Thread: Experience vs Recall, fragmented dreams...

I've wondered the same thing myself. I haven't been having long lucids recently because I have been going to bed late than getting up early but when my sleep routine was fine I did worry at times if I would recall or not. But than again I also just reminded myself of the main events that happened than just did things without much care if I would remember. Thats not to say that i dont remind myself to recall small details. Also, when it comes to false awakenings for me, it was a good way to remember because I could separate the dream in parts more easily. Like playing a movie in my head and remembering what happened where in the movie's timeline.But in the end I guess its mainly about building your memory/recall like with non lucids or WL, keeping up with it cause you can lose the skill overtime and asking yourself what you did before from time to time.

I don't usually get long chains but I'll speak from my experience when I do. I found that with my chains, I don't need to journal because they flow into each other pretty well so I just start at my oldest lucid of the night and work my way forward. This works best for me if I didn't lose lucidity throughout the chains.

In this example, I got a chain of 5 wbtbs which weren't hard to remember due to their structure. They all started with me flying out of my house and heading down either the north, east, south or western street exploring the houses. Because they were so simmlar, I didn't have trouble remembering them together. I don't have a lot of experience with this and most of my chains were from long before I journaled. Here is my dream journal from that night: Career best with 11 LDs in one night - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

I remembered more details at the time but they were mostly mundane and the journal was getting too lengthy.

Originally Posted by lucidbunnie

Do you just enjoy the dream experience itself or are you also concerned about being able to recall them once you are fully awake? Often times, especially in lucid dreams, I worry about dreams getting fragmented overtime. This is mostly a concern for me when I find myself having chain of several dreamlets and dreams. Sometimes I have over 7+ lucids one after the other mostly via false awakening or DEILD. Most of the time even when I know I can still keep going, I start to worry about earlier experiences getting fragmented. I have broken out of the chain so many times just to maintain decent recall. How about you? ^^

Generally I don't give recall a thought at all, no matter how long the LD/DEILD chain. For me it is far more important to have the experience than it is to remember it perfectly... and, happily, if the experience is excellent, remembering it will likely be no problem anyway.

I've never cared much about retaining every detail of a dream: Just as it is in waking-life, if a fragment is insignificant, or eclipsed by more powerful experiences later on, it might get forgotten -- somehow life goes on without it . The real trick, I think, is to not care, during the dream, about retaining everything, or anything at all; instead, live in the moment and get the most out of the dream you are in. Fretting about the future (which is when recall happens) will only cloud your lucid experience or, worse, cause you to lose lucidity or wake up; or, even worse still, such worry might cause you to convince yourself that waking up is a good idea, as you've already discovered.

Dream recall is extremely important, of course, but come dream time it is not the priority. When you are lucid, make your time in the dream the priority it is, and don't worry about things like recall -- who knows? Doing so might just lead you to remember more upon waking, not only because you are allowing yourself to experience more, but because your mind is relaxed, and more of it is available to hang onto details...worry takes up a lot of space.

I agree with Sageous for the most part but I have found that not caring during the dream about recall has led me to forgetting the parts I felt were important before. If you are more focused on present and future how do you soak things in? But If it was memorable I could see why it would stick in your mind more. However, if it wasn't memorable but still important than i guess you do need to slow down and take the time to experience with a calm mind.I tend to change dream scenes a lot and am very active within the dream but staying put more and soaking it in sounds more like a productive and not like a regrettable idea. Im not gonna lie though, I felt bad for the way i recall long lucids after I read your post Sageous but I realize that it just fit my lucid dreaming habit and personality more. The good and the bad. So I will work on being calmer from now on cause being too active led me to some regrets of what I could have done.

Also, I think Him's point about structure is good. Having stuff in your dreams that flow and are easy to make connections makes it easier to recall. If you just tend to be a forgetful person
than it could help too.

I guess letting memorable experiences surface on their own is a good way to recall and not fret about it during the experience. I'm sort of obsessive when it comes to lucid experiences not only because it's sort of a wonderful experience, but it's the only way I can tangibly interact with my significant other. Lucid dreams are like the only few ways I have of making new memories with my significant other who had passed away. In some lucid dreams we may do pretty much nothing and just chat about totally random stuff. However, I often feel like I have to capture those new memories. The thing with my SO is that sometimes she is very much like a dream representation of her, but other time she is what I call a hyper-conscious entity. I'm not sure at all if an afterlife exists, but if it does I rather recall my experiences with her even if it's through lucid dreams. Another thing that motivates me to recall lucids with my SO is nothing negative happens. I can even think about horror elements and not a bit of it manifests. Regardless, I do like the idea of comparing lucid dreams to waking memories. We don't usually try to retain every single moment in the waking, so I guess it's okay to let some dream moments slip by and not be too obsessed with recalling.

I knew someone on dreamviews who did the same but with his daughter. Your dreams sound like how his were. I dont know what happens after death either but if someone I loved passed I probably would do the same.

Originally Posted by lucidbunnie

This one is targeted towards more experienced lucid dreamers who can chain lucid dreams one after the other or have very long lucid dreams, but others can chime in as well.

Do you just enjoy the dream experience itself or are you also concerned about being able to recall them once you are fully awake? Often times, especially in lucid dreams, I worry about dreams getting fragmented overtime. This is mostly a concern for me when I find myself having chain of several dreamlets and dreams. Sometimes I have over 7+ lucids one after the other mostly via false awakening or DEILD. Most of the time even when I know I can still keep going, I start to worry about earlier experiences getting fragmented. I have broken out of the chain so many times just to maintain decent recall. How about you? ^^

For me, I tend to remain in a single dream all night. If I wake up and have to do any communication with a person or any talking at all I loose the 'save point' I set up and have to force the dream back into place as I go to sleep. Sometimes I find that even when I try to force it I wind up on a tangent or even a new dream completely. It really depends on how long I have been asleep.

What I do, if I wake up to go take a piss or something is hold the dream in my mind, sort of sleep walk to the bathroom while repeating in my mind the last thing that was in the dream and then come back and restart it with my imagination as I drift off.

As for remembering it or not, I tend to remember them as well as you would remember daydreaming about something while awake. It is only the 'special' once I even care about remembering now. Most of my dreams are just entertainment for me, I have them to have a good time and play in my own made up world with all of my made up people.

I once dreamed I hung out with the original three stooges in a cardboard box manufacturing warehouse somewhere in Chicago, they were great guys, really fun to hang out with.
How is that relevant, not sure...

Just that some dreams seem to stick with me more than others.