Dream Recall...

[APM]

I just started keeping a dream journal three days ago. Usually I never remember my dreams at all. I find it strange that, although people say to keep still and close my eyes when I wake up, that does nothing for me. Instead, I go on about my showering and duties of the morning and it has come to me at that time for all three days. However, my dream recall is extremely hazy and is getting recurringly less and less. For example, I remembered a record two dreams on Monday! One was in relative detail, and the other was just so-so. It seems like my mind treats the dreams as memories and stores them away in my mind, subconsciously affecting my feelings about the coming day. When I try to think back to my dreaming, nothing happens. When I think about the previous day, something tends to come to me. I may have just been getting lucky, though, and I fear that my dream recall may continue to fade progressively. I remember hearing somewhere that dream recall is like a muscle; the more you use it, the better it gets. It just doesn't seem like that's the case. Such a short period of time is too early I know to begin drawing conclusions, but I'm curious to know if this is true because really want to begin dreaming lucidly, and if I can't even remember them, I don't see what good that'll do me...

[wasup]

Yes, well, the more you recall your dreams the better you'll get indeed. After only a week or two of dream journaling, I can usually get up to 4+ vivid dreams per night. Check out the dream recall tutorial (I wrote ) and it may help you. But my guess is you just remember your dreams later becuase you think about em and then something in real life triggers it. Well, focus on recalling your dreams in the morning. For one, they will be less hazy. They will be fresh in your mind as you write them down and the vividness will inrease. I believe that vividness depends more on your recall as opposed to the quality of the dream (though, dream journaling definitely increases dream quality). Just work your way up... you might only write down a sentence or two... but be very diligent with dream journaling and you will definitely succeed.

[Burns]

You may have already read through the dream recall tutorial, but I figured I'd post the link anyway, just in case you haven't. One of things that always worked for me was to read dream-related stuff in bed before falling asleep. You can print out some of the tutorials, or read a dream-related book. I'd recommend Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen LaBerge, which is considered the LDing Bible around this forum. It's great for getting you in the dreaming (and LDing) frame of mind before falling asleep. Visualization is also a great way to increase your recall. Not only can you incubate a desired dream before falling asleep, but you may want to visualize yourself waking up, remembering all your dreams and entering them in your dream journal. Try some different things. Everyone is different so you'll need to base your progress on trial-and-error of different techniques. Some people like taking supplements to increase chances of LDing or dream recall, but I've felt the need to use any of that stuff. Hope this helps. Good luck! Edit: Damn, Alex - you beat me to it!

[APM]

Alright, thanks guys. I'll keep these in mind tonight.