Dream Recall Help?

**EDC** · 10-21-2011 01:58 AM

Well i started a dream journal first time i read about Lucid Dreaming (on this forum), and that night i was able to recall 4 different dreams upon waking up in the morning. Next night, i remembered only 1 but i managed to pull off a lucid on for a few seconds. Next night follows, i remember 2 dreams. Next night, and i remember 1, but i managed to become lucid again, and this time i was a tiny bit more prepared. (I didn't know about stabilizing at the time) Now that i know how to stabilize, i've been waiting to pull off another lucid, but my recall has like just dissolved! I've been remembering less and less dreams every night since my last lucid, and this morning i woke up only to realize i wasn't able to remember any of my dreams. Has anyone ever had a similar pattern or just this same thing happen to them? If so what did you do to fix this? I've been doing less reality checks while awake recently because of school work.. & if it helps, i also realized that i had been smoking marijuana, stopped for a few days to see if my dream recall would slightly improve, but it totally feels like it became worse! I'm just curious as to why this happened, and if any of you LD'ers have experienced something like this before. Please let me know, thanks!

**Kona** · 10-21-2011 02:08 AM

I have had some times where I have pretty bad recall, it just happens, don't get too worried. Also, you have just started your dream journal so I wouldn't think much of it. We all have some times where recall gets a bit difficult but it should return to normal in time. If you feel like you need and extra boost you can try focusing your intent when you go to bed by doing a mantra. What I mean is that you need to have it rectified in your brain that you will remember your dreams. You can do this by repeating something that's called a mantra. You probably already know what this is but I'll explain it just in case. A mantra is pretty much repeating a phrase out loud while you fall asleep that helps you focus your intent. For example, while you fall asleep you could say, " I will remember my dreams tonight ", that's a pretty basic one but feel free to make up your own.

Another thing that I find really helps is to write dreams down in a lot of detail. This might sound like a really annoying thing to do but trust me, it helps. I have found that the more detail I go into, the better recall I get and even an increase in lucid dream count. Now this doesn't mean you have to go writing 3 pages for a 5 second part of the dream, just a good amount of detail that will make a pretty clear vision of what happened in the dream. Another good thing to do is to write down everything! Don't disclose a tiny fragment of a dream as useless garbage! Write it down! Writing down even the smallest fragment can help you remember something bigger.

I hope this helps man. Post on the forums or even PM me if you have some more questions!

**EDC** · 10-22-2011 05:35 AM

Thanks a lot Kona, i believe it's like some sort of dry spell. Because i was making so much progress within a week of finding out what lucid dreaming was, and then BAM! I couldn't remember my dreams. I'm going to focus tonight on that. I'll keep you updated over the weekend too see if i manage to recall my dreams more--or even pull off an LD. Anyways, thanks man!