one-time LDer, want to get the ability

Hey everybody...Please take the time to read this. I appreciate your help.

I've had 1 true lucid dream that I remember vividly, and another that was unintentional (although it occured after I had been trying for the 1st one). The 2nd one I have forgotten altogether although I remembered it for a few weeks. This was last summer. I want to get back into it because I love it so much.

For my first one, I took a journal, tried different techniques, no success...until one day it just worked; during the dream I just realized its impossibility and was completely ecstatic as people are for their first. In about 3-6 mins I had lost lucidity.

Now, I want to be able to lucidly dream as close to on-command as possible. First, however, I want to MASTER dream recall, which for me would be 1-2 per night. I just started a dream journal last night, but could not remember anything whatsoever in the morning. One setback is my alarm clock. It is on the other side of the room because I have no outlet near my nighttable, thus I must get up to shut it off. I have tried waking myself up 4.5 hours after falling asleep, but I did not remember anything.

One more problem: I never fall asleep easily. The avg. for most people is within 7 mins. of when they go to bed, but for me its around 20 or 30. If I use auto suggestion I always have to wait a long time before I can fall asleep.

I am really just stuck here. I know I have not been patient enough, but usually I can remember 1 per 2-3 weeks without trying (which it horrible, but still). I am still trying, and I'll update this thread with any new info. Thanks for your attention, I hope you can help me with a method or noticing a problem in mine.

yeah just give it some time! Just having the journal will help get you in the mind set to remember them.

Wow, I didn't realise the average was 7 minutes! I'm with you there on taking a LONG time to fall asleep. I'd be interested to hear what you find out about improving that time.

As far as the alarm clock goes you could get a cordless travel clock. I sometimes set four alarms on my phone: 4.5 hours / 6 hours / 7.5 hours and 9 hours (when it's time to get up). I found when I did that I had those time's in my head and was expecting to wake up, so after a day or two I'd wake up a few minutes before each alarm or after each REM cycle. A couple of weeks back I was consistently remembering 3 a night using this method (but I've been lazy recently)

how long do you sleep a night? any more than 8 and you might not be tired enough to sleep.

Any stimulants before bed? For some people, coffee will not let you sleep for 2 hours.

Not enough physical activity? If i've done nothing for a day, i wont be able to sleep well.

and recall: yes a Dream Journal when you wake up in the morning.

Well just last night (night of june 6) I slept from 11 to 7:10 so thats about 8 hours 10 mins. I didn't remember a thing.

To answer james: 1) no stimulants before bed.
2) I was out yesterday doing a bunch of stuff but I wasn't
sports or anything.

iarpo: thanks! Using my phone is a great idea! Now if I only knew how...:D
No but seriously I know how.
I'll PM you if any of my in-progress techniques start to work. I can't
use it right now bc it takes my mind off remembering
dreams / becoming lucid.

JollyRoger: thanks for the ecnouragement.
__________________________________________________ _____________
All right 2 more things:

Last night I was using autosuggestion with self-hypnosis to remember my dreams. This consisted of regulating my breathing and slowing saying "I will dream. When I wake up, I will remember my dream" to the pace of my breath, saying one clause per breath. During this my toes started to go into sleep paralysis, followed by my whole foot, the eventually my shins. I stopped chanting so I could sleep, but kept repeating it mentally. Then I wondered if I should focus on the possible lucid dream through sleep paralysis and thus a WILD, or just focus on remembering dreams? Now i wonder "Did this make both less likely?" and "Should I have just focused on the WILD?" eventually I had to move to wipe my eyes and instantly the sleep paralysis lost its grip on my lower legs. In addition to this I had become awake, as before I had closed my eyes without knowing it, but still felt awake.

Second thing: Last night i set that across-the-room clock for 3:20 AM and i did not wake up to it. Maybe I forgot to set it? Maybe I just don't remember waking up and turning it off? Anyway I thought the 2nd to be more likely so I checked my journal hoping to find an entry that I didn't remember writing but still did at 3:20. No results. Maybe my brother heard it and turned it off for me, unaware that I wanted to wake up at that hour?

This aside, I will continue trying to remember, and plus, it's always on my mind, which I know from my last lucid dream--that helps a lot.

I have a lot of very similar problems, most notably it takes me at least 40 minutes to fall asleep at night.
I sometimes see this as a setback, but I usually try to schedule myself so I can get tons of sleep in general. I don't know what your situation is (ie you have parents who won't let you sleep in on weekends or whatever), but if I were you I would try to designate one day this week to getting LOADS of sleep. By loads, I mean spend the whole day sleeping. At least 12 hours. Even if you aren't tired after 8 or so, just spend the whole day laying in bed, relaxing on your pillow, and thinking soothing thoughts. Don't even try to read or do anything to distract you. I've slept for 23 hours before, sometimes I sleep that long because the dreams just keep coming and it is more fun than getting up that day. Believe me, it is possible to sleep for over 8 hours and still have amazing dreams! I have about 9 dreams when I get ~11 hours, and more that I just don't remember. Also maybe communicate your plans to your family, if possible, to see that they don't disturb you. And silence your cell phone so people don't call and wake you up.
Regarding waking up to an alarm in the middle of the night... set it to the softest you can that will still wake you. I have my phone on vibrate. That wakes you up, but doesn't do that whole startle-me-so-the-adrenaline-is-pumping-and-I-can't-sleep-for-40-more-min deal.
Anyway on that one day, make sure to write down anything you remember. Usually I am way too lazy (and also concerned that writing in a DJ will set me back 40 min to fall asleep again) and talk myself into going back to sleep, and I forget all of my dreams. Designate this one entire day to a dream journal, and just see what happens. If you plan ahead, it'll even get you into the mindframe of recognizing dreams and etc., which should help your recall that day.

Another thing that you could do to help you fall asleep is if you have an ipod or cd player or something, create a playlist that is very soothing and relaxing. Listen to it every single night, and your body will get into the habit of relaxing and falling asleep as soon as you hear that music. You may not be able to sleep the first few nights or so, but believe me, you'll get to the point where halfway through the second song, you just zonk out.
Anyway, that is what I would do to jump start dream recall. Good luck!