Thread: Sensei's Super Competition of Absolute Awesomeness!

Originally Posted by sprada

How do you guys do that?

Recall 10 non lucids?
Thats the key right there.

Dream recall is very important, it is one of the "keys to the (LD) kingdom." Self-awareness and access to memory, confidence, strong intention and expectation, imagination/creativity, and the ability to relax and fall asleep after WBTB are the other key abilities to hone. I've got dream recall to a decent place, but I need still to find the winning combination on all the other parts.

+ dream recall must be *very important* to you, it must be at the level of "need" rather than just a strong desire
+ realize that you DO dream, for hours potentially, every single night -- you just need to remember it!
+ the more you notice night-time wakings, the more opportunities you have to reach for recall
+ set strong intention at bedtime: repeat to yourself for a minute or two (or as long as you like) "I remember my dreams", really believe it and feel how very important this is to you
+ for the "dream recall full-court press," also set this intention: "I notice every waking, remain still, and recall my dreams"
+ standard things like: remain still. I'm at a point where this is not critical, I can keep dreams on my mind while sitting up or turning over in bed, but for most this still remains important especially when you're working on building up recall in the beginning
+ ask yourself "What was I just dreaming about?"
+ do not take vacations from dream recall: no breaks, not even when tired/sick. When I just can't get myself to record, I still run through the dreams mentally and try to maintain a memory list of accumulated dreams all during the night for recording in the morning.
+ so therefore, reach for dream recall every single time you find yourself awake
+ run through the dreams mentally and assign each one a key word/phrase. Go over these words/phrases several times before moving to reach for your DJ/voice recorder.
+ I use a voice recorder: recite quickly all the individual words/phrases from the dream list, and only later go into detail. Nothing is more frustrating than jumping into detail to find the rest of the dreams in the list have slipped away (I'm guilty of this, done it many times!). The benefit of a voice recorder is: 1) you can record in the dark with minimal movement; 2) you can speak much faster and more clearly than chicken scribbles in the middle of the night; 3) no fumbling for a light, a pen, and the notebook, just your smartphone.
+ Lie quietly waiting for the memories to come to you. When you get an impression, then hold on to it and associate like crazy.

An example from this last night. I had forgotten the kayaking school. I was lying quietly recalling, and at some point I got the strong impression of "rain". So I held on to "rain" tightly with my mind and just tried to associate, and all of a sudden I realized the "it was raining so they went inside" and I then remembered the rest of the kayaking dream.

This was a good night, but still not my best: I've had 16-17+ dreams in a night: 4 wakings, 4 dreams each waking.

+ be thankful for your dreaming experiences (Gab)
+ practice recalling your waking day before bedtime
+ practice storing interesting/important/notable waking situations in your memory in order to remember them at night.
+ pay attention and be present in your waking life, notice things! If you can't remember your waking day, how can you possibly remember dreams?

It is my opinion that one can never have enough recall! We dream *so much* every night. I know that I must have forgotten even more dreams and even more detail from each dream last night, and I deeply desire to remember everything!

edit: Effort leads to increasing success, consistent success leads to confidence, which sets up a positive cycle of great results -> more confidence -> more great results and so on.

I just need to get this loop going with lucidity itself now!

Originally Posted by FryingMan

Dream recall is very important, it is one of the "keys to the (LD) kingdom." Self-awareness and access to memory, confidence, strong intention and expectation, imagination/creativity, and the ability to relax and fall asleep after WBTB are the other key abilities to hone. I've got dream recall to a decent place, but I need still to find the winning combination on all the other parts.

FryingMan's Dream Recall Tips (a lot of these also apply to getting lucid):

+ dream recall must be *very important* to you, it must be at the level of "need" rather than just a strong desire
+ realize that you DO dream, for hours potentially, every single night -- you just need to remember it!
+ the more you notice night-time wakings, the more opportunities you have to reach for recall
+ set strong intention at bedtime: repeat to yourself for a minute or two (or as long as you like) "I remember my dreams", really believe it and feel how very important this is to you
+ for the "dream recall full-court press," also set this intention: "I notice every waking, remain still, and recall my dreams"
+ standard things like: remain still. I'm at a point where this is not critical, I can keep dreams on my mind while sitting up or turning over in bed, but for most this still remains important especially when you're working on building up recall in the beginning
+ ask yourself "What was I just dreaming about?"
+ do not take vacations from dream recall: no breaks, not even when tired/sick. When I just can't get myself to record, I still run through the dreams mentally and try to maintain a memory list of accumulated dreams all during the night for recording in the morning.
+ so therefore, reach for dream recall every single time you find yourself awake
+ run through the dreams mentally and assign each one a key word/phrase. Go over these words/phrases several times before moving to reach for your DJ/voice recorder.
+ I use a voice recorder: recite quickly all the individual words/phrases from the dream list, and only later go into detail. Nothing is more frustrating than jumping into detail to find the rest of the dreams in the list have slipped away (I'm guilty of this, done it many times!). The benefit of a voice recorder is: 1) you can record in the dark with minimal movement; 2) you can speak much faster and more clearly than chicken scribbles in the middle of the night; 3) no fumbling for a light, a pen, and the notebook, just your smartphone.
+ Lie quietly waiting for the memories to come to you. When you get an impression, then hold on to it and associate like crazy.

An example from this last night. I had forgotten the kayaking school. I was lying quietly recalling, and at some point I got the strong impression of "rain". So I held on to "rain" tightly with my mind and just tried to associate, and all of a sudden I realized the "it was raining so they went inside" and I then remembered the rest of the kayaking dream.

This was a good night, but still not my best: I've had 16-17+ dreams in a night: 4 wakings, 4 dreams each waking.

+ be thankful for your dreaming experiences (Gab)
+ practice recalling your waking day before bedtime
+ practice storing interesting/important/notable waking situations in your memory in order to remember them at night.
+ pay attention and be present in your waking life, notice things! If you can't remember your waking day, how can you possibly remember dreams?

It is my opinion that one can never have enough recall! We dream *so much* every night. I know that I must have forgotten every more dreams and even more detail from each dream, and I deeply desire to remember everything!

Awesome advice here.
Thanks for putting it together.

One adicional question if I may.

Do you maintain a written Dream Journal? I find it really hard to do it.
I use a recording app and maintain an audio dream journal. I struggle a lot to keep my written DJ (desktop app not a physical one) updated.
Do you feel that I'm losing a lot this way?

sorry for the hijack

Originally Posted by sprada

Awesome advice here.
Thanks for putting it together.

One adicional question if I may.

Do you maintain a written Dream Journal? I find it really hard to do it.
I use a recording app and maintain an audio dream journal. I struggle a lot to keep my written DJ (desktop app not a physical one) updated.
Do you feel that I'm losing a lot this way?

sorry for the hijack

Throw Away Your Dream Journal: Remember Your Dreams The Easy Way

Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

Throw Away Your Dream Journal: Remember Your Dreams The Easy Way

Just a quick response to that article: as others have noted, dreams recorded only with "who/what/where" most likely will become incomprehensible several years down the road. Also, it's not just the writing, sure, but when you write an entry you're reliving the details over and over and over with every sentence and review of what you're written so far.

Sensei: do incubation points counts even on non-lucids? I got close! Food court -> fast food restaurant dream.

Originally Posted by AnotherDreamer

I also think you're supposed to only get 1 point for either RC or stabilization, but not both. Am I right about that sensei?

Hmm, the way the scoring is written, it's not clear:

• Reality Check / Stabilization - 1 point

edit: merge posts

Originally Posted by FryingMan

Just a quite response to that article: as others have noted, dreams recorded only with "who/what/where" most likely will become incomprehensible several years down the road. Also, it's not just the writing, sure, but when you write an entry you're reliving the details over and over and over with every sentence and review of what you're written so far.

Sensei: do incubation points counts even on non-lucids? I got close! Food court -> fast food restaurant dream.

Full prose journalling is required for archiving, but I think the gist of his method is to build dream memory through rapid fire journalling and re-remembering your dreams throughout the day.

Originally Posted by sprada

Awesome advice here.
Thanks for putting it together.

One adicional question if I may.

Do you maintain a written Dream Journal? I find it really hard to do it.
I use a recording app and maintain an audio dream journal. I struggle a lot to keep my written DJ (desktop app not a physical one) updated.
Do you feel that I'm losing a lot this way?

sorry for the hijack

You're welcome!

This is core dreaming advice which I know is welcome in competition threads usually, so don't worry about the mini-hijack.

Yes, I maintain an on-line DJ, so I transcribe my voice notes (most of the time I do not need to refer to the notes but they're there as a backup or if a few days go by) on to the computer.

A DJ is another case of practicing access to memory, reliving the experience. It shows your subconscious that yes, dream memories are *important* to you.

I have developed a daily ritual for this: soon after getting out of bed, I write up one-sentence summaries of all my dreams on the "Share your dream(s) from last night in one sentence" thread. I try to do this entirely from memory. In cases where I dreamed a lot with many independent scenes I might consult the voice notes. The summary is like a 2nd keywords summary of the dream, a bit longer, which helps to remember the dream. I'll then hit "copy to DJ" on this message and fill in the details under the summaries of the dreams. Sometimes I'll wait a few days to fill in the details, but now I'm trying to do it right away while the memories are freshest.

Yes, I think if you're skipping this step you're missing something in the development of your dream recall. With a DJ you will also be able to relive your dream experiences for years to come. Reading through your DJ once a year or so will maintain these memories as "yours" instead of just being like reading someone else's dream journal.

Thanks for this detail FryingMan. I now have a new respect for my dream journal and will put forth more effort in remembering more dreams and more detail.