Specific problem with LD recall. Dreams become very "distant" after awakening.

[Empedocles]

I was a regular lucid dreamer a long time ago, but due to many changes in my life I had to shift focus onto other things. Now I'm getting back to it, but I have a slight problem. Back in the day when I had lucid dreams and I woke up after them, the memory of the dream was very vivid and clear in my head. I could recall it perfectly and it wasn't foggy at all. Now here's the problem: A couple of days ago, when I had a lucid dream, it was extremely vivid. I remember walking around in the dream and simply being amazed as to how real everything looks, sounds, and feels. I was completely in awe. When I woke up however, that whole dream just became so... distant? It's hard to explain, but I'll try. In the dream, everything was real and crystal clear, the colors, the textures, the sounds, everything. It was just like reality, if not even "more real" somehow. When I woke up I was disappointed because that whole dream seemed like a memory of something that happened a long time ago. It just seemed distant. I didn't recall it as a vivid lucid dream but rather as a dream that was maybe weeks or months old. Now the LD I had last night was much better. The memory of it didn't seem as distant as the other one. It was perhaps 40% or 50% better, but I'm still not completely satisfied. Does anyone know what I'm talking about, and are there any techniques to solve this? I appreciate it.

[panta-rei]

I know what you mean. This happens in my regular dreams as well. I would think it is merely a recall problem. Do you keep a dream journal faithfully? Otherwise... I would think this to be a stabilization problem. But if it was vivid and lengthy... I doubt it.

[Arutad]

It's not clear from your post, but if you woke up not immediately and there were more dreams (non-lucid) between awakening and your LD, then maybe it's the reason. You kind of forgot too much of the dream and were unable to bring it back vividly? But if so, then I don't understand how you remember that it was super-vivid, perhaps you remember only one-two vivid flashes that make you know that it was vivid, but everything else is muddled then. Sounds like anything truthful or completely misses the mark, hmmm?

[Empedocles]

It's not clear from your post, but if you woke up not immediately and there were more dreams (non-lucid) between awakening and your LD, then maybe it's the reason. You kind of forgot too much of the dream and were unable to bring it back vividly? But if so, then I don't understand how you remember that it was super-vivid, perhaps you remember only one-two vivid flashes that make you know that it was vivid, but everything else is muddled then. Sounds like anything truthful or completely misses the mark, hmmm? Well, the first dream I was talking about I had a few non-lucid ones after it. Maybe that's why it seemed so distant.