Thread: dejavu in dreams/ repeated scenery

I have experienced this dream déjà vu before, and can say that I felt it more often as my recall improved...which was a huge part of the progression leading up to my becoming lucid for the first time. However, considering I had experienced it prior to and also after that first time, I cannot say whether or not it directly relates to how "close" you are.

However.

Spoiler for huge response:

I cannot say with certainty either what this sensation truly is...it's possible (even likely that) your dreams have reoccurring geography, scenarios, people, and that alone is why you feel you remember it. The same could be said for the déjà vu one experiences while awake.

But personally I've never found that explanation very satisfying at all.

And as far as I understand it currently, déjà vu in general (and other related phenomena) might be attributed to a simple and occasional perceptual upset in our brains.

Similar to how the images we receive with our eyes are imperceptibly flipped right side up, the fact that we can mistakenly misread typos as correct, etc., our brains filter and process things like stimuli, experience, and memory so fast that we aren't even always aware it has taken place.

Occasionally our signals get a bit mixed, and although we may feel as though the current moment is happening exactly as it has before in the past it is more likely that we are experiencing the present as we normally do, and sub/consciously we merely get the sensation that what we're feeling is more like a memory than like the new it actually is.

Or maybe we are just getting our details confused.

Either way, if the difference between the two is so subtle as to be mistaken in waking life, you can be assured that it is even more ambiguous in dreams.

So yes it is likely that your dream environment has reoccurring elements, but the only way (that I know of) to know for sure is improving your recall and keeping a regular journal; making note of elements that occur more often than others.

I can say for certain that a reoccurring element--noticeable through my journalling alone, really--was what triggered my first moments of dream lucidity..

The recall and awareness takes time, and for me at least, experiencing sensory things came more or less individually. Paying attention to scents, tastes, textures, etc... Just like in real life they depend on your level of attention. Taking time to focus on colours more, written words around you, the sound of a person's voice, subtle things like breezes and fog...all these things require practice to notice completely enough to commit almost immediately to memory.

In my experience it is challenging, but fun and revealing. Amusing, Much like life in general. (PSimdrunkbtw)

If you want a higher level of detail, you could try tackling each sense individually maybe? I tried this when taste was my weak spot and it worked out well enough. One time I thought I even achieved Synesthesia tasting smells and smelling sounds and whatnot...

Be careful, it can be gross at times.

Also, if you are really interested in pursuing these things in your dreams, my best advice to you would be to practice in real life simultaneously. The more habitual it is to your waking mind, the more likely it seems that your sleeping mind will respond in a similar fashion.

Hope that helps, but if not I recall there being other posts on deevee about this topic particular, as well as tons of others to consider.

Enjoy!