Remembering your dreams is the starting place for learning to have lucid
dreams. If you don't recall your dreams, even if you do have a lucid dream, you
won't remember it! And, in order to be able to recognize your dreams as dreams
while they are happening, you have to be familiar with the way your own dreams
work. Before it will be worth your time to work on lucid dream induction
methods, you should be able to recall at least one dream every night.
Getting plenty of sleep is the first step to good dream recall. If you
are rested it will be easier to focus on your goal of recalling dreams, and you
won't mind so much taking the time during the night to record your dreams.
Another benefit of getting plenty of sleep is that dream periods get longer and
closer together as the night proceeds. The first dream of the night is the
shortest, perhaps 10 minutes in length, while after 8 hours of sleep, dream
periods can be 45 minutes to an hour long. We all dream every night, about one
dream period every 90 minutes. People who say they never dream simply never
remember their dreams. You may have more than one dream during a REM (dream)
period, separated by short arousals that are most often forgotten. It is
generally accepted among sleep researchers that dreams are not recalled unless
the sleeper awakens directly from the dream, rather than after going on to
other stages of sleep.
It can be useful while you are developing your dream recall to keep a
complete dream journal. Keep the journal handy by your bed and record every
dream you remember, no matter how fragmentary. Start by writing down all your
dreams, not just the complete, coherent, or interesting ones--even if all you
remember is a face or a room, write it down.
When you awaken in the night and recall what you were dreaming, record
the dream right away. If you don't, in the morning you may find you remember
nothing about the dream, and you will certainly have forgotten many interesting
details. We seem to have built-in dream erasers in our minds, which make dream experiences
more difficult to recall than waking ones. So, whenever you remember a dream,
write it down. If you don't feel like writing out a long dream story at 3 AM,
note down key points of the plot. Also write down the precise content of any
dialogue from the dream, because words will almost inevitably be forgotten in a
very short time.
Possibly, all you will need to do to increase your dream recall is to
remind yourself as you are falling asleep that you wish to awaken fully from
your dreams and remember them. This works in a similar manner to remembering to
awaken at a certain time in the morning. Additionally, it may help to tell
yourself you will have interesting, meaningful dreams. A major cause of dream
forgetting is interference from other thoughts competing for your attention.
Therefore, let your first thought upon awakening be, "What was I just
dreaming?" Before attempting to write down the dream, go over the dream in
your mind, re-telling the dream story to yourself. DO NOT MOVE from the
position in which you awaken, and do not think of the day's concerns. Cling to
any clues of what you might have been experiencing--moods, feelings, fragments
of images, and try to rebuild a story from them. When you recall a scene, try
to recall what happened before that, and before that, reliving the dream in
reverse. If after a few minutes, all you remember is a mood, describe it in a
journal. If you can recall nothing, try imagining a dream you might have
had--note your present feelings, list your current concerns to yourself, and
ask yourself, "Did I dream about that?" Even if you can't recall
anything in bed, events or scenes of the day may remind you of something you
dreamed the night before. Be ready to notice this when it happens, and record
whatever you remember.
If you find that you sleep too deeply to awaken from your dreams, try
setting an alarm clock to wake you at a time when you are likely to be
dreaming. Once again, when you wake up, don't move and think first of what you
were just dreaming before writing.
To remind yourself of your intentions and get yourself into the spirit
of your dreams, read through your dream journal at bedtime. Learning to
remember your dreams may seem difficult at first, but if you persist, you will
almost certainly succeed--and may find yourself remembering four or more dreams
per night. Of course, once you reach this level, you probably won't want to
write them all down--just the significant or compelling ones. And, the more
familiar you become with the style of your own dreams, the easier it will be to
remember you are dreaming while you are dreaming--and explore the world of your
dreams while still on the scene.
