How well do you *actually* remember your dreams?

[Toch]

Since I started journaling again, I've noticed that my recall has improved, so I can remember at least one dream on most mornings. I try to write them down before getting out of bed. However, as soon as I start doing other things, the memory of the actual experience of the dream fades away very rapidly -- it feels like a piece of sand art, erased when it's disturbed. With rare exceptions, all I'm left with is essentially an "artificial" memory of my dreams, i.e., the memory of the act of writing down the dream, and I can only imagine what the experience itself must have been like. It's kind of frustrating, because I can look through the journal and see long, lucid dreams annotated with statements such as "It was just as vivid as real life" and "HOLY CRAP THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!", but of course I don't remember any of it -- those notes are all that I have. So my question is: Have you developed your dream recall such that you can actually remember living your dreams as you would remember your real-life experiences? (Incidentally, one effect that dream-journaling has had on my waking life is that it's made me more aware of the fleeting nature of the present moment. I take a lot more photographs of things than I used to.)

[StaySharp]

Well my memory is pretty bad for my own terms, but I usually can always recall my dreams at any point in time as good as the moment I woke up afterwards. It's just that I would forget them without notes. It's never like I can really recall the situation but I kinda remember all the feelings and stuff. Appart from the notes it happens sometimes though that I recall dreams that are long in the past with considerably great detail without anything more than a small symbol or random reference from something I see/hear.

[dreamguy1515]

The only time i remember my dreams is when i am actually living them like real life. All my dreams that i remember are as real as life

[Kitties]

I can usually remember visual details of my dreams quite well, even if they weren't particularly vivid, but I tend to forget the feeling. Like when I have a lucid, I often remember thinking in the dream, "holy crap this is so realistic!" and write all that stuff down, but after I'm awake for a bit, when I think back it doesn't feel very lifelike. I can still remember what I did generally, but not at all like I would a real-life experience.

[TheSkies]

I can still remember my most of dreams first hand, i.e. I don't have to re-imagine them, they are real memories. But then again, I may have something approaching an eidetic memory.

[pepsibluefan]

I use to not remember good at all, until i started keeping dream journals now I am starting to remember them quiet well. It use to be just small fragments here and there, now I can remember up to two dreams per night at least. I think it might start paying off and I might get my first lucid in a long time. Hoping that is the case at least.

[jed001]

if it is a memorable dream, i can remember it like had it this morning even though it was years ago

[insideout]

It depends on the dream. Some dreams I remember like waking life memories. Some I completely forget about a while after writing it. Many others I don't remember at all.

[Darkmatters]

This is weird, but sometimes when I'm in bed trying to fall asleep old dreams from years ago will just spontaneously drift up in my memory - especially if I have a headache or some kind of pain. I'm starting to think that somehow causes it - like maybe it's the same type of headache I had when I first had the dream or something. I don't know. It's like the way certain smells will suddenly bring back childhood memories. But - to actually say something on topic here - Sometimes when I start reading a dj entry at first I don't remember the dream at all, but then usually it will come back to me all at once. I'm not sure the actual feelings come back - but then I can't say feelings come back with waking life memories either - I just remember that I felt a certain way, but it's not like the feeling itself comes back.

[Hidden]

Yes. Sometimes it takes me a few lines, but usually I'll remember the scene from a dream fairly well, even if it's several years later. It does depend on the dream though. Some of them just weren't all that memorable.

[Vertebrate]

Some of my dreams I remember only shapes of objects, not actually any color. However, in other dreams I do recall seeing color. Of the times that I managed to DEILD, the memories were just as real as actual waking life. Some were more vivid than others however. I never had dream recall until I started trying. Unless I wake up after each dream I don't remember them. Good thing is if I set an alarm for about 4 hours before I wake up, I can wake up once and then I get 4 or 5 dreams worth of recall that night. (It depends on whether I remember a dream or not when I wake up)

[RebelSeven]

In a word. yes. If I sit still and don't have any distractions around, I can re-live a dream in vivid detail including the emotions and physicality of it. I don't have any kind of special waking life memory, but I have been obsessed with my dreams since I was very little. I never lost connection with them like most people did in their early teens.

[Carrot]

I used to be able to remember my dreams really well, even after hours had passed after I'm awake. Guess it primarily goes to the recurring themes in my dream and those were the intermediate problems I faced in real life. It wasn't really good though because having such clear idea of my dreams made me feel that my sleep was very disturbed.

[MarineRecon]

Sometimes I can remember 5 dreams in one night from beginning to end, but other times I may not even remember one. It just depends on the night I guess.

[JesterKK]

I used to have awesome recall. But I stopped journaling so it became very bitty. I've never been very good at recalling speech, but I'm bad at recalling speech in waking life too. I have a difficult time processing speech which is probably why I don't remember it well in waking life or dreams.

[Lyoko386]

My memories of dreams often vary with the dream itself. Sometimes my dreams flicker from one image to the next, even as I experience it. Other times, it is an actual sequence of events occurring before my eyes. I often remember dreams that occur in the latter, sometimes very roughly in the former. The dream memory also tends to diminish over time, although I am able to remember various images. Also, as some of you have suggested, reliving the dream after waking helps to keep the memory. For example, one dream I had several years ago I can remember because of the way the dream was laid out. I have often rerun various segments that I can remember as well, which helps to keep the image in my memory. Other times, the dream is blurred and mismatched, making it nearly impossible to understand or remember.

[Mdgriff]

Seems like there's a fairly equal amount of people that do and don't remember their dreams, I remember a lot of detail about my dreams, not all, but I always remember emotions and thought process, my actions and thoughts are not slays logical but I remember why I made that action or had that thought.

[MarineRecon]

Yeah, sometimes I can even remember what I was thinking in the dream.

[Naiya]

It varies from dream to dream. Most of my nonlucids, I remember well upon waking, but the details quickly fade because I don't put much effort into remembering or recording them. My lucids I DO remember in vivid detail just as I would waking life memories...I remember vivid sensations, tastes, visions, sounds, etc.

[sinoblak]

This is weird, but sometimes when I'm in bed trying to fall asleep old dreams from years ago will just spontaneously drift up in my memory - especially if I have a headache or some kind of pain. I'm starting to think that somehow causes it - like maybe it's the same type of headache I had when I first had the dream or something. I don't know. It's like the way certain smells will suddenly bring back childhood memories. I have a similar experience. I never write my dreams down right away and thus I miss sometimes a lot of thir content in the morning. So when I want to recall a dream, I just sit and start writing my real feelings, the most freaky thoughts, forgotten things, memories, whatever that pops into my head. The trick is to be completely honest with myselef. At some point, a distant memory or a hidden feeling, or I don't know what, hits on the dream and I can recall it perfectly.

[MarineRecon]

Yeah, I don't keep a DJ. I guess Im too lazy but I seem to be doing well!

[Original Poster]

To me dream memory works the same way as my imaginations memory. Try an experiment. Write down fake dreams interspersed randomly with real dreams. Try not to form any strong associations that will later allow you to pick out which dreams are fake. It may not work cause you may read them and remember thinking them up but the point is to show you how remembering our dreams is the same as remembering our ideas and day dreams. In fact when it comes down to it without some solid, waking world anchor to associate the memories with, we can't tell the difference.

[lucydity]

Depends on the dream, some i remember as if i had just had them, i can think of them in my head like an actual picture and can imagine the feelings i was having, hard to explain, but if i write them in my dream journal the moment i wake up is usually when i remember everything including the tiniest details, the more i record in the journal when i don't go on a dry spell the more i remember each time, up to the point where the dream is so long i forget by the time i've woken up. Then if i forget the dream and re read my journal at a later date i remember fully again, which i guess is the obvious perk of having a DJ

[ArtemC]

Bad (or weak) dream memory isn't always a bad thing. What if you would remember everything exactly as it were a real life experience? What if you would start mixing those up?

[lucydity]

Bad (or weak) dream memory isn't always a bad thing. What if you would remember everything exactly as it were a real life experience? What if you would start mixing those up? Like the time i remembered vividly that people didn't care that i was naked in public. damn.