Thread: Greetings and a few questions

Hi all

My name is Ayanizz, 23 years old, and I recently (re)discovered my interest in controlling my own dreams. I remember that I used to do this as a kid, almost every night, and it used to happen automatically. I decided that I wanted to be in control of my dream just before I fell asleep, and bam, I was. Never had any training, but I guess it came out of having a lot of nightmares and being very adamant about solving that problem.
Anyways, as with most fun things in childhood, it died out with growing up Due to some coincidence I stumbled upon lucid dreaming and this forum yesterday evening, which ofcourse fired up my interest and left me with a couple of questions, so I hope to find answers here.

1. What is the significance of a dream journal (and dream recall in general)? I mean, when you're dreaming normally most of it dissappears in the first few minutes of being awake (however, I can have scenes from a dream stuck in my head for DAYS without doing anything special). However, when you are lucid dreaming, doesn't it stick in your memories more than a normal dream? Or does it go away just as quickly as a normal dream too? Because if it does, I guess I'm going to have to start writing

2. Concerning reality checks and using them to induce lucidity: If I were to look at my hands 20+ times a day, at random times, and say "Five fingers, I am awake", or for example everytime during the day when I need to know the time, look at my clock, look away for a few secs, and then look back to check if it's still the same, will this behavior carry over to my dreams, and subsequently induce lucidity? Or am I going about this in too simple a way?

Too anyone who has read this through to the end and is willing to take out some (preeecious) time to answer my questions, thanks!

Ayanizz