Thread: Linkzelda's Workbook

Wow, I wake up before my alarm, and when I hear the alarm play, it sounds all weird, so I did a nose plug reality check. I can't breathe....but I never heard this sound before on my alarm!

And I KNOW that I the only thing I changed from it is the time for it to activate to wake me up if I didn't wake up a few minutes before the alarm.

Then I saw that when the alarm fell, it somehow shifted the alarm sound to Oceans, I even checked the window in my bedroom, everything looks the same.....checked my hands, counted them slowly, checked the time on my computer, look away, and then look again...not dreaming.

(this is still before I realized it was just shift in alarm sounds)

Before this, I said that "I would keep my eyes closed when I wake up." as autosuggestion rather than a mantra for lucid dreaming.

I said that for a few times, and it actually worked!

Are you kidding me autosuggestion? You KNOW suddenly decide to cooperate with me? I didn't even will it, all I did was just believe and slept. I'm going to try and go a MILD right now. Hopefully it'll work.

Instead of doing a mantra that says, "I will lucid dream.." maybe I'll try one where I say "I will do a nose plus reality check" instead.

Because from what I've seen in my MILD encounters, the only one that worked was when I held some paper that said "I will lucid dream," and I constantly looked at it and said it in my mind.

That was a long time ago. So I'll try to use a MILD as a backup, since I'm going to try and WILD again.

So here goes!

Good luck with the mantra Link! I know exams make life hard and stressful, but I'm glad the auto-suggestion worked for you.

It's frustrating when you feel like you have to chase several different techniques around until you find one that works habitually. Took me years to find one like that, so I completely understand. I admire your hard work on all this though, and your perseverance.

Thanks a lot OpheliaBlue.

There's just so much I can do if I can master it, it's just something that is too good to pass up on, especially if I can use lucid dreaming to prepare for certain tasks in waking life (labs, etc.)

I took a nap some time around 11:50 AM, and slept until 1PM

I've noticed that a certain person in waking life appeared in the dream. She's the TA of a class I'm taking (semester is about to end), and she always exists when it's something related to restaurants...fast food areas, etc.

I honestly do not have her on the forefront of my mind, but my mind occasionally does make her show up for some reason....maybe the restaurant thing could be her family owns one in waking life? I'm not sure.....

I admit, I think she's pretty cute, but she's the Teacher's Assistant, so I can't really think about her a lot....maybe that's why she shows up? Maybe because I want it repressed?

Lol, another female goes into my collective unconscious....greaaaaat.


I was kind of lazy posting the DJ entry, but I had the two dreams I remembered early morning and this afternoon set up.

http://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/link...youtube-32720/

Don't let the title fool, it's not what you think.

All right, I plan to do the autosuggestion thing again where I'll say,

"When I wake up, I will keep my eyes closed."

I'll use the saltcube to wake me up, instead of using my alarm clock.

http://www.saltcube.com/timer.swf

It'll be like a CANWILD, but it might go either way if I hit REM, wake up to disrupt it, have my eyes closed, and go for a DEILD.

Going to try my best to get some dream recall up, I've been a little too lazy on remembering my dreams. Maybe it's that freaking alarm clock I use. I would try my best to turn it off quickly, which is probably why I mess up with recall. It usually isn't a problem, but the reason why my recall is a little rusty for now is because I most likely wake up before the alarm rings, sleep again, which reduces the recall of potential dreams dramatically.

I'll just wing this and see how it'll go.

All right then,

Had okay recall this time.

But the dreams themselves? I swear....just absolute bull.

First I'm hiding from someone with a detector for finding humans in the dark based on whether or not it feels human contact.

Then another dream where I ask a person who I feel was helping me the whole time, I asked him his name, which was Brian, and then I asked him if he was my dream guide.

He says it with these words (I can't remember his exact response),

"Bingo," "Finally," "yeah."

I didn't do any reality checks in these dreams, I honestly had a conflict on determining whether or not the Hiding dream, and the dream character claiming to be my dream guide made me lucid, because I should know that if I even hear the words "dream guide," I'd obviously become lucid, I'll just put it as non-lucid.

I do admit, when I was hiding from the person, I was kind of tensed up, feeling a lot of strong emotions of fear, anticipation, and all that fun.

Hiding, My Dream guide is Brian?, Naked Women - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Well, I can't rule out the possibility that Brian could be my dream guide, since I rarely have had a dream character claiming to be my dream guide lately in non-lucids.


It's always in lucid dreams where I question someone if they're my dream guide that it's usually a yes, maybe, or them saying something random.

I could've extended the dream with a DEILD, seeing as my eyes were shut when I woke up (thank goodness this autosuggestion is getting a little consistent), but I decided I should just wake up for today, and look forward to tomorrow.

Glad your recall is going back up Link.

That would be really cool if Brian is your dream guide. What does he look like? The ugly guy from the previous dream?

Nah, the ugly guy was the enemy, or at least that's what I was thinking with me following that girl. To be honest, that dream had more to it than I thought, I probably didn't even remember most of it to connect the pieces.

Brian on the other hand, he was kind of hard to see in the dark, so I'm not to sure on his facade though.

I honestly do not know what I questioned whether or not he was my dream guide, so he probably did something crazy to save me from someone, mostly the ugly guy.

One of the reasons I'm kind of having difficulty finding a potential dream guide is that I would prefer it to be a female.

It's not that I'm....I don't even know the term for it, but I don't really like the kind of "bros before hoes" relationship with my subconscious, I'd prefer that even my Anima be my dream guide, and the Anima is supposed to exhibit feminine traits, etc.

I'll just be a happier person if I can get the anima being my dream guide. That's a long term goal though, seeing as I'm still having difficulty finding him/her/it. (the dream guide, not the anima)...but...ugh, lol.




Then again....

I just think too much sometimes on the dream guide, which is why I'm just going to let things happen while still trying to get lucid.

Originally Posted by Linkzelda

I just think too much sometimes on the dream guide, which is why I'm just going to let things happen while still trying to get lucid.

That's excellent self-advice man.

You know, several years ago I had a dream that this beautiful black wolf saved me from a pack of wild dogs. We hung out for a while in the dream, and I decided the next day that he was my spirit animal/dream guide thing. I spent months trying to recreate the dream, so I could see the wolf again. Mainly because the emotional hangover from the whole experience was so huge. I never did find him again, but that was back when my lucid skills were a bit green. The point I'm getting at is, I wish I had spent more time back then working on honing my lucid skills in general, just for confidence's sake. I could probably hook up with the wolf again now, just because my skills are better. And therefore I am more likely to succeed because I'm used to getting my way more often in a lucid dream now.

Not sure if any of this resonates for you, because you are unique of course and what works for me may not work for you. I just wanted to share a bit of perspective with you my friend.

Thank you for giving me that, OpheliaBlue.

I better clear up some preconceptions some people have about me and Eva.

I didn't incubate her for personal reasons, this is the reason why I'm looking for her.

Spoiler for How I met her.:

10/10/11

(LUCID) I wake up in a dream with my fingers on my nose and I’m breathing. I automatically know I’m dreaming. It’s kind of dark, and random DC’s are passing by. There’s a door open, so I can see all of them go around. I ask if I can see my dream guide. I couldn’t get a clear mental image of her, but she was pretty old, but not that OLD, old enough to be a cougar (30+). Her name was Yessica Krovezkel or something like that. I think now she’s younger than my fuzzy image of her, but I started to get sexual with her (licking her asshole) instead of asking her questions LOL. I even started to get my penis out to have sex, but I opened my eyes.

Now I feel bad because that was probably my dream guide because I asked her “Are you my dream guide?” and she responded something about how come I don’t believe her or something like that.

I had another dream as if I’m Naked Snake from Metal Gear Solid 3.


I started out in the jungle trying to kill the snipers, but end up failing in killing them, so I quit. Then I’m in a different environment from MGS1 and I’m trying to infiltrate a lab, but the guards keep spotting me.


I even tried to kick with my left leg or right to hit the guard in the face, but I miss and the guard reported “Enemy attempted to kick me in the face but failed.” So I thought “Screw this!” So I got up a long ladder to reset the alarm system.



Then I’m up this long ladder and meet a lady who looks exactly like EVA and the spy she played as well.



But apparently she was named Margaret, and apparently she was my dream guide because I tried to ask her a question, but she just gave me a gray card and wrote her name on it.


I forgot her last name, but I remember the first because she also put a big “M” on the other side of the card for me to remember.

Then I woke up.

Taken from an old entry of mine here: Old collection of dreams I was too lazy to post (Some lucids, some not) - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

I want to find the reason why she gave me the letter.

One:

It was gray, and I've had a lot of dream characters wearing gray outfits

Two:

It's a letter, who knows what could've been inside of it.

Three:

She declared that she was my dream guide, for crying out loud.



I honestly am annoyed that people think I'm finding her just like that. She said she was my dream guide.

I'm honestly sick of people jumping to conclusions that I'm some kind of fool for falling for a random video game character, when they never even bothered to check the entry I had for her.

But I don't blame these people, I have too many entries for anyone to even see.

She said she was my dream guide, and back then, that meant a lot for me.

This is the reason why I had dreams of blondes. Because no matter how much I tried to avoid dreaming about them, they kept freaking coming back to me.

Honestly, I was scared that Eva, or Margaret in this case was trying to taunt me with blonde females.

I didn't conjure up this fantasy like that, I never did it out of the blue. I did it because she was apparently my dream guide at the time.

That's why I'm trying to find her.

That's why I'm caught up with this fascination over her, but people keep assuming that I'm doing it because I'm crazy.

It always amazes me that coming into a dreaming forum, and being made fun of for finding someone who said they are your dream guide?

It's weird that when I try to find a dream guide, it's something bad, but if other people find theirs, it's perfectly okay? I honestly do not understand the logic with this.

But that's what I get for taking people's ignorance too lightly. Oh well.

(Note: I'm just saying this to people who think I'm crazy for finding her).

Hopefully that entry I had a long time ago explains why I'm finding her, and why I had a long series of blondes from that moment.

When I met her, I didn't really care about her, I actually wanted to stop dreaming about metal gear solid so much, but it just kept coming back.

So I decided, if I keep dreaming about blonde women, obviously there's a reason....

*sigh*

I'm going to try and do the autosuggestion tonight again. Probably won't even accomplish the 3 dreams or more thing for this week's lesson, but I'll just see how things go.

EDIT:

forgive my syntax in the dream, it was long time ago, I decided I shouldn't edit it all, just keep it like it is.

All right, last night, and this morning, I had some decent recall.

Recalled more than 3 dreams, I woke up for two half-hearted WBTBs though.

Five dreams recalled.

Okay, the first one:

Apparently, I have in my hands of a miniature explosive that's called Phenlypatin, when I goggled it, I got Phenlypentane, so the dream I had probably was trying to fuse some other chemical/substance in this case.

If the temperature is under 10 degrees Celsius, the whole tube makes this fairly huge explosion.

I started going bat crazy with throwing these test tubes at incoming vehicles. There was a blue truck that was going down, and I managed to land the test tube on the gray and shiny tanks.

It crashes into a big tree, and the gray tank explodes right in front of me.

I start cackling like I'm on some serious medication or something, because I clearly have no sympathy for the lives lost from my little thrill with explosives.

Then the dream shifts to where my Biology TA is handing us more of these explosives.

I don't even have her anymore for my lab course, so there's one flaw of mine with awareness

Then she and a group of people shifted to another room, and I barely realized this until I heard voices coming from the other side of the wall.

Then did a countdown, and I knew things were going to be bad here. They all died from the explosion.....Isn't that lovely? And what made it even more valid is me hearing their blood splattering over the wall, making that squishy sound.

Some dude gives me the middle finger, but I don't know why, but when authorities start to leave, I had to hide the explosive tube laying out like a sitting duck before someone sees me with it.

Second dream:

This is a rare one indeed, I met Victoria, a girl I knew in a Biology class my sophomore year in high school. She was a beautiful girl, and we sat next to each other in class, and she was cool, but she was one of those girls who hated teachers who gave her a hard time.

It was funny on how much she hated our Biology teacher, she even nicknamed her with an inappropriate name. Anyway, I was in bedroom, and I don't know how I got here.

She comes in, and how she's moving makes me forget about the bed behind me, so I landed on my back on it, and she gets her body all over me, holding my hands and stretching her arms along with mine.

I didn't really mind this at all, it was pretty awesome.

I've noticed she gave off that same positive vibe the first time I saw her in a dream a while back, and it was even stronger as the dream progressed to the point where she wanted to exhibit some kind of intense sexual energy.

The first dream I had with her, I was unconscious, and she woke me up, and she wanted to help me regain consciousness, but I decided that I didn't need help.

Either way, I couldn't ignore her positive energy, I felt like was being taken care of as she was sitting by my side. Feeling her warmth, her radiance, seeing her smile at me, it was just too much for me lol. I swear I could've spend all of the dream time just being by her side.

Now for this dream, it was more than that, she started to get serious while her body is on top of mine, and I just let things play out. I think she wanted to see me naked, and I'm not sure if I saw my dream body or not, but someone was naked.

From what I'm seeing from this dream, it seems my mind picked her because I was looking at a few photos of her last night when I was on the IRC >.>

Third dream:

Not really interested in this dream at all, but what I realized is that when the coach that I had before asked if someone had a "change of heart," I realize that was a homologous association with what I said to someone in the IRC when I asked why they had a change of heart.

Fourth dream:

Pffft... whatever.

Fifth dream:

Clearly, this dream was set out to remind me of my worrying over the Biology review I have this Friday.

end.


Now for what I did last night to practice, it was autosuggestion, WBTB, and WILD attempting.

For my WBTB, I spend the time typing up my dreams in the Dream Journal program (not the one here).

I placed two pillows to where my head would prop up so that saliva wouldn't build up, because the urge to swallow is a problem for me when trying to WILD.

I folded another pillow in half, and turned it's side and tucked it under my chin, so that my mouth would close naturally without me worrying about it getting dry, which would tempt me to swallow.

It worked for a few minutes, then I realized I positioned the pillow in the wrong way, because it opened back again, but I didn't care anymore, I just turned to my side.

I said to myself that I will have a lucid dream for a few times. That obviously didn't work out, but during the attempt, I did feel my body relax, but that's about it.

I woke up again, and then slept one more time. I'm honestly confused whether or not I typed my dreams during my first WBTB or second WBTB, but either way, I did something between those two.

Guess I have one day where I remembered more than 3 dreams, only two more nights to go, but I'll try to remember more than 3 for the whole week then, just for the spirit.

And here's the DJ entry, it's not really interesting, but it's better than nothing.

http://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/link...-review-32804/

That's crazy recall Link, wow congratulations!

And just in case you weren't sure, I don't think it's nuts to want to dream about Eva. Or for ever wanting to. I think the only thing I ever said against it was something along the lines of saving yourself from frustration if the trying is in vain. That way you can focus on something that gives you more success. But it was never meant to be a criticism. Shoot, I have my own little lucid obsessions. Anyway, I didn't think you were directing that at me, but I wanted to say that just in case.

... but someone was naked.

I laughed so hard at that.

Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

That's crazy recall Link, wow congratulations!

And just in case you weren't sure, I don't think it's nuts to want to dream about Eva. Or for ever wanting to. I think the only thing I ever said against it was something along the lines of saving yourself from frustration if the trying is in vain. That way you can focus on something that gives you more success.

Yeah, which is why I'm going to make it a long term goal to find her, and focus on the small things like getting lucid frequently. It's just the dream I had with the Akashic records and Eva, that was a big thing for me, seeing as she practically guided me to the right path, until I screwed up and went out of synch with her plan.

But it was never meant to be a criticism. Shoot, I have my own little lucid obsessions. Anyway, I didn't think you were directing that at me, but I wanted to say that just in case.

It's perfectly all right.

I laughed so hard at that.

The things she was doing to me, I honestly wished I was lucid. The things I would do to her....ugh, *closes mouth*

Okay, so I wanted to try out the CANWILD by CrazyInSane, since the first time I did it, I had the most VIVID WILD in my early months of a newbie at Dreamviews.

http://www.dreamviews.com/f79/**craz...rial-**-87710/

Anyway, I downloaded the easy MP3 Alarm thing, downloaded a mp3 file, amplified its volume 500% with a converter program, and told myself that I would wake up to that alarm, remain still, and keep my eyes closed.

So I set it for 6:45 AM, and I was getting ready to sleep around 12:45 AM or so.

It definitely woke me up, and I definitely kept my eyes closed. It didn't transition me to the dream state, but no worries, the autosuggestion thing is working. Now to try this thing out for the week to see how things go. In fact, the last time it worked when I was on Dreamviews months ago, I thought I had an OBE, it was just...amazing.....CRAZY. Not your ordinary WILD where it feels like Half-Life 2....BEYOND that.

Anyway, going to set the alarm again to wake me up at a certain time. Will post results.

Also, when I decided to wake up, I did a nose plug reality check.

And as for the more than three dreams thing a night for at least 3 nights, not for today, only remembered one dream.

I had a lapse in recall from it, and I think I remembered another dream, but that itself isn't enough for three dreams.

Oh well, I like this challenge though, will keep trying my best!



I'm REALLY REALLY pumped for the CANWILD to work, because I KNOW it worked before on my FIRST TIME. Just have to keep it up with listening to the alarm, and I'll be set to know how long I have to sleep for it to work.

Slept 5-6 hours this time, and now I'm yawning, so I'm going to go back to sleep

No luck trying the CANWILD the second time, but that's no shocker. Oh well, will look forward to tonight's attempt!

Remembered 4 dreams in total, but the majority of them were recalled early in the morning, so that doesn't count for the more than 3 dreams thing.

These dreams were kind of random to me, especially the one with Sonic and the gang.

The running around like crazy dream was funny, and I woke up still trying to believe I can go back inside the dream.

Bicycle Traffic, Sonic, Running around, More DV Porn - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

The person that was in the shadows while I was sitting with Sonic was very hard to see.

I assumed it was Topaz, who was part of the police/fbi/cia/whatever in Sonic X...but I don't know....

The DV porn dream was crazy, it took me a while to realize that showing exposed breasts are against the rules....lmao.

Oh well.

Fragments count Link.

Now I can't resist checking out the journal

Remembered 4 dreams last night. I set my alarm to wake me up around 6:45 AM or so, and I slept around 12:30-1AM I believe, so I had 5-6 hours of sleep since I'm sure I went into deep sleep around 1:30 AM.

I've been using an mp3 file for the past two days on using the CANWILD technique as my method of becoming lucid someday again, and I augmented the sound to 500%, so I'm going to hear it no matter what happens, which is good, because it will wake me up, and so far, I've been able to keep my body still, and eyes closed as well.

And like the technique describes, because I'm conscious at the point when the alarm activates, I've already skipped the relaxation state that is so difficulty in WILDs, because that's my only obstacle, because I can't just relax just like that from a WBTB, so it's best that I skip all the nonsense, and go right into the good stuff.

And it worked before, months ago when I was really passionate in getting lucid.

The link to the mp3 file is here:

It's the first one: Alarm.Wav & .MP3 Sounds

Imagine that increased to 500%....you'd have to be a deep sleeper to not hear that in the middle of the night.

Here's the DJ entry
Barber shop, Don't Jump to Conclusions, Blue Snake, Stupid Kids - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Instead of going Freud mode in describing my dreams, here's a small summary:

1. I've noticed that even though I didn't know where a certain area was, I looked around my environment, saw a few familiar faces, and used an assumption that since they took a certain course in waking life, I can help the people in front of me who need help finding a place.


2. Pretty self-explanatory, but still, because the old man had a gun in front of him, I was afraid, and I just had to jump to the conclusion that he was going to kill someone, but he didn't in the end. I also realized that if I did shoot the man, the gun wouldn't have worked, and I would assume that guns don't work in general in my dreams, but when I checked the barrel, two slots were empty, so if I shot the gun three times, there would be an actual shot, since 3 more bullets were in the slots after the second empty slot.

I explained that a little bit too horribly.

3. Blue snake, it scared the hell out of me, I don't know if it was coming after me, but a freaking blue snake with black spots made me jump. I think I killed a green snake as well after I chopped the blue snake in fear and rage.

4. I'm inside a bookstore probably, and I see some children looking at me weirdly, kind of annoyed me, but I ignored them.

Only one more day until I finish the extra credit for remember more than 3 dreams in one night for at least 3 times in a week.

As for reality checks, I'm just doing the nose plug, since it's the most reliable.

Excellent recall Link

Just a side question: Are your gun dreams a result of games in which you participate? Just curious, because I used to dream of super mario alot when I played it back in the day.

Nah, I don't play video games as much, and when I do, it's only when I'm sure I have nothing to worry about, but then I'll get bored because I want to do something else productive (wasting time here on DV)

I realized that video games waste of a lot of my time, and they're not so demanding anymore, so no homologous association with my dreams there. Maybe videos I watch on YouTube, but I don't watch anything too seriously for too long.

Last night was crazy, remembered 7 dreams. I actually remembered waaay more than that, maybe 3-4 more, but they were so short that I'll assume they occurred during the early stages of NREM sleeping.

The dreams where random for me, and despite remembering 7 dreams, I had a lapse in my recall.

The reason is because when I woke up maybe 30 minutes or so before the alarm I set for the CANWILD technique, I jotted down a few notes on Notepad on my laptop instead of taking the time to type all of them out.

Because I didn't want to have too much exposure to the LED screen shining on my face at 5:30-5:45 AM in the morning. I decided that I would extend the alarm a little bit, seeing at 6:45 AM was getting closer and closer, and me trying to do a WBTB would seem pointless if the alarm went off to bother me.

So I believe I set it to 7:45 AM or something like that, and set the other alarm that I used to wake up completely for 9:30 AM I think.

I did a nose plug RC to make sure I wasn't having a false awakening.

Instead of doing a WBTB+WILD, seeing as I woke up earlier than the alarm setting, I decided to just drift into sleep, and just do whatever until I hear the alarm I set for the new time.

So this means I have to set the alarm a little bit earlier than 6:45 AM, since I slept around 1-2AM or so that time. I'll have to sleep a little early, so I can study a little bit for my final exams tomorrow.

The dreams that were interesting for me was the one where I'm swimming with an entity that had a mix of these things







Something tells me that it was Alyzarin who was in the mixed form of those entities that I can relate to. She told me she had a dream where she was swimming as well, but her recall for it is only confined just for that certainty.

The person I was swimming with has this Klutzy and ditzy, but had a positive vibe overall.

When I told the female that she should be careful of how she's bumping into so many things while we're going downstream, she tells me in a cheerful tone "Okay!" etc.

The other dream that was interesting was Carrot controlling most of what goes on in my apartment. Some dude in a white jacket is trying to attack me with a knife, but I dodge all of them, just barely, because the apartment itself is the perfect place for short range combat.

I asked him one more time how he was able to get inside my apartment, and he said it was Carrot who let him in.

and yadaddadadadada

Here's the Dream Journal Entry

Extra credit assignment: ✔

EDIT:

Oh, and you met Alex in a dream OpheliaBlue, in Texas to be more precise, at least that's what the dream figure said to me.

How come you remember so much dreams each night? Do you set your alarm several times a night or do you wake up very often?

Originally Posted by Chicken

How come you remember so much dreams each night? Do you set your alarm several times a night or do you wake up very often?

No, I only woke up once (maybe twice, but that was probably unconsciously without the alarm waking me up) to remember around 4-5 dreams, I remembered more, but those were too short and random to even consider putting down.

I'm pretty used to remembering my dreams, since I try to post them daily. I mostly rely on remembering a fragment of a dream focusing on what comes next. My mind gives me all sorts of images and experiences, so I guess in a way, I have a photographic type of memory when I'm in the "Twilight" state, (being half-awake half-asleep).

I trained myself so much to remember my dreams based on certain imagery, emotions, etc that as long as I can remember a part of it, I can chain it with more events. I try my best to have the mentality that I won't give up on remembering my dreams, and staying still in bed to recall the dreams I experienced helps a lot.

I'm relying on one timer to wake me up, but last night, I woke up two times, and that was to make sure I would keep my eyes closed to get the motion of the CANWILD technique down.

Ever since I came on this forum, dreams have been the only thing that I know that can't be taken away from me, and I continue to push myself to get lucid as much as possible.

Things like being able to act out events in dreams to prepare for things like any type of speeches, assignments in lab, studying, etc. motivates me be serious in remembering my dreams.

And because my passive demeanor of waking life in general as increased since I became a member of this forum, remembering my dreams is routine, so I'm already used to remembering my dreams. In all 200+ entries of my dreams, I tried my best remember as much detail as possible, and being passionate for lucid dreaming in general makes dream recall like second nature for me.

There are other things that can help with dream recall:

Drinking bottle of water before going to bed, and hoping I would wake up after a NREM or REM period to take the time to remember any dreams. And because of how I grab certain snippets of moments and imagery, it helps a lot.

I think another factor is I try to add some images on my dream journal. Even though some might not make sense to others, if I can find an image to distinguish the dream from the others, when I look back and check, I remember most of what I experienced before, so knowing how it feels to be in the dream state non-lucidly helps with dream recall.

Knowing my emotions in my dreams, knowing how I feel when I get lucid occasionally, all of these things help with dream recall.

Just takes practice and devotion, and acknowledging any events where I don't have any dream recall for a certain day, because as long as I keep up with my dream journal, it focuses my mind to remember more of my dreams.

And my mind is pretty generous with helping me remember my dreams, even if I get out of bed, I can still remember the majority of the dream, so if I forget one part, I just go back, think, and it comes back to me again most of the time.