Recall improving

**ryman** · 01-07-2014 03:52 AM

So after coming back to the world of dreams, recall has been tough to regain. However, I am slowly but definitely am regaining it. I plan to start writing more in the journal as I've been slacking. And I know this is a bit off topic but, today I took some psychedelic mushrooms for the first time(great experience). I've heard some have had some very abstract and vivid dreams afterwards so maybe I too will experience that. Plus I will need to wake up early tomorrow making it easier for me to remember to record my dreams. We will see what tonight brings. Dream on fellow dreamers.

**LouaiB** · 01-07-2014 06:10 AM

It's slow, but very easy(dream recall)(at least for me)
Good Luck!!

Don't you have to take one of those mushrooms immediately before REM?

**gab** · 01-07-2014 07:01 AM

C'mon guys, really, mushrooms? As a LDing or recall aid? They are psychodelics, of course they will give you vivid and crazy ass hallucinations. They are not a lucid dreaming aid. Please...

**ryman** · 01-07-2014 03:01 PM

As for taking them before rem or whatever I have no idea. Gab, I was not using them as an aid by any means. I tried them solely for the experience and to explore my mind, had no intention of aiding lucids with them. I just figured it could spark some imagination causing vivid dreams making it easier to remember whatever dream I may have, and this thought didn't even occur until hours after tripping and when I was laying in bed.

**LouaiB** · 01-10-2014 05:03 AM

You can use melatonin before a REM cycle to increase the vividness of the dream(mustard contains a lot of melatonin)
Of course it is not an aid. To become lucid, you should be more self-aware than usual to have access to your memory so you can remember that the dreamlike thing is unnatural. So, more vivid dreams don't equal more chance of becoming lucid. I have a post about this, I'll copy-paste it:

LDing is the issue of memory. Since you memory is off during dreams, you need to turn it on so you can remember that a dreamlike thing is unnatural. How? By increasing your self-awareness in dreams.When you are self-aware in dreams, your memory will be much more accessible.
RRCing is a great way to improve your self-awareness during the day. The nice thing about it is that , with practice, it becomes second nature.
What you want to do is to use that advantage to your benefit. Since dreams are partially made out of our daily experiences, we hope that the self-awareness increased by those RRC will be a part of those experiences that will be lucky enough to be a part of the dream, thus making you more self-aware in the dream. As mentioned above, self-awareness , with practice, will become second nature, so it will be more likely for it to be a part of the dream(that's why it is more effective than RCing). So, more self-awareness= bigger chance of it being a part of the dream(expectations). Also, intention is a more direct way to let those RRCs appear(or their effect(self-awareness)) in the dream. Even better, if you strengthen your prospective memory, the intention will be much more powerful. That's why MILD is a good technique that goes with these fundamentals(especially that it doesn't involve environmental awareness, which would hinder self-awareness).

long story short: More self-awareness in waking life= more self-awareness in dreams= access to memory in dreams= lucidity.

Plus, there is this something called "dream feeling". It's like an always occurring dream sign. With the heightened self-awareness, and access to memory in dreams, it will be very easy to become lucid due to this "feeling". Like some people put it:"I just became lucid out of the blue/spontaneously lucid.

Also, self-awareness in LDs will make the experience much better, and dream control much easier, since you are fully aware that this is YOUR dream world, and it plays by YOUR rules.