Dream Recall - for how long?

Heya,

I have been interested in dream control for quite some time. When I was young I did have lucid dreams on a regular base (dreaming I was a superhero of some sort, and naturally developed that as a Dream Sign), but I didn't know what it was back then though. That must've been approximately 6 to 8 years ago, and now I'm 16 and would like to develop more in this skill :).
Thus I yesterday did a search on google. I got to this site, read through it in one go, and then got to bed. Not really with the intention to lucid dream yét, because I'd first start with a Dream Journal. I've got some questions though.

On the website it's mentioned that if you desire to develop your Dream Recall, it's advised to wake up a couple of times repeatedly at night in your REM and write down your dreams. It would seem most logical to me to use an alarmclock, set for 90-100 minutes. I have the problem that I don't fall to sleep in the first ten minutes when I lie in bed. In fact, it can last for over an hour and a half. If I finally dó start drifting away, it would be stupid to get my conscience back by setting my ararmclock.

Second, would be asking how long you'll have to keep on doing this. For the rest of my life? A week? a month? I doubt it's good for your own matter to repeatedly wake yourself up 5 times a night for over 4 years.

I hope someone is able to give answer to these questions. I'm really anxious to get started :)

-Stijn

Hey there,

Welcome aboard!

In answer to your questions. Others might tell you differently, it's a matter of preference, but personally I wouldn't alter the way I sleep in order to try and have dream recall. Just sleep as you would naturally sleep, and try to remember what you can.

It may not be much at first, perhaps just a fleeting image, perhaps just an idea (I think I dreamt about...) or an emotion. Or it could be a full three hour length dream. The important thing is just to write down whatever comes. As you start paying more attention to your dreams, you'll find that your recall of them will begin to improve. Even if you sleep all night and never wake up, you might not remember 10 dreams per night, but you would at least be able to remember one or two with some practice.

And who knows, maybe doing so will begin changing your sleep rythme naturally, as you will begin to wake up after dreams. But forcing it...in my opinion, is not such a good idea. It's likely to exhaust your body (therefor leading to less recall at first and possible frustration), and if the forced change doesn't 'stick', you'll be back to square one once your natural sleeping rythme kicks back in.

As for your second question: the answer is, in my opinion, the rest of your life. Lucid dreaming and dream journals go hand in hand. You may get so good at recalling dreams that you don't need to write them down anymore, or (more likely) only need to write down keyphrases or titles for them. But become a lucid dreamer means in effect that you're going to be changing your lifestyle a bit. Just like losing weight, it's no good if you lose weight and then go back to the same habbits that got you the weight to begin with. So what you will need to be doing for the rest of your life (if you want to keep at it, that is), is pay attention to your dreams, try to recall them, give them a place in your life. And that generally requires a dreamjournal, or something similar.

Anyways, just my 2 cents,

Good luck!

-Redrivertears-

Thanks for the information mate :). With the second question I was actually referring to the waking up several times a night. Why would you stop lucid dreaming and a dream journal anyway;)?

Thanks again,

- Stijn

To tell you the truth stenny, I've been at this Lucid Dreaming thing for almost a month now and I kept a Dream Journal for maybe two weeks. I could just really get around to it. So after a while i quit al together. It did indeed help my dream recall though. But ive had 5 Lucid Dreams in the past month, and only one of them have been in the time period of me writing in a journal.

Hey Stenny and :welcome: to the forum :)

Redrivertears gave some really good advice there (as always), feel free to ask anymore questions you may have, were always happy to help out. Dream control is a fascinating thing, as is lucid dreaming and by joining this forum i am sure you will get better and better, its a great community and i'm sure you'll make some friends around here :)

oh, I will. Thanks guys :)