Weird problem with dream recall

**Waterknight** · 08-12-2010 07:22 AM

I can almost never remember my dreams. The weird part is I can only remember lucid dreams or dreams Ive had several times before. The last dream that I wasnt controlling that I can remember was one where I patched a hole in a boat with music. Dont ask me how that works but it did. i remember that because it was so impossible but in my dream I accepted it blindly. Other dreams I remember almost all about them because I either accidently became lucid in a new dream or I have had the dream before so I instantly know its a dream.

im sorry if this didnt make a lot of sense.

**macha88** · 08-16-2010 03:14 AM

Are you keeping a dream journal? It's definitely helped me. As well as keeping a small log of the days events.

**Waterknight** · 08-16-2010 04:08 AM

Well how can I keep a dream journal if I cant remember my dreams? I write down my Lucid dreams to try and later adapt them into a story because I want to be a writer. I cant remember regular dreams though or I would make a dream journal.

**macha88** · 08-16-2010 04:11 AM

I had that problem when I started out too. But you have to tell yourself to remember your dreams to write down in the morning, and even if all you remember is one emotion of the dream, start there. Eventually you will be able to recall the dreams better. Regular dreams could also help you as a writer

**Waterknight** · 08-16-2010 04:14 AM

So If I wake up and just know I had a dream but I dont remember anything about it at all should I write down just something like. I had a dream and something like I woke up afterwards feeling sad or happy or excited?

**macha88** · 08-16-2010 04:17 AM

Yeah, start there. I found that after doing this for a while I began remembering glimpses of the dream as the day went on and I was doing something similar/related to the dream somehow. For instance one time I was making popcorn in Reality and it reminded me of the word popcorn which was said by a DC in one of my dreams. I have been recalling two or more dreams a night and I only started keeping my dream journal consistently last week or so. Also, making sure to do it every time you wake up really really helps.

**Waterknight** · 08-16-2010 04:19 AM

Cool I will probably use the little wanted poster notepad I got from the starcraft 2 box

**macha88** · 08-16-2010 04:20 AM

Have fun! Let me know how it goes

**uberyoshi** · 08-16-2010 04:39 AM

I've been having trouble remembering dreams for the past few nights, and I think it has to do with my sleep schedule. I've been going to bed way too late and then I end up waking up around noon. Your memory of a dream is going to fade the longer you're out of the dream. For best results you want to wake up during or directly after a dream. If you sleep for about 8 hours, you should wake up at the end of the REM cycle, when your dream is ending. If you tend to sleep in, the REM state will end and it will just start over again. Your dream will end while you're asleep, and you'll be much less likely to remember any of it.

Originally Posted by Waterknight

Cool I will probably use the little wanted poster notepad I got from the starcraft 2 box

Hmm, I was wondering what I would do with that notepad. That's a good idea.

**Waterknight** · 08-16-2010 09:25 PM

Ok I woke up at 2 this morning and I remembered a dream where I was just in a room of a mansion. I went and wrote "I had a dream that I was in some mansion with other people" Instantly as I wrote the word mansion I started to remember two dreams I have had on other nights recently that I had completly forgotten. I remember that in both dreams I was in this mansion or privately owned hotel or something like that. There was a party going on but I ran away from the partty and was hiding in different rooms. In the second one it was the same thing but eventually I got to a stairway and a woman was at the bottom. She was apparently very lose to the owner of the building and knew whatever it was that was going on. I tried to run down and get around her but she turned invisible. Then I had to fight an invisible woman in my dream. I just kept running back and forth in a narrow hallway and I would eventually see a pinkish light from where she was.

So I was so excited about remember that dream that I didnt get to sleep till about 4 then I woke up around 2PM and remember another dream from today. Which I wrote down. In this dream I was driving my moms car but for some reason it was really hard to control and I ran off the road and almost flipped. After that I was riding a bike that was just as hard to control as the car.

I regret to inform you that the car dream did not become lucid

**zhineTech** · 08-16-2010 09:38 PM

have you tried the advice in this thread:
http://www.dreamviews.com/f15/if-you...ams-try-93005/

-what's your sleep schedule like? you woke up at 2am and then woke up at 2pm? wow, i wish i could sleep all day like that.
-do you drink or smoke weed? that will kill your recall.
-are you doing some kind of mantra when you go to bed at night?
-do you stay still when you wake up and try, try, try to go back over the dreams?
-have you tried setting an alarm in 90 min intervals to wake you up?

you have asked a question and given very little in the way of what you have been trying.

**macha88** · 08-16-2010 09:53 PM

Originally Posted by Waterknight

Ok I woke up at 2 this morning and I remembered a dream where I was just in a room of a mansion. I went and wrote "I had a dream that I was in some mansion with other people" Instantly as I wrote the word mansion I started to remember two dreams I have had on other nights recently that I had completly forgotten. I remember that in both dreams I was in this mansion or privately owned hotel or something like that.

Looks like you're on your way to better dream recall!
Remember to be consistent with the journaling and the sleep schedule. zhineTechs suggestions are great ones too.

**Waterknight** · 08-16-2010 10:05 PM

I dont have a consistent sleep schedule but once school starts I will.
I just go to bed and go over the day in my head.
Normally I will lay in my bed when I wake up for as long as I can and if I dont remember even dreaming then I wont think about my dreams but if I remember dreaming I will try to get back into the dream. I lay there until I have to get up to pee.
I have set an alarm before for 90 min intervals before but that didnt help it just interupted my sleep a lot without me remembering any dreams.

**zhineTech** · 08-16-2010 10:14 PM

Originally Posted by Waterknight

if I dont remember even dreaming then I wont think about my dreams ......
I have set an alarm before for 90 min intervals before but that didnt help it just interupted my sleep a lot without me remembering any dreams.

try lying still in the same position you woke up in for 5-10 mins, and trying really hard to remember images or fragments at least. many times i have thought the dream was not there, but then after focusing on it all it takes is one image or scene to bring it back.

try diff 90 min intervals, especially in the later part of the night. waking up from REM will pretty much always help your dream recall.

before last april i hadnt remembered a dream for like 5 years, LOL. now i usually recall 2-3 a night, with a few blank spots here and there.

**Waterknight** · 08-16-2010 10:20 PM

Sometimes though I will remember fragments of a dream and the more I try to remember it the more I lose it. Such as the dream that I rmembered today. I remember waking up and knowing part of it but I tried to remember the dream and I lost it. But seeing the word mansion brought it back to me a few days later.