Not aware of dreaming/ Making recall easy?

Ok before I start I have been having a middle school relationship with this site, I get hyped for lucid dreaming, etc. then I get caught up in other stuff (video games) then a couple months later I come back.

Now to my real question, is there any way to make it easier to be aware (not lucid) in a dream? I'm talking about like being in a dream and feeling like it is real. Most of my dreams get forgotten as soon as I wake up and it feels like I didn't have one (thanks to you guys I no longer say "I had no dream" because you all taught me that I have one everynight). I would like to LD but I feel like I need to be able to recall my dreams before I can.

TLDR: What is an easy way to recall dreams?

I think a lot of people (me included!) are like that. It's easy to go in phases when it comes to interests. Makes you a jack of all trades and well rounded!

Do you ever have a lingering feeling when you wake up? Like, perhaps you don't remember an entire dream, but you feel like a location is on your mind (like "farm") or you woke up with a song in your head, or an emotion like mystery. It helps to linger on those feelings and sit in bed with them.

One morning I woke up with no memories of my dream, just the fact that I had this lingering feeling of a farm. I laid down and sucked in the comfort of my bed and suddenly the whole dream came to me! Another time all I could remember was a song and the feeling of mystery, and decided to journal about it (even though I didn't remember any dreams) then I went back to sleep and had three new dreams and was able to journal about them all in detail.

^^ First, Dojodoj, try "lingering," like Lumiina says -- it does work, and it's a nice way to start the day anyway!

Next, if your thread gets lots of posts, you'll likely hear one thing over and over: keep a dream journal. Well, they'll be absolutely right! Write down your dreams, whatever you remember, as soon as you wake up. Don't worry if you can't remember much at first; as you get in a habit of writing them down, you'll likely find your brain helping you out by leaving more of your dream in your head for you to remember. I have no idea why this works, but it does. If you've already tried to keep a journal and it failed miserably, try again, and be persistent!

Another way to remember your dreams better is by telling yourself as you go to sleep that you will remember your dreams -- repeat it a few times, with confidence, as you fall asleep. Along the same lines, you might try thinking during the day about the fact that you'll be dreaming tonight, and wonder what you might be dreaming about.

These again are probably things you've heard before, and will likely hear again on this thread, but there's a reason for that: They work.

Good luck!

Yea I try to remember my dreams while I'm in my shower but even when I do remember them it feels like its a fake memory, like I saw it but wasn't actually there, if you get what I mean.

I second the dream journal suggestion Sageous made. Not just a dream journal on this website, but one right next to your bed so that you can record your dream right away.

I think if you don't record your dream right when you wake up, they start to feel fake.

Just this morning I missed the opportunity to record my dream in my journal. It felt real at first, but by the time I went to work it felt like a fake memory, as you said. I think people call these dream fragments, I'm not sure.

Have you ever had a dream in which you feel like you are there or is this just a recent thing?

If your to lazy to write stuff down get an ipod or a phone or a voice recorder of some kind and turn it on when you wake up and talk out what you remember. I do that every morning and i just sit there eyes closed talking about what i remember. and if im in mid sentance and recall something else I will say something about the dream fragment i had. Like i was sailing on a boat it was rough waters oh wait I remember a dream i was driving a car through the city and saw lots of one way streets. but thats all i can remember for now. But yes i was sailing on the sea the waves were high...... and go from there :) Also I find it that most people wake up for a split second and peek at the alarm clock and say ehhh i still got another hour or 20 minutes and go back to sleep. During that time you go back to sleep you forget the dreams you might of remembered so when i find myself doing that i think to myself what was I just dreaming earlier I will either record real quick or just remember it and fall back to sleep.

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Originally Posted by Dojodoj

Yea I try to remember my dreams while I'm in my shower but even when I do remember them it feels like its a fake memory, like I saw it but wasn't actually there, if you get what I mean.

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Write them down anyway! And do so before your shower, as close to the moment you wake up as possible. This may be inconvenient for you, but that bit of extra effort will go a long way toward improving your recall.

So: Record your dreams even if you think the memory is fake, and be assured that if you try to remember them right when you wake up, rather than when you get a chance, you'll see much better results.

Thanks for the responses guys, I will be re-starting my RL dream journal and try to post them on here also.

Lumiina, I had dreams that felt real often when I was younger (8-13) but after learning about lucid dreaming they are more scarce (maybe me hoping for one makes an illusion that I have less, maybe not) I also don't ever have nightmares anymore (they always felt the most real, probably from the high amount of emotions I would experience in them)

Little side note: I seem to find my self typing with a lot of side notes within parentheses, and also like to use colons and semicolons.

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Originally Posted by Dojodoj

Little side note: I seem to find my self typing with a lot of side notes within parentheses, and also like to use colons and semicolons.

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Haha, so do I, I have a (long time, see!?) parenthetical thought habit.

But I'd like to address the topic of this thread: there is no "easy" way, it takes willpower and determination and effort to stick with dream recall/lucid dream practice without quitting in order to get better at it. Only you can decide how much you want it and whether it's enough of a priority with you to stay with it no matter what else and to make it a part of your daily life.

Some think that repeatedly quitting and coming back makes it harder to do, since you risk building up a negative subconscious expectation that it's hard or you don't really want it or something like that.

The actual recall part is not "hard" though: after you realize you've woken up (at any time in the night or the morning), remain physically still (this is important as any physical motion tends to activate the "dream erase" function in our brain), and lie quietly waiting for the dream memories to come in. Sometimes if nothing comes you can ask yourself "What was I just dreaming about?", that usually works for me.

The memory of a dream is the strongest right when you wake from it, so for absolute maximum recall you should wake up after every dream period and do recall and at least keyword journaling (keywords so that you can trigger the memories of the dream in the morning when you have time to do your full journaling). Many (but not all) people who work on dream recall and are serious about lucid dreaming develop the ability to wake up several times throughout the night without alarms.

But to improve in dream recall and lucid dreaming, you should set a firm fairly long-term goal that you will do it without quitting no matter what. You don't have to do it intensely but keep it going at least a little bit every day. Doing it without stopping, even slow and steady, will show improvements.

FryingMan makes such a good point!

We all have various interests and hobbies. However, the hobbies you really want to get good at are the hobbies you care about most and devote the most time and energy into. For me, that is acquiring Japanese. I would never day a go without engaging in Japanese, and recommend people who really want to become good at the language to do the same. People who go through phases of picking up Japanese occasionally don't really get good at it. I guess it is the same with any skill.

Of course, if you're interested in a lot of things, you cannot maintain the same intensity with each hobby. However, if you really want to get to an exciting level of that hobby, it's going to take a lot of dedication. But it'll be worth it if it's what you're passionate about.

Indeed. Parentheses are the best (I use them too often).

Lumiina, it kind of makes you a jack of all trades, but when it comes to LDing, you just become someone that knows a lot about LDing but doesn't LD.

If you quit LDing for a time you want to keep up dream recall practice. This doesn't need to be a DJ (I don't DJ and I have tons of dreams) but it is good to at least write down who what where (why and when can be written, but sometimes dont apply in dreams) down per each dream you remember upon each awakening.

The best way to remember dreams is to sleeeeeeeeeep! If you aren't getting enough sleep it is almost impossible to LD (unless you are coming off a good sleep schedule). Sleep a certain amount of hours every night, WBTB at least once per night until you can wake up on your own and keep the same schedule (Obvioisly WBTB you want to move around to find the best times).

I have school so I can't really WBTB because I need to wake up early and I need all the sleep I can get. :/

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Originally Posted by Dojodoj

I have school so I can't really WBTB because I need to wake up early and I need all the sleep I can get. :/

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WBTB doesn't necessarily mean loss of sleep. For example, due the nature of my job (schedule shifts) I've passed from the last 2 weeks of going to bed at 11 pm and waking up at 7:30 am to going to bed at 1 am and getting up at 9:30 am. Because my circadian clock was so perfectly tuned to wake me up at 7:30, I've been using that opportunity as a sort of mini-WBTB: I wake up naturally, drink some water, and after a minute I go back to sleep.

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Originally Posted by Dojodoj

I have school so I can't really WBTB because I need to wake up early and I need all the sleep I can get. :/

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WBTB only needs a minute or so. I have work, studies, wife, and kid and I WBTB like 5 times a night. ;) If you need longer, then learn how to wake yourself up better in a shorter period of time. Holding breath, get up and do some push ups if you really need woken up. Or of course just do the water technique.

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Originally Posted by BrandonBoss

Indeed. Parentheses are the best (I use them too often).

Lumiina, it kind of makes you a jack of all trades, but when it comes to LDing, you just become someone that knows a lot about LDing but doesn't LD.

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Yeah, I addressed this is the post I made right before yours, comparing it to Japanese and how you cannot just go in and out of phases.

ah, I see that now. I wrote that right after a nap, so I didn't check all the posts. :]

Tis nice to meet you BTW. :) seen you around the forum a bit and haven't stopped to talk. I hope to see you around more.

Nice to meet you too!

Unfortunately, after this thread I realized that perhaps lucid dreaming isn't for me. It sounds really cool, but I already have another hobby I really love, I don't want to get too distracted with lucid dreaming. As you said it takes a lot of dedication, just like my other hobby. It's a hard decision.

It's sad because I really like talking to everyone here. This is a really great community!

After thinking about it, I think it'll be worth it to stick with lucid dreaming. (And of course my other hobby too!)