Recall is a temperamental creature

[Cycspace]

How on earth do you guys get perfect recall? I've been keeping a dream journal for about 4 months, and I feel like i've made a bit of progress, but it hasn't been linear at all. Every time I wake up it is the same mental wrestle with that sneaky part of my brain that doesn't want me to know about my dreams. It is always very tense, but now I can usually overcome its power by just concentrating on a certain feeling or person from the dream I just had, then the dream kind of all comes back when I remember that one thing. Sometimes I will have a fragment of a feeling, and this usually happens for very bizarre and intriguing dreams that I REALLY want to remember, but the fragment just won't develop into memory. Most of my entries don't go massively in depth, but there are a few that are detailed and vivid that I can remember even now. Anyway I got really frustrated this morning when I woke up and couldn't recall anything, and I knew that I had woken up in the night as well and couldn't recall anything. This has happened occasionally before, and it's just really discouraging. How did you guys/girls get your recall up to scratch? Do I need to learn more about general sleep/the sleep cycle? Is it just different for everyone, and a matter of knowing yourself?

[Maxis]

Dream recall usually isn't linear anyway. I've been struggling with this a bit myself, my dream recall has been deterioriating this past week (it's slowly starting to come back to normal). I even remember that I had a lucid dream a couple of nights ago, but I can't remember anything besides that. I don't know how long it was or what happened or what I did, I just remembered I was definitely lucid at some point in the night when I woke up. But back on topic, my point being dream recall tends to fluctuate quite a bit just like lucid dreaming does and there's not much you can do about it when that happens other than keep trying. Continue dream journaling and if you don't remember anything, then still write something down like "I don't remember any dreams from last night but my recall is improving everyday." This tells your mind it's important to remember your dreams. If your overall dream recall in general is bad, it's possible that DJing is not enough. Using mantras throughout the day and before bed such as, "My dream recall is improving everyday," and "I always remember my dreams," can work wonders. When you wake up, don't think about anything else and just lie there and think about the dream you just had as well. It's also worth asking yourself if anything's stressing you out or if your mood has been down lately, if anything in your life has changed recently--all these can impact dream recall. Oh, and finally, believe in yourself. Believe your recall is improving and you're a master at remembering your dreams. Confidence does help. I'm not sure if understanding the sleep cycle would help besides being aware that dreams most often happen in REM sleep and therefore it's important that you get enough of it, so I'll leave that for someone else to answer. Good luck, mate!

[DreamscapeGoat]

I'll tell you a fact right now: nothing is ever consistent. Everything is a part of a bell curve. The average may be a certain number, but it can and will deviate from time to time. Sure, we can get it close to the mean, but it can still deviate from this, even if it is a small, almost insignificant amount. That being said, Maxis has hit everything on the spot. You do need to have faith in your recall. The more you believe, the more it becomes true.

[Cycspace]

Thanks Maxis, yeah I guess I gotta expect fluctuations. I will try doing more affirmations, during the day as well. I do enjoy all this dream stuff alot so I don't think i'll stop doing it, but i'm very susceptible to laziness haha that's my worry. Good luck to you also On another note, the best recall I had of a dream was when I was camping, the first night I had very little sleep, but the second night I had an amazing dream that I remembered in fine detail, and I luckily brought my dream journal and wrote almost three pages. I wonder if this had something to do with that rebound REM, or just being out in nature?

[SinisterDezz]

Hah! Consistency in the topic lucid dreaming? You make me laugh. Nothing here is hardly EVER consistent. I am trying to think of an example: Dream CONTROL Dream RECALL Dreams, in general Lucidity Methods (MILD,WILD,DEILD,DILD,FILD,Etc.) Everything else. All I can say is persistence is what make good lucid dreamers.

[Sivason]

How on earth do you guys get perfect recall? I will tell you if I ever get there. Over half my life in this hobby and still recall takes daily work. I suggest that the most important thing is remembering key words right away when you wake. Do not bother trying to commit the whole dream to memory when you wake. Just repeat a couple key words that are related over and over, or quickly write them down. Then through out your day think about why you chose those words. Do not focus in a rigid straining way. Just mentally relax and try and remember what your dream had that made you pick those words. Just try to remember like it is a normal memory from awhile ago. This teaches the brain to expect to be quizzed on the content of dreams. Eventually the brain adapts and starts committing dream material into normal memory.