Writing makes me forget

[kalii2]

I've tried to start a dream journal, but every time I put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, the dream vanishes. I start writing as soon as I wake, and the act of writing seems to make me forget the whole thing, it's like someone steals the screenplay from my mind. Any tips? Oh and BTW if I *don't* write about it, I can remember the dream quite well usually.

[Bethany]

Are you able to rest and memorise the dream upon waking and go over it in your mind completely and THEN write it down? Or maybe you can try a dictaphone? Dictating it might be more suited to you.

[ninja9578]

Wait for a moment, lay in bed perfectly still and run through the dream in your mind, that copies it from your dream memory into your short term memory. The act of moving usually erases dream memory.

[AlexLou]

If I want to remember a dream (even if I am gonna write it down) I spend several minutes while I'm waking up just going over the dream in my mind. This gives the dream a solid place in my waking memory. Only then do I write it down if I want to. DJs are mostly for enhancing recall, so if it doesn't help you with recall, then you don't have to keep one. But there probably are certain dreams that you'd like to keep so you can read them in future years, but spend at least 5-10 minutes thinking about these dreams before you write them down. Personally, I find that waiting a few hours or even a few days is fine too. Since you have good recall, waiting until later in the day to write down your dreams shouldn't compromise anything.

[Jdeadevil]

I've tried to start a dream journal, but every time I put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, the dream vanishes. I start writing as soon as I wake, and the act of writing seems to make me forget the whole thing, it's like someone steals the screenplay from my mind. Any tips? Oh and BTW if I *don't* write about it, I can remember the dream quite well usually. Practice keeping the dream in your head without writing anything down. Yes, after a short time the dream will disappear and you'll have to feed off your natural memory, so be quick. The method increases recall faster. Well it does for me anyway. Hope that helps.

[annsie]

I have been practising dream recall since a child because I like talking to my family about my dreams. This is what I do. As soon as I wake up and can remember a dream, any dream, I would lie still in bed ( not moving, even turning over can make me loose the dream ) and go over the whole dream sequence. I try to remember as much details as possible, the colours, the peoples expressions, the sceneries, what was said, who said what, the feelings associated with it etc. I would recite the whole thing over and over again until I feel confident that I can remember the whole thing in detail enough to go tell someone. As soon as I get out of bed, I find someone to tell my dream to, like telling a story ( yes, my family is very used to hearing about my dreams and lucky for me, they enjoy it ! ). Then I would spend a fair amount of the day thinking and reflecting on the dream, trying to decipher different possible meanings or messages from the dream. I am sure if you do this, you will be able to write your dream down quite easily afterwards. Good luck.

[kalii2]

Thanks everyone, these are all great tips! I realize that moving does seem to trigger the beginning of forgetting now that you mention it. I'll try the "rest to remember" thing and see if it helps. There are some dreams I will never forget, but they are usually scary or silly. I rarely remember the ones that really mean something to me, which is why I want to have a written record of them.