Dream recall becomes difficult when you dream so much

[kiwibonga]

I've got a dream recall problem...

Usually, I wake up without any memory of dreams, I get up from bed, and a few minutes later it hits me ; I "connect" and remember some elements.

Take last night for example. I had three long dreams:

- I was in an apartment building, there was something about a single mom and her baby. For a moment I was flying outside and looking down at the building.
- I visited my brother's school, and there was "school spirit stuff" on display in the halls. A woman asked me for my school ID and when I said I didn't have one, she laughed at my face. I put my bags and coat somewhere in the hallway. A parent who was visiting too looked at my stuff, and said "what the hell does this have to do with school spirit?" He took my stuff and threw it, then we started yelling at each other.
- I was part of a vampire hunting clan of some sort. I remember two "hunts" but I know there were more of them. We had a book about vampires with descriptions of the characters we had to eliminate. Someone was always with me, explaining what to do, but that person was invisible.

Anyway, when I retrieve a memory of a dream, I have this "single connection" that takes place. I "pick" one event, or one series of events in particular which I know to be part of a much bigger dream.

Let's say this is the dream's timeline when I suddenly realize "oh yeah, I did have a dream":

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP

If I connect with "event G," I'll lose the memory of events A through F, and unless H and the rest are the logical sequels to G, those will disappear as well.

What happens is I remember the whole dream at once, "pick" a moment in it to mentally process, and by the time I'm done reprocessing it, I lose the ability to make links to other events.

My dreams are just too long to remember the whole thing consciously -- I am conscious of these parts I am missing, but I cannot access them all, because as soon as I concentrate on one part, all the other ones disappear (even though they were more or less fresh in my memory seconds before)!

It's like there's this short term memory waiting to be downloaded, and once I download a chunk to long term memory and try to relive the rest, I reach a wall, because the "memory bank" I'm reading from only contains what I downloaded and not what's really in there.

Somehow, I feel that in order to recall the whole dream, I need to avoid downloading the dream ; instead I should be accessing it from an altered state and find another way to store memory that won't destroy dream pieces.

Any thoughts? Similar problems? Solutions?

[Skippy]

I can go for weeks without remembering a single dream (which is kind of a shame; I'd like to remember more) and then I'll have one and remember it. Why do some people seem to remember dreams more than others?

I usually remember dreams that are quite profound, exceptionally freaky, or involve people that I like or admire. For instance, I remember dreams I've had about famous people (the Bee Gees and their brother Andy Gibb.) I remember dreams where I've dreamed about people I know in real life, that I really like a lot. And I remember dreams that have been quite emotional. And then dreams that are crazy - like, for instance, one time, I dreamed that I was Marty McFly (from the Back to the Future trilogy) and that I was running through a grocery store, and that I was being shot at.

Unfortunately, I can't really think of anything you could do to help remember your dreams, kiwibonga. What do you mean when you say you should access your dreams from an altered state? Do you mean trying to access them through meditation - putting yourself into a trance, and seeing if you remember them then?

[AndrewTheSinger]

One thing I do to remember dreams is to give a title to that dream as soon as I wake up, and count it using my fingers.

So let's say I had a dream about sailing on a boat, I name it 'sailing' and count 1, indicator finger. Usually I will remember to do this waking up after 3 dreams, but I've gone as far as remembering 8 dreams. It's been very effective.

Another thing that I do is to write pieces of the dream on a paper I have glued to the wall on my bedside. All I have to do is to grab the pencil that I keep attached to my bed by a rubber band, but I'm often too lazy to do that.

[Werp Weg Alles]

Hey kiwibonga, I have kind of a similar problem, I'm consciously aware of the fact that I've had several dreams in any given night, because either I woke up during a few, or I remember a few right when I get up.  Then about 30 seconds later, for the life of me I cannot remember what the dreams were about, sometimes while in the shower after this, I'll be thinking in drowsy half awake thoughts and I'll think something, say, "hey that sounds familiar," and then realize I had a dream about that and then instantly the whole dream comes back....but other times I don't get such an inspiration and I go through the whole day trying to remember what happened in my dreams.  It is VERY frustrating!  The only way that I've found to solve it at all, is to IMMEDIATELY right down some keywords in a dream journal.  And sometimes I can't even get to the journal fast enough to remember the dream, which once again leads to MAJOR frustration, oh well, no pain no gain I suppose.

[FrostyRose]

What I try to do when I want to remember my dreams, is not to move when I wake up in the morning. It takes practice, but it helps. I lie still, close my eyes, and try to remember.

I've heard that when we wake up, the physical and astral body are not fully connected, so if we don't move it's easier to recall our dreams because we're still in the astral. In a way.

Best of luck to you

[Werp Weg Alles]

Thank you, I'll give that a try tomorrow or the next day and let you all know how it goes!

[Nay]

I know I've said this before but hand held recorder. 

I've heard that when we wake up, the physical and astral body are not fully connected, so if we don't move it's easier to recall our dreams because we're still in the astral. In a way.

Good advice, it works.  You can also slowy turn over.  For instance..you wake up from on your left side.  Lay still and let your mind wander and reach for it, if nothing comes to you, slowly turn onto your back..stay still and let your mind wander again..if nothing, once again slowly turn onto your right side and let your mind reach for it.  I promise that pieces of your dream(s) will come to you when you find the position that you were in whilst you were actually having the dream(s).

Good luck!

[Werp Weg Alles]

THANK YOU also TalaNay, I'll definitely try both those tomorrow morning or the next one.  Thanks for all the help everyone!

[Nay]

No problem!  And good luck!

[Werp Weg Alles]

eh, seems like I've been saying Thank you TalaNay an awful lot today haha.

[Nay]

LOL!.. awww now, it isn't so bad.  I'm very glad to help.  I know, I know, I can be very direct..but look at it this way, you always know where I'm coming from.

[Werp Weg Alles]

lol I know, and I really do appreciate all the help thank you.  In regards to letting you all know how it worked out with not moving and then slowly turning well, no such luck, I didn't exactly get to sleep as I was camping out at a Toys R Us for the Nintendo Wii the newest video game system.

[Nay]

LOL!!  I don't think that is the right time to try.. perhaps when you are in the comfort of your own home, try it then.  Plus...if you were willing to sleep outside for a game system.. I'm guessing dream recall is not going to be on your mind, consciously or subconsciously...

[Werp Weg Alles]

lol probably not!! But I did try it this morning, and was able to recall my dream almost PERFECTLY!!! with lots of details....for this, first I was very still, and then I rolled very slowly to the different positions, I was able to remember a few pieces, and I associated key words with them.  After this I thought about the fragments, and just let the rest come to me.  THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!! From now on I'm doing this every morning if I thought I had a dream or not!

[kiwibonga]

Well, now I have another problem.. This happened 2 days in a row...

The first time, it got me by surprise, I had written 5 lines about the dream, I clearly remembered doing it. When I got up, though, I realized the page was blank! I had dreamt the whole thing down to every last detail... Getting a pen, getting paper, writing it down, and going back to sleep!

The second time, though, I was prepared. So I got my pen, got my paper, started writing... Then, I thought something was weird... "How come I can see the paper even though my face is buried in the pillow?" So I start reading over what I had written on the paper... And the page is blank! That's when I realized I wasn't writing, I was just drooling on my pillow and having visions of me writing things down!

So I give it a second try... Same result... Still a blank page, still a dream...

So I give it a third try... This time I open my eyes, I sit down in bed, write down the dream.... And go back to sleep.

Well, son of a ?&%$! The page is completely blank! How am I supposed to record my dreams if this keeps happening?

[Nay]

hehe.. sounds like you were out of body already, you should have at least floated around your room a bit. 

First time I really experienced the "rtz" I was thinking about getting up and taking my daughter to the doctor.  I got up walked into the bathroom and tried to brush my hair then realized....hmmm.. why the freak can't I see myself well?  I look over at the bed and there I was. 

Looks to me like you've by-passed the dream and went straight on to projecting.. LOL!  Well done!

[kiwibonga]

That type of experience is something I have trouble wrapping my head around.. When you know you're out of body but not yet projected, you're all stiff, crippled by sleep paralysis, hearing crazy rumbling sounds, vibrating and whatnot... But when you don't know, you can just waltz right out of bed and it'll be like nothing happened... :O

[Nay]

Haha!  How true! 

[kiwibonga]

Eureka!

Pick any memory that is clear in your mind, and try to remember not what happened, but rather what you were thinking as it happened. It turns out that I don't record thoughts as things happen... I don't know if that's just the way my brain works or if it's for everyone, but it would seem that only outside perceptions are recorded, along with emotions, but the monkey chatter in my head is deleted as soon as I stop listening to it...

In other words... The way to a better dream memory is recording what happens in your head as you're thinking it.

It's all logical... These are the same thing at varying levels of intensity:

Thoughts -> Hypnagogics -> Dreams -> Vivid dreams -> Lucid experiences -> Fully aware experiences

What they have in common is that they're all so hard to remember! When you follow thoughts, you go into trance and enter the other side ; but how do you remember any of it if you can't even memorize those thoughts?

I think this is the missing piece in my personal puzzle