could and starring at other cars just falling through the middle of it. Finally my car slid down and over the edge that collapsed and I just remember I was in a sheer panic and was absolutely terrified. I was screaming the whole time the car was falling. Finally the vehicle hits head first into a piece of the bridge that fell before my car went over. I slam into the windshield and then immediately wake up. 3) "The Airport" - Death Dream I call this the Airport because from what I recall I was a tarmac similar to an airport runway, but don't specifically remember seeing planes. Anyways... I remember appearing in this dream out of nowhere, just standing there. Which I thought was weird, and I remember thinking it was weird as I was dreaming, but didn't vocalize my thoughts. All of a sudden two motorcycles come out of nowhere, driving side-by-side. They looked like Harley's and I couldn't make out the riders. I paid attention to them as they passed, and then out of nowhere a vehicle which resembled a paver, or a roller, like the ones that flatten freshly laid asphalt, came out of nowhere and headed right towards away. Panicked, I ran away as fast as I could but, for an unexplainable reason, ran into a bunch of barrels (looked like oil barrels). I tried to hide among the barrels which were stacked on top of each at least 20 feet high. Suddenly the vehicle hit the barrels behind me. This action knocked me down, but I had enough time to roll over, look up and see the barrels fall on me. I put my hands up to cover my face, screamed and then woke up. 4) "Cheating" This is a weird dream in which I treated on my (at the time) fiance with some girl I never knew. The dream started out of nowhere, and I wound up at some girls house. I didn't recognize the girl or the house. But we were outside together talking and then went in her house through her garage. Inside the garage was a door which led to a pantry and in the pantry was another door which let to the kitchen. Her and I walked into the pantry and then started making out which eventually led to us having sex. All of a sudden I hear a man (which I presumed was her dad) in the kitchen. We immediately stop as I start to flee in a panic, but this man bursts through the door screaming at me. I back away into the garage and then he pulls out a Bic lighter (no joke) and threatens to burn me. He lights it and holds the flame right in my face. This may sound dumb, but I was legitimately scared by this point. I run away out the garage to my car. ^^^^^ Now here's the frickin' weird part... lol. The car I got into was actually my fiance's dad's truck. Except that it had bucket front row seats. (Weird?) And as I jumped in the truck and started it up, I looked in the middle of the seat next to me and there were a bunch of strawberries. BUT, the strawberries all had bites taken out of them. Last thing I remember is thinking that was very weird about the strawberries and then bam... I wake up. So yea... those 4 dreams are all I can remember in the last 3 years. There are FRAGMENTS of other dreams, but nothing worthwhile. Does anyone know what's wrong with me? Or why I particularly remember very strange dreams like these? Thanks!

[Choi]

When I first started out and tried to recall my dreams, it was exactly like this. I just went to sleep and then I just woke up the next morning. How you sleep will effect your recall, so if you drink alcohol you won't remember as much. But what I would recommend is to go to sleep at the same time each night except for weekends of course. And I also used affirmations I don't know if it was because of that, but it did help. I said to myself while going to sleep "When I wake up I will remember my dreams, I am aware of my dreams" And if I woke up during the night I had a piece of paper next to my bed and wrote down keywords of what I could remember from the dream. Now my recall is pretty good, I remember vivid dreams and now I don't remember them because I recall them I remember them because i am aware of them, and sometimes just that makes me lucid. So work on your awareness as well. Good luck! If you just remember something, you have already been a little aware of the dreams, just keep trying and you will start remember more and more.

[Pandabear]

Don't worry, it's normal. My dad can maybe remember 2 dreams in 2 years. But he doesn't train, and he doesn't want to. But you can learn it! Everybody can! When I started, I could maybe remember 1-3 dreams each week, if I was lucky. Now I normally remember 2-4 dreams each night, sometimes more. But I've also trained. Keep a dream journal, and write everything down you remember - e.g. a word, a person, a song. Everything! Simply spent 10 minuttes each morning to remember. Close your eyes (don't fall asleep! I've tried that! ). Believe in yourself. Every night before bed, say to yourself "I'm going to remember my dreams, I will remember my dreams" and believe it. Let it be your last though before falling asleep. There's a guide somewhere in the wiki, I guess. Maybe you should check that out? Good luck with the recall.

[Arch]

The others pretty much summarize it, I barely dreamed before I had a dream journal, my recall sucked, now I'm unlucky not to remember a dream, it is very important for lucid dreaming to keep a DJ. Good luck

[quiktaco]

I don't know how old you are, but when we are young, we seem to remember more of our dreams. We may enjoy them or be afraid of them, but we put more emphasis on them either way. As we get older, most people don't care about their dreams because they are too concerned with their waking life. The reduced emphasis causes our brains to think its not important, so it doesn't try to hang onto them. We all dream, every night, many times per night. What needs to be worked on is your recall. To do that, like others said, the key is to keep a dream journal. Put emphasis back into your dreams. Wake up, and ONLY think about what you were dreaming about. you may go weeks, where all you can remember is a feeling. Write it down! If there is a word that comes to mind, write it down! A song that is in your head, write it down. These are all seeds that can brake you through to the deeper memories of your dreams. Soon, you'll have a few sentences, then paragraphs pages. On a good night, I can fill 5 pages in my dream journal with 6-8 separate dreams. When I first started, I was in your shoes where I might remember 1 a week if it was real vivid. Stick with stand good luck. It will come. Probably sooner than later. Once you put emphasis on your dreams thy will start pouring in.