I have horrible recall

I'm new to lucid dreaming, or rather I've had a few lucid dreams before, but only recently decided that i was going to pursue them.

The thing is, I have horrible dream recall. I mean to start a dream journal, but I keep forgetting. :S

Anyway, my lucid dream experiences.
In just about every lucid dream I've had, my dream suddenly becomes very unstable and whispy - black and white, unclear, and almost as if everything continuously fades in and out around me, like I'm only half-way there. Most of the time, I subconsciously become very excited and start to fly around. I'm always doing something like that - flying, walking on water, and, on one occasion, shooting kamehamehas at everyone in my elementary school.
My other lucid dreams include dreams where I'm running from something. When these dreams become lucid, I always find out soon after becoming lucid that whatever/whoever is chasing me isn't actually trying to hurt me and I continue doing whatever I was doing.

My lucid dreams are few and far between, but I'd like to have more and more frequently.

So what are some ways that I can improve my dream recall?

p.s.woot first post :D

EDIT: Also, what exactly is a Dream Guide? Is it just a character that appears in all of your LDs?

I had the same problem starting out, with trying to keep up with writing them down that is.
Once I started though, my recall improved dramatically within the course of a few weeks. Dreams were more frequent and lasted longer. About a month in, I had my first Lucid. So really, try and motivate yourself to do it, it doesn't take too long to write them down. Just set a notebook by your bed so every night you see it and get into thinking of lucid dreaming, and each time you wake up write down anything you remember in your dream, no matter how minuscule.
For example, my last entry I didn't remember too much of the dream, but I remembered something about a bag of beef jerky, and the serving size on the back said 26 so I wrote it down. Small things like that count.

Other than keeping a DJ, you need to basically let your mind know that this is something you want to pursue. Determination plays a big roll in this. I originally never had a DJ, and just by wanting to be able to remember my dreams, I was able to. However, I highly recommend the DJ, as it is much more effective.

Also, "patience is a virtue" :p
The speed at which you progress at this sort of thing is different for everybody, and if it's something you really want, take your time and don't stress out if it doesn't happen right away.

Now, if you are still having problems keeping up to date on your dream journal, I would suggest the thread by Shift on increasing "Prospective Memory". That's when you set a goal like "I will remember my dream tonight", and remember to do it without any external reminders. The thread however, works at increasing it by doing daily RC's that shift assigns. So this can help with both your memory and your ability to become lucid simultaneously. http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=74059

How frequently do you remember your dreams? How many dreams per night?
It's suggested that you remember at least 1 per night.

Anyway, as for the stability problem you say you've been having in your dreams, there are some techniques that can improve the detail/stability. In the next lucid you have, try rubbing your hands together, spinning around, or focusing on your surroundings and try to remain calm.

I used to remember dreams very vividly. Recently though I don't remember many of my dreams. I'll remember the mood of the dream and have a hint of recollection, such as where the dream took place or how many people were involved, but not much more detailed than that. It seems like a Dream Journal would help with this though. If I'm consciously trying to remember my dreams, rather than passively having them, I feel like I would be able to recall my dreams much easier. Like I said, I've only recently began to pursue lucid dreams.

I'll try those techniques when my lucid dreams start to get unstable. I think my biggest issue is remaining calm. Like when I fly, I can never stop, because I get too excited and lose some control over the lucidity of my dreams, so I understand that I'm dreaming to an extent, but not fully, so I can manipulate some things but not others. Flying, for instance. Once I begin to fly, I can never slow down enough to land. I often fly towards walls, turn around just before hitting them, and propel myself off of them again in the opposite direction, but I can never influence flight enough to slow at a controlled rate, drop to the ground, and land.

So I really need to work on remaining calm. I think the fact that I've never TRIED to have a lucid dream before now is a factor.

I read some about Dream Spinning. This technique is just used to concentrate on the fact that what you're experiencing is a dream? So it helps you concentrate and keep lucidity?

You should try and constantly remind yourself that you're dreaming during it, not just the one time in the beginning. If you focus too much on one aspect of your dream (i.e. Flying) and believe you're having a problem, like trying to slow down, your thoughts will influence the dream, thus the inability to slow down. I think reminding yourself "I'm dreaming, and I can control any outcome" can help solve that problem.

As for what dream spinning does exactly, I'm still not sure. I just heard that it can help with stability/detail in the dreams.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by death by moogles

So what are some ways that I can improve my dream recall?

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Maybe you should start on that dream journal...?

Also you could try autosuggestion before you fall asleep. Just repeat phrases that encourage recall, such as "When I awake I will perfectly remember my dreams."

Yep, I started the dream journal today.
On a side note, I keep meaning to read AIR, but I haven't gotten around to doing it.
:D

So I just need to work on those stability techniques then. Now that I've been thinking about it, I've had issues like that before. I've tried to walk on water on this river, but continued to walk on the ground under the water and came up on the other side of the river.

There is a tutorial in the Tutorials forum about dream recall. Walking on water is hard, I've only done that a few times, you'll get better at it.

Just out of curiosity, are you from LD4All? moogle is the name of one of the moderators there, and I was wondering if he influenced your username choice :tongue:

I've actually walked on water numerous times. It just seemed odd in that one dream because I expected to walk on top of the water but I continued to the bottom of the river instead.

Hah. No, I'm not. I'm not sure who that is, but I like his choice in usernames.
:3