Help with increasing quality (not quantity) of dream recall?

[JayTabes91]

Hello all, I have recently gotten back into lucid dreaming for the 3rd or 4th time, and I am trying to build my recall. I have always had a decent recall when it came to remembering many dreams, but the problem is the quality. Even when I was able to have lucid dreams, the quality of my recall was always very hazy and fragmented. Each night I can remember up to 7 or 8 dreams but they are all very short memories, usually of a single scene or event. I never have memory of how I got there or where I go after that short scene. I very seldom, if ever, have long or vivid dream recall. Would anyone care to lend some tips on how to increase vividness/recall quality? It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone.

[Scionox]

Yo and welcome back! Keep practicing and doing dream journal, the recall will build up with practice and will get better. Also remain in bed when waking up for a bit while recalling, that can help recall. You can also try using mantra like "My recall will be long and vivid" or similar while falling asleep and also you can just do some general memory practice, like recalling events of whole day before going to sleep. Also check out this thread: http://www.dreamviews.com/dream-sign...ompendium.html

[Lawlnut]

You didn't tell us how long you've been keeping a dream journal for, but I assume about 4-6 months based on how many dreams you actually remember. Keeping your dream journal for longer in your pace will do nothing but improve the quantity of dream recall, which is obvious because you'd have more vivid dreams along with a better memory if this wasn't the case. Like Scionox said, a mantra would definitely help (but these are really boring in my opinion). When I was trying to improve my dream quality I just ate lots of Bran Flakes. They had lots of Vitamin B6, which is considered to be a great help in improving dream vividness. If you can, try setting up a dream pillow if you find your sense of smell to be strong. While on the topic of senses, frequent meditation and visualization are a great way to manually boost your vividness and awaken your subconscious's power. Another suggestion would be to change the way you work in your dream journal. Instead of writing, try drawing - because it's much better to put the dream into something you can really see in waking life instead of a bunch of words. Would it be better for you if got a piece of paper and drew my response to your thread instead of writing? Sure it would, because it'd be something you'd remember and not just read. It'd also be useful if you figure out what type of learner you are and link that to how well you can memorize things. A simple approach is to memorize the mathematical value of pi in your preferred method (seems a bit overkill but it's worth it in the long run).

[JayTabes91]

I've actually only just started my dream journal monday, its been i think 5 days. But my dreams have always been this way. I guess with more effort I'll have more vivid dreams. I'm going out to get some B6 to try tonight. We'll see how it goes.

[MasterMind]

Experiment and see what affects your quality of dream recall, I would call it vividness. What I find affects my recall is the time of my bedtime or if I have a stressed mind as I go to sleep. If I go to sleep early and fall asleep by meditation, I usually have lots of vivid dreams and some short lucid dreams guaranteed. But it also comes down to practise of course, but these are tools that really helps.

[Empedocles]

You have to convince your brain that your dream memories are very important - if not just as important as your waking life memories. My advice: 1.) Make regular dream journal entries. Every, single, day. If you only remember one scene, or even one single image, write it down. Also when you don't remember anything, still write the date down and write "No recall". 2.) Practice memory reinforcement. (Very important!) Even if you only remember fragments, try re-living them over and over and over again when you wake up. 3.) Read your past dream journal entries. This is very important, because it also works as memory reinforcement. Try to re-live some of your past dreams. 4.) Get at the very least 7 hours of sleep. 5.) Eliminate stress as much as possible. 6.) Look in your dream journal for things which occur often in your dreams. Make note of these dreamsigns and analyze them. 7.) Try working on your waking memory, because this might also improve your dream memory. 8.) Find a method of dream journaling which works best for you. Now I will elaborate on number 8. This is my personal opinion and many people might disagree. What works best for one person might not work well for another one. I have recently changed my DJ method and I think my recall is becoming much better. Now I don't write my dreams as "stories" at all. So what I do now is I try to write only the scenes I remember clearly in my head, and not waste time on anything "in between." Here is an example: "I was sitting on a chair in my living room, and suddenly I heard a strange noise which scared me. A few seconds later I decided to get up and turn around. After turning around I notice there is nothing there except a mirror. I decide to look closely into the mirror and see that my reflection is somewhat odd." Now instead of writing that dream the way I did above, I will instead make this entry in my DJ: - I'm sitting on a chair in my living room. - A strange noise suddenly scares me. - I turn around and only see a mirror, showing an odd reflection. Not only does this save time, but I think it is more effective because you make note only of the things you visually, auditorily, and emotionally experienced in your dreams. No need to write "I wanted to turn around", "A few moments later I wanted to look at this", etc., but again, this is what I do and it might not work for you. For me this works better, because it reinforces my memories better when I read them later. However, I will still write my dreams as stories if I want to send them to someone so they can read them, or if I want to post them in my DV dream journal. Another thing I noticed is that it is unnecessary (for me) to write 4 or 5 dreams every day. In fact, I have set my limit to 2 dreams. Why? Because I have found that it pisses me off when I wake up and think "Oh man, now I have to write down 5 dreams." It feels like a chore - and the brain doesn't like chores. You don't want your dream journal activity to be associated with any negative feelings. Try setting a limit of three dreams, and again, don't take the rules you have set up as dead serious... so if you absolutely feel the need to write down that fourth dream, then go ahead and do it. In any case, what works for me might not work for you. Play around. Try different things. STAY MOTIVATED!