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Hey i'm extremely new to this whole lucid dreaming i have been writing in a dream journal for 2 night and im having trouble remembering even single images of dreams (when i was in my childhood years i remember alot more than i do now) is there any tips on increased dream recall and attaining the goal of having my first lucid dream or does it just take time
Hey man welcome to the forums :cheeky:
First off, it'll definitely take time. How much time that will be depends on stuff like your natural talent for lucid dreaming (some people just naturally become lucid, sometimes without realising why), your motivation etc etc. Just remember there have been many who have been in your position in the past, and they have persevered. You can do that too.
Things that increase dream recall include:
1: Enough sleep. I cannot emphasize how important this is. Without enough sleep, you'll be much more rested and in a better state to recall your dreams. Also the longer you sleep, the longer your REM cycles will be but don't use that as an excuse to sleep for 10 hours instead of E.G. 8 hours.
2: Keeping a dream journal. You've already started one which is good. Keeping one tends to make dreams valuable to you, and your mind somehow recognises that and it makes it easier to recall dreams. When you wake up, just relax and stay as still as possible and try to add up all the fragments.
3: Waking up between REM cycles. The way this works is, we have an average of I believe 4 REM cycles per night, each lasting about 90 minutes. Whenever you wake up right after one, you'll have the best chance of recalling your dreams of that particular REM cycle. Therefore, waking up in between these cycles allows you to recall the most dreams per night. Waking up between these cycles is pretty hard though, and using an alarm clock tends to "shock" us awake, which disturbs recall.
4: Keeping a day journal. See the link below for more info. I have kept my own since the beginning of november and for me it really helped me. The idea is that you train your ability to recall memories of not only your dreams, but also your waking life. This way you're receiving twice as much practise in recalling than you normally would. I highly suggest having a read through that thread.
5: Not being stressed. Whenever you're very stressed, your dream recall just goes down the drain. Try to clear your mind before going to bed (you can use meditation for this if you want).
6: Avoiding alcohol. Quite obvious if you think about it. Getting drunk nearly completely kills our dream recall. I'm not telling you never to drink again though, just remember that alcohol can reduce your recall and choose for yourself.
Welcome to Dreamviews!
You can find more about recall here Dream Signs and Recall
Welcome
Induction Methods and Techniques
If you need any help, just ask. Happy dreams:alien: