Thread: Memory While Lucid?

Originally Posted by Vetuxo

I've never (that I can remember) have gone lucid during dreams, so I have a few questions.

The first that I can remember is: Memory. Is your memory the same while dreaming (lucid, of course)? Can you remember just like the waking life? Is your memory better while lucid, because of the relaxation and because you are sub-conscience? Or is your memory not as good because of sleeping?

Mainly I wanted to know this because I have a few things I want to do when I go lucid, and I don't want to not be able to remember them
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I know that I've been able to remember things just fine and I'm able to revisit the past , otherwords get vivid flashbacks in my Lucid Dreams, I dont think there would be a problem with memory in Lucid Dreams, everything you do or would do and react is based on memories.

Originally Posted by slothming

I know that I've been able to remember things just fine and I'm able to revisit the past , otherwords get vivid flashbacks in my Lucid Dreams, I dont think there would be a problem with memory in Lucid Dreams, everything you do or would do and react is based on memories.
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It works just like non-lucid dreams. You can remember some things, but you can completely forget some things and get other things a bit right but very twisted up. For example, I had a lucid a few years ago where I was "home", but I was at my grandmother's apartment from 20 years ago. I've never lived there in real life. I walked outside, and I was in Biloxi, where I have never lived. In other dreams, I have tried to remember what my real life is like and only been able to partially do it. I always get excited about waking up and finding out what life I really have. I can remember my city usually, and I have always been able to recollect the faces of people I know, but I also have ficitious characters I think exist in my waking life. I have also had pets that don't really exist. That stuff makes lucids even trippier than they already would be otherwise. The only downside is that I often can't remember what it was I was going to do in my next lucid. I will just look around and think, "Well, here it is. What was it I am supposed to do with it?" It's still really cool.

I have another question, as well.

Are things only there if you think of them? Like, if I'm not visioning / thinking of a building in my mind, it won't be there, yea?

Well it depends on your dream control, I mean if your lucid and if you had control of your dream, if you wanted the building to disappear it would (infact you could do almost anything unimagineable) unless your just staring at it with no intentions of removing it from the dreamscape. Then again, whe you become lucid the dream enviroment is very unstable , and for most people there are some things that you can control and boundaries that stop you from controling everything.

For your first question. . . there are different levels of lucidity within LDs. I find that when I'm not actively trying to have an LD, the ones I have are less focused and less logical. Some LDs have felt so realistic to me that I've found myself checking and rechecking to make sure I really was asleep. In those types of dreams my memory seems to be the best but my dream control (control over my environment) seems to be the worst. In others I've realized I'm dreaming but didn't have my full mental faculties about me. In these dreams it was much easier to make incredible things happen. As a general rule though your memory will always be worse while LDing just because of the nature of dreaming and the mind. If you want to do specific things in your LDs the easiest way to remember them while LDing is to repeat them to yourself as you're falling asleep. I say a little mantra to myself before I go to sleep which helps me to remember what I want to do in my LD and also works as MILD technique to an extent.

For your second question. . . lol . . . lol. . . your mind is a tricky tricky place. First starting out you will probably have very little control over your environment. After some practice you will be able to control most of your environment in any way you wish but you will never have FULL control. Even people who can do very difficult things during their LDs still have unexpected things happen sometimes. People you weren't expecting show up. . . the people that you want to be there will react to you in unexpected ways. Aspects of the dream environment will change when you look away. That's what makes LDing so interesting I suppose. In one of my LDs I was sitting behind the wheel of my car when I suddenly realized it WASN'T my car and I must be dreaming. At that moment the world just suddenly tilted and my car started rolling backwards towards a cliff. . . Very unexpected.

I remember my lucid dreams just as if they were real memories. Even compared to the most vivid of dreams, I find the LDs, no matter the control level, are more like "real memories" that don't fade.