New here and need a lil help with recall :)

Hello DV community!! This is really a wonderful forum and I look forward in sharing in on the magic that is LDing :) I have a minor problem at this point in my dream journeys tho (or lack there of) and that is I can not remember any dream I have had for years now. I have my DREAM JOURNAL next to my bed and have yet to really put anything in it. When I do finally remember one it is usually just a still shot of a image that I have no idea what it is or what it means. From what I understand this is a pretty common problem for a lot of noob dreamers :cheeky: So my question is... is there anything I should try to do to help my dream recall? Or will it just come naturally over time and with practice... Thank you in advance for any help and I look forward to getting to know you all better around the boards :)

D∞M

Welcome to DV! Dream recall will just increase with time. Just write down those dreams as well as you can remember them, then eventually, you'll just remember more dreams. For me, I usually wake up after some dreams and I immediately write down little notes which will make me remember the dream when I come home from school. Since it's hard to write down your dreams before school. Writing down what you do in your waking day can help too. Since your brain gets used to remembering what you did during the waking life, it'll want to remember the dreaming one too xP Good luck!

When you wake up you should try to remain very still, and just think about any dreams you might've had. If you can't think of any at first, some will sometimes come after sitting there for a minute or two.

Also, you might want to try a Waking journal, bascially another notebook or online journal about what you did throughout the day. This helps many people remember their dreams better by trying to remember everything they did throughout the day. And yes, better dream recall will come with more practice. When i first joined i remember about 1 or 2 a week. Now i remember 1 or 2, sometimes even 3 a night. Just don't give up and keep going forward.

you can try setting an alarm to go off when you are likely to be in a dream. and just write down the last thing you remember doing in it. trace your steps back. Set your alarm like 7 or 8 hours after sleep (or something like that) because then you will have had some long REM periods to have vivid dreams in. its a bit of a trial and error process since people have REM at different times.

yeahh most everything has been said. you should also ask yourself "what did I dream about?" repeatedely when you first wake up. you should also think about dreaming before you sleep, and visualize or imagine what your dream would look like/consist of. good luck! if you have more problems ask about it or any other issue again here on the forum.

As mentioned above, lying still while recalling a dream is one of the most important things you can do. This allows your brain to stay in or near the REM state for a few minutes, giving you the opportunity to capture the state dependent memory of your dream. In other words it allows you to bridge the gap between dreaming and waking.

It is normal to briefly awaken after each REM period, whether or not the awakening is recalled. If you find yourself moving and suddenly realize that you have just awakened, assume that you have awakened from a dream and immediately move back to the position you awoke from. (Dream recall is also state dependent in regard to body position.) Then try to recall the dream. If nothing immediately comes to mind ask yourself various questions such as:

What was I feeling?
What was my state of mind?
What colors did I see?
Was it dark or light?
What sounds could I hear?
Was I inside or outside?
Was I alone or with other people?
Was I walking, standing, sitting, or running?
Etc.

As you ask each question, give an answer to each question--whatever you feel like is the right answer. It does not matter if an answer is correct. Giving the answer will help to jog your memory. More often than not, when you finally do recall a dream, you will discover your answer was actually correct.

If still none of the dream comes to mind, lay for a few more minutes in a relaxed state without forcing yourself, and some fragment may eventually pop in. Once you have something, write it down in your dream journal even if it's a fragment or a fleeting feeling, and even if you are not for sure your memory is correct. Often writing a fragment down can lead to recalling the whole dream.

Lucid dreams,
onelucid

WOW thanks 2 everyone that responded it really gave me some good insight into the state of mind it takes to recall ones dreams! I have started keeping a waking journal like KB suggested :) I also set an alarm last night to wake me up at 4:30 am since I seem to wake up around that time fairly regularly anyway. But sadly still did not remember any of my dreams. I went to the local farmers market today and picked up some Apple juice (I was reading last night that this helped alot of people in there dreaming experience) and some Kava Kava Root (Heard this helps dreamers as well) My question is is it to early in my dream journeys to be considering the Kava Root? Any thoughts/opinions are as always greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
D∞M

I often can't remember anything when I have just woken up, and when that happens I just keep thinking about what I might have been dreaming during the day and try to look for things or persons in waking life that might have been in my dream, and often I can just feel or know what was in my dream without actually remembering it. Once you have one fragment you can keep thinking about what happend before or after that and you might find that you can remember more things. Good luck!

Hello doom train! Welcome to DV! Yay!

So - yeah, dream journal. Try to write down whatever you can. If you were feeling excited, sad, happy, whatever. Anything is good. This is going to train your mind to remember dreams in the future! :)

And please feel free to let me know if you ever need help or have any questions!

I don't know about your kava root question, but adding to the thread anyways, I find that if you stay in bed sort of half asleep when you wake up in the morning, you have a better chance of remembering something than if you just get up and start doing your normal routine. Also, when you go to bed at night (or even start to fall asleep in class) you might have visions of your dream you had the night before, helping you remember. All may not be lost if you can't remember it in the morning.
Hope this helped!

So I decided to drink two cups of apple juice and about 30 drops of kava kava extract last night in an attempt to make my dreams more vivid. I thought that the more vivid my dreams were the easier they would be to remember! But sadly when I woke up 2 my WAKE BACK TO BED and the following morning I had no recollection of anything but darkness. I tried to remember what the kind folks at DV have said so I lie in bed racking my brain for any kind of fragment or stillshot that would help me remember other bits about my dreams. And really wanting to remember my dreams but alas nothing. I refuse to give up and will give it another go tonight but it can be really discouraging.