If you want to remember more of your dreams, you
must make a commitment to consistent effort. You won’t improve your recall if you can’t, don’t or won’t really
try to, for whatever reason. Practice truly makes perfect in this. I can’t stress this enough.
Dream recall & efforts toward it are focused in 3 main areas; going to bed, waking up &
while dreaming. The last involves lucid dreaming. Although many people believe that lucid dreaming is “controlling your dreams,” all it is, really, is being consciously aware that you’re dreaming during the process. Beginners need not concern themselves with lucid dreaming, however. You need to crawl before you can walk, as the saying goes, & if you crawl enough, you
will eventually walk.
On going to bed;
1. Keep a pen and paper (or journal) within easy reach of your bed. You may also want to have a nearby nightlight or penlight, in case you wake in the middle of the night & need to write, but don’t want to get up & turn on a bright light. Alternately, a little, hand-held tape recorder might be good for those mid-night episodes.
2. Use repetitious, positive thoughts about dream recall as you drift off, i.e.; “I will remember my dream, I will remember my dream.”
3. As your mind slips into the hypnogogic stage (pre-sleep,) watch the images that appear as though you’re watching a movie. Remain detached but aware. This is sometimes difficult. Don’t worry much about it, but do keep trying.
On waking;
1. Allow yourself to wake naturally, without such distractions as an alarm clock or phone. Sometimes these things may wake us in the middle of a dream, but the
movement involved in turning off the alarm or answering the phone stimulates the conscious mind, which can push the dream out of your memory.
2. For the same reason mentioned above, when you first awaken, don’t move around. Lie still for a little bit while you mentally review what you remember of your dream to set it more firmly in your mind.
3. Write down everything you remember (or tape recorded,) in detail, whether it’s a full blown dream or just an abstract image. This goes for waking in the middle of the night or remembering things halfway through the day—write things down
immediately. Even if you set it firmly in your mind, if you don’t write it down, you’re likely to lose it again. On the other hand, if you remember nothing, write nothing. Your dream journal should be associated with dream recall, not with entries saying “I didn’t remember anything.”
3a. Sometimes you can remember more of your dream if you ask yourself questions about what you
do recall. If all you remembered was “something about a woman,” ask yourself how old she was, was she inside or outside, what color was her hair, was she calm or upset, etc.? Sometimes the answers to these questions will lead to remembering other parts of the dream.
As previously mentioned, the most important part of remembering dreams is
consistent effort. If you try these techniques once in a while, you're unlikely to remember any more than usual. Consistent use of the techniques will eventually retrain the brain to pay more attention to dream recall. After all, "where attention goes, energy flows."
Please feel free to share your own techniques & experiences in my comments. I'd love to read them!
Here's a picture of the wren chicks as of this afternoon. Clearly now we see at least 5, they're much bigger & their eyes are open.
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