Thread: problem remembering dream imagery

In the more vivid dreams I have, I can remember thinking in the dream how incredibly real everything is, or how detailed, but then when I wake the images just seem so intangible, and I can't recreate them in my head, except for some. does this happen to anyone else? and how can I remember the imagery...

I want realize how realistic it was in a waking state

I guess you have to just apply the same universal technique you'd use to generally remember your dreams.. and that is lying there when you wake up and not moving a muscle. Those images should come back to you, and the more you immerse yourself in them, the more you'll remember. But I know what you mean.. in my dreams, if I talk to someone, I'll still notice the surroundings and other dream characters that might be around, but when I wake up I'll only clearly remember the person I was talking to.

The reason is probably you are not waking up at the end of the REM period and instead waking up at the end of the dream cycle. Something that is very clear to you during REM will become faded and fuzzy should you sleep through the entire cycle. That's just an unfortunate side effect everyone experiences.

You might want to do the 'wake up every 2 hours' to catch yourself at the end of REM or try the WBTB method, but remember to not let yourself sleep too long.

Yup, what Squall be sayin'.
I have experienced that my visual memory is much better with the WILD
method, than say, DILD. I think I wake up quicker after WILDs.

I think it's that during your waking life, you are using a different part of your brain than you do when you're dreaming. Therefore, your dreams are buried somewhere in a different part of your memory. The reason you can remember them better right after waking up is that your brain is doing the transfer from one side to the other, so if you concentrate you can sort of copy the dreams and experiences over, like files.
Have you ever noticed how when you talk to someone why still half-asleep, and then you go back to sleep you can hardly remember the conversation once you fully wake up again?

Once you wake up, don't drift off again until you've written about the dream. Writing about it makes you think harder about the events of the dream, no matter how short your description is. That's why dream journals are so effective.