Thread: How vivid should dreams be?

I thought of this while I was posing a dream journal to this forum. I just remembered my first dreams in a long time, by chanting to myself i'd remember them before sleeping and writing them down when I woke up.

I'm worried because my dreams aren't particularly vivid, they pretty much seem hazy and undefined. I remembered 3 dream and wrote them all down, but I can't even recall one of them, though I wrote it down this morning.

I hear people say they're dreams are really lifelike here on this forum, i'm thinking it's because I need to keep improving my dream recall, but i'm not sure. Do dreams get more vivid when you start focusing on remembering them? I don't even usually remember them at all, so this is a big step forward for me.

Also what can I write down after waking up that will help me remember the dream?

Thanks.

Forgetting a dream is normal. I forgot all my dreams last night, and I think I had 2 or so. A re-read a dream I wrote down a few weeks a go. I couldn't remember it at all. I was surprised about some of the things I did, but I do know for a fact I did them. I just couldn't picture it in my mind again. You probably forget them because they weren't very vivid or interesting. Only my most interesting dreams stay in my memory.
As for vividness, it depends. Often my LDs are vivid, but if I haven't slept for long they are hazy. Sometimes they are just hazy anyway. You can increase vividness by rubbing your hands together during an LD (works for me, at least). Some people think apple juice helps as well.

In my LD, Everything was so vivid, and when I failed at flying, I woke up and questioned if I hadn't just recalled myself being an idiot the day before. Then I remembered the FA I had and knew it was a dream.
In response to writing stuff down: If I wake up in the middle of the night, Ill write down 3-5 words to jolt my memory in the morning, then write a detailed summary in the DJ or on Dreamviews

Rubbing hands sounds good, but these dreams were non-lucid, so I wouldn't have the presence of mind to do that.

Originally Posted by HurricaneDictator

Rubbing hands sounds good, but these dreams were non-lucid, so I wouldn't have the presence of mind to do that.

In which case I recommend:
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...0&postcount=81

Each day you click on a zero and do an activity. It could be "do an RC each time you see balloons" or "do an RC each time you see the color red". It encourages you to also "stabilize" which is what rubbing your hands does. The idea is that if you RC and stabilize throughout your day, you'll do it naturally in your dreams since your mind thinks non-lucid dreams are reality.

I'm definitely going to try that stuff, but according to others i've talked about I need to work on remembering my dreams before I attempt lucidity, otherwise I won't even remember them. Last night was the first time in a while i've remembered a dream at all, much less 3, so i'm worried even if I do get a lucid dream it'll be all hazy and not great. But if I ever do i'll be sure to pub my hands and stuff.

My LDs are much more vivid than my usual dreams. I'm sure you'll have some sort of boost as well.