Dream recall?

After looking at this site a week or so ago I've been doing reality checks in the form of counting my fingers any time i remember (every few hours) and for a while nothing came of it. The cool thing was the other night I was dreaming and I looked at my hand - sure enough there was 6 fingers :banana:. I instantly recognized I was dreaming and got a little exited. Anxious to preserve the lucid dream I started to spin around which promptly caused me to wake up :(

Is it important to improve dream recall to help this or is it not necessary now that I have actually achieved lucidity? Also have any of the more experienced lucid dreamers become good without using a dream journal? It just seems like a bit of a chore :?

Welcome to DV and check out the tutorials for more induction techniques :D As for your question, even if you achieved lucidity, you still need to keep a dream journal to improve your recall, because, there is no guarantee that you can remember your dreams even if it's a lucid ones. Also, as far as I've seen, even the experienced LDers keep DJ because without one, your recall will suffer :)

Thanks for the quick response. I have a diary I never use that will come in handy :) On that note is it just the writing down of the dreams I experience that improves my memory or do I have to constantly review them or something?

Most people find spinning wakes them up, as far as I've seen other DV'ers say in the past :)

One popular and very effect means of stabilizing a dream is rubbing your hands together. Usually the tactile sensation helps re-engage you into your dream.

Another neat trick is to interact with something in the dream environment. So reach out and touch something! If you can't touch anything, then try to engage another one of your dream body's senses. Sounds? Smells? Wind?

One of my favourite things to do when I have a higher level of lucidity is to take a moment and feel the dream. I really like it and taking that moment upon first becoming lucid helps prolong the dream.

The dream journal has a few essential elements to aid in lucid dreaming.

- You will start to recognize common themes or elements in all of your dreams. We call them "dream signs."
- We use dream signs as our cue within dreams to realize we are dreaming :)
- Reviewing them doesn't really help me too much in terms of future lucid dreams... but I've always liked to record them because there have been some truly epic ones that I'm so glad I won't forget now :)
- I find that my journal improves my recall. But recall itself is like a muscle. You must keep exercising it, or else it'll go back to the way it was :)

It is normal for your first few lucid dreams to be short. As you become more familiar and comfortable with the state of mind, they should naturally last longer and longer. I think the best way to keep from waking up right away is to have an easy to remember plan of what you want to do. That way, you won't have the moment of shock and confusion that can jolt you awake. As soon as you find out you are lucid, you should immediately start acting out a simple plan of action. Nothing too complicated. Maybe just bend down and feel the ground, rub your hands together, or go punch a wall. Something that will get you involved with the dream right away.