Confused about recall...really please help.

I know there's a recall subforum but I figured more people would see this first. I've had 2 LDs, I only remember 1. They were last summer and now that its summer again, I really want to get back into it. I've started a DJ, but every morning ( for the past 3 nights ), when I wake up at 4.5, 6, and 7.5 hrs. into my sleep, I remember nothing at all. For months now, back up until April or March, i cannot remember any dreams at all, for any night.
It should be noted that I am focusing on MASTERING dream recall at the moment (1-3 dreams per night).

Maybe i have been trying too hard with auto suggestion and should tone it down a bit?

Maybe I should keep it up and be patient for a few weeks/days?

Maybe I'm doing something wrong?
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This is what I have been doing for the past 3 nights:

1. I'm thinking about it almost all day.
2. I'm not sitting around all day, but I'm not killing myself.
3. I try to go to bed between 8 and 9:30; last night I went at 9:10.
4. Keep a DJ right next to my bed, along with a pen.
5. Wake up around 7:10 and don't remember anything.

No memory of any dreams whatsoever.
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Yesterday I realized that I should be waking up at 4.5, then 6, then 7.5 hrs. into my sleep. I set my phone's alarm for these times, and last night I woke up to the alarms. Much to my dismay, I did not remember anything, and fell back asleep, waking up today around 7.
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I think I should just be a bit less hard on myself, relax the technique a bit, and give it some time. The only reason I am posting is that every recall tutorial only tells to keep a DJ, but not how to actually remember dreams to write down. Please give me some guidance, I know I am being a bit impatient and I will try to relax a bit.

Thanks!

You do sound like your trying too hard. The harder you try the worse..:P. I remembered I had 0 dream recall (not before I knew of LDing) when I learnt of LDing but it got better when I got used to the notion of it. I think it would be more beneficial to just remember bits and pieces an impression. There must be something you remembered like having done something or seen someone, just jot it down as those. Have you tried vitamin B complex pills yet, they do help in vivid dreaming. That and keeping your expectations within your reach is all you can do now. It's easier when your not aware of your struggle.

IMJ

I haven't remembered a thing. Not even an event or person...nothing. I'll take it easy now and see what happens. Hopefully I'll pick it up in a few days. Please keep replying if you have any other tips/ideas/strategies. Thanks.

I've had similar struggles in the past, infact i started a project to remedy the situation which worked massively for me.
Basically I bought a new notepad, added a geeky intro:

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...introsmall.jpg

And added entries like such:

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...20405small.jpg

I wrote the top entry for each day just before going to bed, i used a seperate notepad to scribble down dreams, and then summarized below in the origional notepad below results. I started with no recall, and within a few days was remembering dreams (on the 13th day i remembered 3+ for instance). Obviously you get good days and bad days but it definitely helped alot.

Some of the things i tried were affirmations before sleep, which i would also write down in the notepad before sleep, id naturally be reading alot on these forums and id be reality checking during the day.

After waking on a morning i would lay quiet with my eyes closed, without moving or thinking about anything, and id ask myself "what did i dream about?". Some days id remember nothing, other days just impressions, feelings and such, but it got much better as it went on.

The most important thing of all i believe was writing before sleep, its almost like setting an intent, a goal, and id even write "Result:" before sleep, ready to just write in the summary the next day. I approached the whole thing with the seriousness of a military operation, infact i called it operation candle light heh. I didnt change my sleep patterns, diet or lifestyle if thats any use to you and i had my first lucid dream of the project 11 days into it on may 1st (followed by a night of no recall :().

Hope this helps you, it worked for me.

RooJ

P.S, sorry for the handwriting... i.. erm.. broke my arm.. so i strapped a pen to my cat and just pushed it around the page :paranoid:.. honest.

Edit:
Its just occured to me that much of the time i didnt have time to write up the result on a morning, so instead would scribble down notes from that nights dream in the seperate notepad, then write in the result section on a night after recapping my dream notes from the other notebook. So before sleep id first write up the result from the mornings dreaming, then start on the next page and write the days happenings and intent for the night... hope that makes sense.

I suggest you relax in your bed for around 5 minutes to go over what happened during the night. If you are blank, don't strain your head because that will do nothing. And if you aren't planning to go to sleep again, just go through your day normally and pay close attention to everything you do, because something might trigger a memory about what happened in your dreams...

RooJ:

Quote:

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Some of the things i tried were affirmations before sleep, which i would also write down in the notepad before sleep, id naturally be reading alot on these forums and id be reality checking during the day.

The most important thing of all i believe was writing before sleep, its almost like setting an intent, a goal, and id even write "Result:" before sleep, ready to just write in the summary the next day. I approached the whole thing with the seriousness of a military operation, infact i called it operation candle light heh.

So before sleep id first write up the result from the mornings dreaming

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So you mean do auto suggestion by writing things down?
and what do you mean by "mornings dreaming"?

Thanks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by csol

So you mean do auto suggestion by writing things down?

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I think for me it was just getting into a certain state of mind before sleep. After writing my days progress and intent (and the summary of last nights dreaming), id be in a more dream focused state of mind which i think helped when it came to remembering dreams the next morning.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by csol

and what do you mean by "mornings dreaming"?

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Its probably easier if i said last nights dreams. Basically before sleep id first write in how last nights dreaming went (using my scribbled down dream notes).. then start the next page with how the day had gone etc.

Maybe you should try and find a nova dreamer or dreamlight on ebay. Its got a dream alarm that will wake you up after a few minutes of rem. Your dreams will be super fresh at this time.

Unless you can figure out another way to wake up after rem sleep. I think you might be such a deep sleeper you sleep right past these periods.

maybe true Runflacruiser. I'm going to try something i was told by someone today, and then ill try this: (i made it up myself :D)

| Well first of all let's just lay down as a rule, no dream devices.
| Okay second, go to sleep at a reasonable hour
| Wake up about 4-5 times instead of 1-3 in the night, every 90 mins.

I think waking up more often will put me in less of a deep sleep.
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RooJ...I will try the day journal too. Seems like a great idea. Thanks for the help, all of you.
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There are so many different ways people are suggesting me to do this; some are contradictory. I'm going to progress through them slowly and see what works, maybe combining a few.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by csol

There are so many different ways people are suggesting me to do this; some are contradictory. I'm going to progress through them slowly and see what works, maybe combining a few.

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Its worth remembering that individual techniques tend to work well for some people but not for others... So taking it slowly and giving each technique a chance is certainly the right thing to do.

my friend has a powerade every nite, an he says it helps him a lot to remember dreams. this doesn't really work for me, but it might for u.:D

Do you smoke pot? If so you might want to quit cause it's very bad for dreaming.

Tarsier:
NO.

Zombies R Awesome:
I think powerade every night would keep me awake. Thanks though :)

csol, u might wanna not think about it till u go to sleep, also, don't wake up so early. u should wait till your last rem cycle is over which is about 7-8 hours. thats when your most vivid dreaming occurs, and your more likely to remember anything after that. but keep at it. otherwise if u lose interest through rustation, u wont gt anything out of it. and trust me, when u get good at DR, you might accidently get an ld.

i ment frustration. not rustation

Quote:

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Originally Posted by reapsltd666

csol, u might wanna not think about it till u go to sleep, also, don't wake up so early. u should wait till your last rem cycle is over which is about 7-8 hours. thats when your most vivid dreaming occurs, and your more likely to remember anything after that. but keep at it. otherwise if u lose interest through rustation, u wont gt anything out of it. and trust me, when u get good at DR, you might accidently get an ld.

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So which one? 7 hours, 7.5, or 8 hours? I'll try 7.5 tonight.

Thanks for everything.

I would try relaxing about it and seeing dreams as a "gift", if you will, rather than a task. I would also recommend and not using any alarms whatsoever until you actually have to get up. I get 5-7 dreams/night on average when I get ~8 hours of sleep. I always wake up at the end of my dreams. This isn't always the case when I use alarms to wake me up, and I wouldn't know a sleep cycle if it bit me on the ass.

I'd also keep that DJ by your bed, and when you wake up in the middle of the night (even though it sucks to) write in your dream journal, don't just roll over and go back to sleep. Even if you didn't have a dream, I'd write what time you got up, if you remember anything at all, what position you woke up in, etc., just to work on remembering details when you wake up. Eventually those dreams should start coming to you.

Also varying your sleep schedule may help. Maybe try to only get 5-6 hours during the night, then take a couple of short naps randomly to see if that spurs anything. Altering my sleep schedule always helps my dreaming, and naps are fantastic for ld and non-ld dreaming.