Dream Recall Problems.....

Hello.... I'm a new member to this site, but have been browsing it for about a week. I started keeping a dream journal back on June 30 and have been trying to follow typical dream journal protocal. I wake myself once a night and get about anywhere from 7-9 hours of sleep on an average night.

Now, my problems are the following: over the past 5 nights since starting my journal, I have remembered a total of 4 dream fragments from seperate dreams. What can I do to start remembering full dreams? I am just frustrated not to remember my full dreams.......Most of the dream fragments that I remember are even just single sentences or images that I see.....I know that if I want to start lucid dreaming I will need to have full dream recall, can someone please help me with this?

Thank you,
OC3220:bowdown:

Hey, welcome :)

When do you record your dreams? Just when you wake up in the morning? I recommend for building recall that you keep a piece of paper and pen by your bed, make sure in the middle of the night that you wake up and jot down whatever comes to you. You do wake up, you just don't remember it. One thing you might want to try is, if you go to bed at say midnight, set an alarm for five in the morning. When you wake up naturally in the middle of the night, you'll remember that annoying alarm set up to go off in a few hours, and so you'll be motivated to get out of bed. Try to use this motivation to keep awake, jot down some dream notes, and then turn the alarm off and go to bed. Even if that doesn't work, the alarm will go off at 5 am, waking you up and hopefully getting you some more dream fragments. The hardest thing about dream recall is being dedicated enough to write down your dreams, even if you're incredibly exhausted.

When you do wake up in the morning, try to do it calmly and give yourself some time to recall the dream before getting up and moving. If you can set a soft alarm, then have another alarm as backup (so that while you're recalling your dream you don't doze off again), you should be in a good spot.

Besides that, keep up your efforts. If possible, talk about your dreams during the day. Even if it's to say 'man I had the weirdest dream that there were talking turnipis. Aren't dreams crazy?' to someone else. Dream recall and lucid dreaming are just like any other skill- for those of us who don't have the crazy natural talent, we have to put in effort and hardwork. Just keep working away steadily and you should start seeing results. Don't expect things to happen overnight, but realize that in due time, your efforts will pay off!

Thanks for the quick reply,

Yes I do write down what I can remember when I wake in the middle of the night, but only once have I ever had any recall after waking in the night.......One problem that I think could be causing it is the waking calmly part. On some days I will be woken from a phone call and have to talk, other days my little cousins (who are visiting) relentlessly try to wake me up. However, even when I do wake calmy I still have trouble remembering more than just fragments........In addition, I would like to say that keeping the dream journal is not a hassle for me, when I wake in the night I make sure I write anything that comes to me. I am not one of those lazy people, I like to do things the right way.;) The part that bugs me is the fact that I only recall fragments.....I just would like to know if this is normal and should improve over time. I am in no rush to lucid dream. I'm just making the baby steps neccisary to become a regular lucid dreamer........

Once again, thanks for the help
OC3220:bowdown:

Also, I would like to say that as of now, Motivation is not an issue for me. I make sure I stay awake to record my dreams when neccisary at night.

Well if that's the case, then you are off to a fantastic start. Just give it some time. If in a few weeks you're still having trouble, try testing out some foods or vitamin supplements. As you are though, this is a very natural position to be in and in a few days I'm sure you'll start seeing more success :) Just keep up what you're doing :)

You seem to be in the same boat as i was when i started actively keeping a dream journal, and i seemed went from remembering fragments to whole dreams pretty quickly. Good job and keep doing what you are doing.

MICHIGAN FTW!!!!!!!!!!!

Go Blue!!! Hail To The Victors!!!! The Leaders And Best!!!

BTW, Last night was a good night. I remembered at least what I think was one full dream, and another very vivid fragment.

My new question to you all is regarding the length of a full dream. The dream that I thought was a full one last night lasted anywhere from maybe 5-10 mins. Is this a normal length for a full non-lucid dream? Also i was not doing much in this dream. I was just running laps around an area and stopped afterwards and did a couple things.....I guess I would just like to know if this is a common length for a non-lucid dream.


Thanks again,
OC3220:bowdown:

The first few days or so were just fragments for me, but over the week, I got better recall. Motivation was definitely not an issue for me either, though I was definitely itching to remember more/longer parts of my dreams. I say follow Shift's advice. And it never hurts to try different methods, since everyone's different!

Something I've tried that's worked for me is taking Melatonin about thirty minutes before bedtime. I seem to have more vivid dreams with it, and am able to remember them because of that (sticks in my mind, I guess).

Good luck, keep at it and you'll be remembering more of your dreams in no time! *excited*