Frustrated with recall...need an expert

[mroberge]

Several months ago, when I was first learning to LD, my dream recall rocked. I kept practicing and following all the directions for LDing. I would wake in the morning and easily remember all of the dreams I had that night. And when I say all of the dreams, I mean, I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I had remembered every dream I had that night. I started to LD and practicing dream control, but I was a little unimpressed by the whole thing. I had such solid dream recall that there were times I would remember conversations or events I had, but then I would remember that they were dream events. I was a little worried that if I continued to LD, I'd start to get the two worlds mixed up in my head and embarrass myself, so I stopped. I decided to give LDing another whirl so I've been trying to work my recall back up. For some reason, this time around it's just plain horrible. it's been about three weeks now, and I'm still pressed to remember even fragments of my dreams. It's like there's a higher power (my subconscious) working against me here. I know all the typical methods to help: affirming that I will remember my dreams as I fall asleep, keeping a scratch pad beside the bed...etc I've tried going to bed earlier, AND later in hopes that I'll catch an rem cycle. I analyzed the role that my alarm clock plays, whether it disturbs and rem cycle, or whether the snooze button keeps me in nirvana long enough to forget everything. Often times I'll go to bed early enough so that I wake before the alarm goes off. Oftentimes if you can lay in the position that you were in while dreaming, it can help recall. This works sometimes, and other times It brings me so close to the dream that I fall back asleep while recalling it. And still other times, it makes my imigination wander which completely distorts my recall. I could use some fresh advice or direction from someone that has experienced any of this.

[Burns]

Are you currently keeping a dream journal? Because even recording little snippets may help kick-start increased recall. Are you drinking or smoking before bed? Different substances can also inhibit dream recall. When you wake up in the morning, don't move, just lay there with your eyes closed. Concentrate on what you were just dreaming or thinking about. Work in reverse and try to think about what you were doing before that. When you feel like you've remembered all the details you can, open your eyes, and snatch a piece of paper and a pen. Quickly write down keywords and sentences, or feelings, before they fade away.

[Arkhan]

Aye, Burns explained it all. Usually I can't remember my dreams either, and I ain't really a fan of waking up for an absurd ammount of time during the night to write an epic novel. So what I do is to set my alarm clock to different times during the night, try to find my pen in the darkness somewhere near my bed and note down a word, a name, or a place that will make me remember all, or atleast most of the dream in the morning. It worked well so far, my recall's up to 3 dreams/night when it was only around 5 dreams per week before I started journaling 'em If you're too lazy to do this.. well, quoting what Burns said, just lay still, eyes closed and focus. that should solve it However, I also add abstracts thoughts to it when trying to remember, such "where was I?" "nono, it wasn't in my room" or "why the hell was there a toilet in the living room?" but usually thinking about a certain person who might've been involved in my dream will bring it up. If you try the approach I said, you should keep in mind that reading something that was written in the dark can be quite...interesting (read: unreadable sometimes)

[Jared]

Can you really remember most of your dreams in the morning by just writing down a few important words. Im going to try that because like you I don't feel like staying awake for a long time writing it all down.

[your_rainbow_girl]

Yeah, I think that would work for most people. For me, it was easy to write down a description that I didn't need to explain to myself (such as "like the market in town") that I could go back to later and explain more in depth. It also helped me "tap into" that dreamy feeling again, and even be able to add a bit more by the end of the dream journal writing.

[Lucid_Diamonds]

"why the hell was there a toilet in the living room?" [/b] I ask myself the same question sometimes.

[Ev]

There are three words that will solve your problem: VITAMINS and a DREAM JOURNAL I had exactly the same situation: I had great dream recall, multiple LDs each night but then I started college. For a couple months not only did I not have *any* LDs, but my dream recall became really crappy. It took me a long time to finally determine 2 causes of this. One was the dream journal - I was writing down only lucid dreams and slacking on everything else. So when my lucid dreams were gone so was my recall of everything else. Second thing was vitamins - I simply stopped taking them and the crappy college cousine lacked the nutirents required for clear dreaming. The first night I took multivitamin supplements before bed I could remember 3+ dreams and that's after almost 2 months of blackout type nights! You should definitely try that. Keeping a dream journal only solidifies the effect, allowing you to remember more and more details each night as well as notice patterns in your dreams. There may be other factors in your dreamlessness - such as noisy roommate, lack of sleep quality, less than 8 hours of sleep, alchohol and drugs(but vitamins take care of them).

[mroberge]

Many of the above techniques, I already do IE: laying in bed for a few moments before i get up, working backwards, keeping a dream journal, affirming that I will remember my dreams when I wake. I have not tried the vitamins but I will certainly give it a shot. I don't do drugs, and only drink occasionally so that should't be a factor. It really feels like there's some sort of mental barrier in my way, with "blackout" type dreams almost every night. I can attribute some of this to being overly tired. I seem to be able to remember a dream about once every 3-4 nights but they require a ton of effort to recall and usually they are really distant. I've been putting a lot of effort into finding the common denominator for the nights that I do remember my dreams, like what i'm thinking as I drift off, what i'm thinking when I wake up, sleep habits, awareness through the day, how many reality checks throughout the day. Or what is different now as opposed to a few months ago when my recall rocked. I DO think about LD less throughout the day than I did a few months ago. Partially because I've just been busier lately and get sidetracked. I try to remember reality checks and increase my awareness throughout the day, but I've got other things going on, work, kids, dogs, work around the house etc... and can't really devote my entire daily focus on LDing. How much of your time during the day do you experts spend on LD thoughts, or how much of your daily focus goes into LDing?

[TweaK]

Originally posted by Burns Are you currently keeping a dream journal? Because even recording little snippets may help kick-start increased recall. Are you drinking or smoking before bed? Different substances can also inhibit dream recall. When you wake up in the morning, don't move, just lay there with your eyes closed. Concentrate on what you were just dreaming or thinking about. Work in reverse and try to think about what you were doing before that. When you feel like you've remembered all the details you can, open your eyes, and snatch a piece of paper and a pen. Quickly write down keywords and sentences, or feelings, before they fade away. And on top of that, I'm directing you to This and This topic.

[DreamGuy88]

Neither of those links work.

[DarthDallas]

Usually, if I don't immedeately remember dreams when I wake up, it's a lost cause, unless somthing during the day re-kindles the memory of a certain dream. The laying in bed thing with my eyes closed doesnt usually work for me, but hey, everybodys different and I guess its just finding what works best for you.

[Rory]

I have a really mixed DR, on my first day of keeping a Dream Journal I remembered 1 dream, which I was quite upset with, the next day to make me even feel worse I only remembered one small moment from one of my dreams, but the next day I remembered 5 whole dreams and I was ecstatic about this, then the next day I remembered 2. I can't really keep a steady consistent recall, some days it's poor some days it's excellent, the Dream Journal has helped me but I think some people really improve and some people can't get any better than one or two dreams a night.