Partial recall / Lack of creativity / Semi-awake state?

[alny]

I have been into Lucid Dreaming for a few weeks now. I've been reading a lot about it and trying to follow the steps that the tutorials suggest. My recall has been improving quite a bit. Before I started, I could easily say that I almost never dreamed (obviously this would have meant that I never recalled my dreams). I started a dream journal and have been able to remember 1 to 2 dreams almost every day. Here are my questions then: 1) Even when I wake up in the middle of the dream, I can't remember much. I remember the last scene of the dream in decent detail, but that technique of trying to work backwards to try to remember what happened before that last scene just doesn't seem to work for me. Did anyone experience the same? Any tips to improve recall? 2) After going through my dreams, I realized that most of them are completely plausible. By that I mean that there is no flying, no aliens, no Jedis, no dinosaurs. Sure, I meet old friends who are overseas, things like that, but I can't remember one single really CRAZY dream. I'll probably be able to identify some dream signs once I have a critical mass in my journal, but I just feel frustrated that my dreams seem just too conventional... Does that reflect my down-to-earth, pragmatic personality? I wish my dreams were more psychedelic! Any thoughts about this? 3) Sometimes, when I snooze for an extra 10 minutes in the morning, I enter into a half-awake, half-dreaming state. On the one hand, the need to wake up and go to work start to permeate my mind and on the other hand, I simultaneously keep dreaming on a very confusing way (and not very realistic) - it's almost like the part of my brain that is dreaming is still working but poorly because I'm becoming distracted with the concerns of real life. I tried to turn this around to my favor and become lucid with no success. I couldn't quite figure out what I was dreaming anyway... Has anyone experienced something similar? Hopefully some of the experts in the forum will help me with some insights!!! Regards AL

[calicofall]

Okay, so you wake your self up about every 100 minutes? I'm not sure if i can do that. I have a sinking feeling that the people i live with wont like the sound of my alarm clock going off 5 times a night, so i might have to skip that technique. Another thing is i use to keep a dream journal, and i became albe to remember my dream so much more now that i think about it. Of corse i became bored with that and stoped writing everything down and now i remember nothing-Almost nothing. I find this very furstrating, but i want to start again. I'm no expert, but maybe we can learn from eachother! Happy dreams!

[Licity]

As for the first question, you might try tricking your mind about the state of the dream. Pretend that it really happened. Instead of asking yourself "What happened in the dream before the scene where I ate the sandwich?", ask yourself " What was I doing before I ate the sandwich?"

[Rajon]

Yes i have the same issues. See usually back then i would get a dream and record it. Later that day i would try to figure out what the dram was saying. I would 95% of the time get the correct interpretation of my dreams and continue with my day. I loved trying to figure out what they mean. Now..... every dream i get i may have problems recalling them and then during the day I would get frustrated because I can't understand them at all. I use to interpretate dreams as if it was as easy a breathing but now I just can't and that is a problem for me. What if my dreams send me a message and I can't figure it out, and the message is very important? I really hate thinking about it. Any advice toward this situation would be very help to me and my dreams Thank you for you participation.

[Sticktator]

That working backwards thing is hard if you're not asking the right questions. Instead of asking "What was I doing before ___?", ask yourself, "What could lead to me doing ___?" I've found it's worked a few times.

[Jellow]

3) Sometimes, when I snooze for an extra 10 minutes in the morning, I enter into a half-awake, half-dreaming state. On the one hand, the need to wake up and go to work start to permeate my mind and on the other hand, I simultaneously keep dreaming on a very confusing way (and not very realistic) - it's almost like the part of my brain that is dreaming is still working but poorly because I'm becoming distracted with the concerns of real life. I tried to turn this around to my favor and become lucid with no success. I couldn't quite figure out what I was dreaming anyway... Has anyone experienced something similar? This is my first post, but i have very often such "dreams". In order to get my a** out of bed, i usually wake myself up an hour or even two before i really need to wake up, and after i wake up i put the alarm to sound every 20 minutes. The hour/2 hours usually goes by very fast, with me knowing that im not completely awake, but also not sleeping. I cant really explain it, but i think we are talking about the same thing. Its like i know im awake, and know i can open my eyes, but for some reason i decide not to, and the 20 minutes just passes by in what seems like a couple of minutes. I also get these really brief quickie-dreams, where i just get a small 5 second snippet of some random occurance, that i cant really decipher or understand. Im totally concious of having this quickie-dream but for some reason i just never really wake up after i "wake up". I know its a bit murky, but this happens every morning i do this 20 minute snooze for 2 hours thing. Today i came across lucid dreaming and decided try and reach it. I recall about 2-5 dreams/week, and i guess i can get the 1-2 dreams/night if i start applying the autosuggestion tonight. What my fear is, that i dont really think i understand fully what lucid dreaming is, and im almost sure that i have never experienced it. I do have very vivid dreams every now and then, and i do remember having several "am i dreaming/this isnt happening" episodes in my dreams. But im not sure if i will reach that, and by the sounds of what LD is, it sounds really cool. I participate in a "sport" that requires good mental coordination, and i think that LD would help me greatly in simulating situations that may occur in real competition. It may be a good sign that my dreams are usually in the first person, and while i dont know im dreaming, my actions are based on volition and "premediation", so its not just that some random things happen in my dreams. When i remember my dreams, i can recall my feelings and thought process that i had in the given moments, so maybe all i need is to just get myself to understand that im dreaming. Sorry, if i hijacked your thread with this long post......

[adraw]

About you dreams being plausible. I have many epic dreams which are so dreamatic, that tires me a lot. I would like to have plausible dreams without aliens, magic about some real stuff. In my opinion, dreams are reflecting your real life. If you would like to be different in your dreams. It will be difficult for you, but in my opinion, it will be much more fun for you, when you make some achievements. We always want to achieve things that are not quite natural for us. I think that you will feel like god, when you fly first time, and when you make your first fireball. You will enjoy it. And I will enjoy some slow and "plausible" dream, when it comes. Good luck.

[alny]

This is my first post, but i have very often such "dreams". In order to get my a** out of bed, i usually wake myself up an hour or even two before i really need to wake up, and after i wake up i put the alarm to sound every 20 minutes. The hour/2 hours usually goes by very fast, with me knowing that im not completely awake, but also not sleeping. I cant really explain it, but i think we are talking about the same thing. Its like i know im awake, and know i can open my eyes, but for some reason i decide not to, and the 20 minutes just passes by in what seems like a couple of minutes. I also get these really brief quickie-dreams, where i just get a small 5 second snippet of some random occurance, that i cant really decipher or understand. Im totally concious of having this quickie-dream but for some reason i just never really wake up after i "wake up". I know its a bit murky, but this happens every morning i do this 20 minute snooze for 2 hours thing. Today i came across lucid dreaming and decided try and reach it. I recall about 2-5 dreams/week, and i guess i can get the 1-2 dreams/night if i start applying the autosuggestion tonight. What my fear is, that i dont really think i understand fully what lucid dreaming is, and im almost sure that i have never experienced it. I do have very vivid dreams every now and then, and i do remember having several "am i dreaming/this isnt happening" episodes in my dreams. But im not sure if i will reach that, and by the sounds of what LD is, it sounds really cool. I participate in a "sport" that requires good mental coordination, and i think that LD would help me greatly in simulating situations that may occur in real competition. It may be a good sign that my dreams are usually in the first person, and while i dont know im dreaming, my actions are based on volition and "premediation", so its not just that some random things happen in my dreams. When i remember my dreams, i can recall my feelings and thought process that i had in the given moments, so maybe all i need is to just get myself to understand that im dreaming. Sorry, if i hijacked your thread with this long post...... Jellow, you described very well exactly what happens to me. I don't know what's the explanation but I always put my alarm clock to 1/2 hour before I REALLY NEED to get up and snooze around 3 times (10 minutes each time). I feel this is a silly habit, but I can't change it. And now that I'm into lucid dreaming, this gives more time to think about my dreams, trying to recall then. But I never really recall these snippets of dreams that happen in the last 1/2 hour...

[alny]

Adraw, thanks for the thoughts...I'm sure I'm going to enjoy when I get to have a really crazy dream!

[Keitorin]

2) After going through my dreams, I realized that most of them are completely plausible. By that I mean that there is no flying, no aliens, no Jedis, no dinosaurs. Sure, I meet old friends who are overseas, things like that, but I can't remember one single really CRAZY dream. I'll probably be able to identify some dream signs once I have a critical mass in my journal, but I just feel frustrated that my dreams seem just too conventional... Does that reflect my down-to-earth, pragmatic personality? I wish my dreams were more psychedelic! Any thoughts about this? I have the exact same frustration! I especially hate dreaming about things that I could care less about, never think about, don't want to think about, etc. However, I've found that when I'm really into somthing in real life, I dream about it. That doesn't explain why I dreamt about a cursed boy and a flying cat with wings n a casttle last night, but. *cough* What I mean about 'really into something in real life': 1. I've read a new book that I really liked, and maybe I've thought about it throughout the day. 2. I've been obsessed with some new interest for a few days and have probably thought about it a lot. 3. Sometimes even things I've thought in passing turn up in my dreams, such as some food I've been wanting (potato cakes!) or a place I haven't been to in a while. But yeah, I recommend (trying) thinking about what you want to dream about throughout the day and before bedtime. I think of it like autosuggestion, where you're bringing attention to the activity/thoughts and your brain picks up on that, so it works to make it happen.

[Stupidity]

I would think that your that going over some themes in you dreams could help spark your memory. Usually I unlock forgotten parts of my dreams by memory association. I have the opposite problem, my dreams are so crazy that anything could happen and usually does, which makes i hard to notice patterns. EX: me using napkin associated superpowers to lead my people to freedom, hunting sentient dinosaurs in Africa with Hugh Hefner and me playing tag in a university with my friends and the cast of Godzilla: destroy all monsters (guess who was "it"). I'm putting the variety of my dreams down to too much fantasy and sci-fi novels and movies.