Thread: Waking Memory in Dreams?

I was just wondering how much of your waking memory you retain in lucid dreams. Some of it? All of it?

I've read tips here on DV, and some people have responded 'I'll try that tonight!'. Do you usually remember to do these things once you go lucid?

It's kind of hit-and-miss. It depends on your level of excitement, your own propensity for recall, and your level of lucidity.

It's like this:
Imagine that you're walking to the store, and you are going over a grocery list in your head - with 12 items on it.
On the way to the store, while crossing an intersection, a car runs the light and swerves just before hitting you, then crashes into another car that was going the other way. The two vehicles collide just a few feet away from you, with devastating force, in an explosion of twisted metal and glass. Your heart is racing, and you're just shocked to the core.

How easy is it going to be to remember that grocery list, now?

That's kind of what attaining lucidity can be like, at times - depending on what's happening in the dream, and how used to the lucid state you are. If you haven't engraved the assertion that you "will" remember the tasks, into your subconscious by the time you go to sleep, odds are that you're going to forget. Of course, not everyone forgets, but I'm just trying to illustrate that it could be easy or extremely difficult to remember things, depending on surrounding circumstances.

Originally Posted by Oneironaut

If you haven't engraved the assertion that you "will" remember the tasks, into your subconscious by the time you go to sleep, odds are that you're going to forget. Of course, not everyone forgets, but I'm just trying to illustrate that it could be easy or extremely difficult to remember things, depending on surrounding circumstances.

So by 'engraving the assertion', do you mean repeating to yourself out loud that you will remember? I'm still new to LD's and I'm still a real newbie to all this.

Thanks for the reply, it really helped!

Originally Posted by noodlepie

So by 'engraving the assertion', do you mean repeating to yourself out loud that you will remember?

If that is what helps you, personally. Lucid dreaming is a lot like dealing with the day-time mind. What works for one person may not work for someone else. You can't really ask someone "how hard is this to do?" or "what is the best way to do that?" or "how much waking world memory do we have in dreams?" because the answers simply aren't the same for everyone. The best thing you can do is try and find out what works for you.

But yes, repeating to yourself that you will remember is a good way to help retain waking world memory in dreams. It is called "auto-suggestion." You don't have to do it out loud, necessarily. The important thing is, even if you're just saying it in your mind, mean it. It's the intent that is important, not just the act of "saying it."

In some lucid dreams I've remembered tasks as well as I can in waking life. In others I've just pursued a sole task that fits the situation and not bothered remembering others. This applies only to intellectual and prospective memory. However, I don't know if sensory memory is the same as in waking life. That is to say, if you try to remember what something looks or sounds like, it might be incorporated into the environment or it might make your environment unstable. Retrospective memory can be a bit dodgy because it's not always easy to tell what happened in waking life and what happened in a dream.

Originally Posted by JesterKK

In some lucid dreams I've remembered tasks as well as I can in waking life. In others I've just pursued a sole task that fits the situation and not bothered remembering others. This applies only to intellectual and prospective memory. However, I don't know if sensory memory is the same as in waking life. That is to say, if you try to remember what something looks or sounds like, it might be incorporated into the environment or it might make your environment unstable. Retrospective memory can be a bit dodgy because it's not always easy to tell what happened in waking life and what happened in a dream.

So for example if you'd had trouble flying in dreams, and you read a tip online, how easy would you remember it in a dream?

Nice avatar by the way, going to see them this summer at Getaway rock

Originally Posted by noodlepie

So for example if you'd had trouble flying in dreams, and you read a tip online, how easy would you remember it in a dream?

Nice avatar by the way, going to see them this summer at Getaway rock

Nice, I haven't seen them live before. Their live videos are pretty cool though. Have fun anyway.
And about flying.. I've never had to remember how to fly.. I've just done it. But I think it would be fairly easy to remember the method, provided you aren't too excited. The method is just a list really, similar to a list of tasks. e.g. flap your arms like wings.. that would be quite easy to remember. the only thing your brain has to process is 'do this, do that'
The hard things to remember are things like what you did yesterday. And it may be hard to remember for example what the layout of your school building is without you being transported there.

Last night I had a lucid dream, and the first thing I remembered is the task of the month. but I kinda woke up too early to do it