Dream length and recall

[MartinB]

Just wondering if anyone else can relate to this? When you are experiencing a lucid dream, do you feel that after some time in the dream, you have an overwhelming desire to wake up for fear that you may forget the earlier events of the dream? In other words, do you think that your lucid dream length could be limited by your ability to recall it? Maybe it's just me, but I always feel like I don't want to forget the experience and so my subconcious will break out of it and wake me up so that I can record it. Does anyone else get this?

[wombing]

i know what you mean. i've woken up from lucids a few times when i thought "i hope i don't forget this when i wake up". i don't think it would be as much of a problem if it was one long, mostly consistently-themed lucid. but if the dream is all over the place as far as locations and actions, or one has a few lucids in a row (with FA's and what have you) and varying themes, it gets harder to remember them all. a couple nights ago i had 3 lucids in a row (thanks to calea). the first was a short DILD. then i awoke, WILDed, had a 5 min lucid, awoke, WILDed, had a 5 min lucid, and awoke again. i felt that i almost certainly could have entered SP and WILDed again, but decided against it, as i doubted i would be able to remember all the dreams. sure enough, it took awhile before i could remember the first DILD.

[MartinB]

Well, I have no problem with many short lucid dreams, as I can record each one before I return to sleep for the next. I had 4 lucid dreams in a row one morning, but I made time between each to record them. It's only when I have one long lucid dream that it becomes problematic, and you make a good point. It is typically when there are lots of very different locations, events, etc. that it becomes harder to remember. I had 5 false awakenings during my last lucid dream and became lucid after every one of them, but it was hugely difficult to remember after I woke up for real 'cause my mind almost just went blank, other than the thought: "I just had an awesome lucid dream! But I can barely remember anything about it.". It's almost as though I have to somehow compress my thoughts down and arrange them so that remembering one certain event will cause a chain-reaction that will lead to me remembering many other events. Or remembering the overall 'scene' will lead me to remember what happened within the scene. It's kind of hard to explain.

[wombing]

It's almost as though I have to somehow compress my thoughts down and arrange them so that remembering one certain event will cause a chain-reaction that will lead to me remembering many other events. *Or remembering the overall 'scene' will lead me to remember what happened within the scene. *It's kind of hard to explain[/b] i think you're on to something with the compression concept. perhaps try creating a defining moment in each lucid which ties everything together (compresses it) while still in the dream... too tird to think of a fitting analogy, but say a white metal sphere can symbolically tie together all the main elements of a disparate sequence of events in a dream tie the elements together mentally while still in the dream, reach in your pocket and materialize a white metal sphere, and 'attach' the memories to that sign. then recommence the dream. when you awake, as soon as you remember the sphere, it will hold the compressed memories. *shrugs* roughly the equivalent of an acrostic, except its a more abstract material symbol.

[Alric]

Well it makes sense. The longer a dream the more details there are to remeber. Plus the longer a lucid dream goes on for, the higher the chance that it will become a normal dream. If that happens you might also find yourself forgetting the entire thing.

[MartinB]

That sounds like a very good idea Asher. For the most part, once I become lucid, I stay lucid until I wake. I don't think I've ever lost lucidity through anything other than a false awakening.

[TravisE]

I've only thought about that once in a lucid dream so far. It was the longest lucid dream I ever remember having, maybe around 25-45 minutes long (the vast majority of them are less than a minute long). About halfway through, I became a bit worried I'd forget a lot of it. I sort of mentally asked myself and my subconscious to help me remember eveything. I don't know if that had an effect or not, but when I woke up, I was happy with the amount I was able to remember, which was most of the events and details, although the very beginning was pretty vague in places. I did quite a bit of different things in that dream, and had gone through about four or five different places during the course of it. I suspect my lucidity level was slightly lower than it is in my very short lucid dreams, though, although I have no direct way of measuring that to be sure. Of course, I never worry about remembering things during non-lucid dreams, simply because I don't know I'm dreaming, so I don't think about trying to remember what happens.