"Recall delay"

[kiwibonga]

Hey

I've been experimenting in the past few days with becoming conscious as I fall asleep ; I feel I've made real progress.

Something that I find weird is that things have happened, but I only recalled them later on. The feeling is a bit like when someone wakes you up, talks to you, and you go back to sleep, then they ask you if you remember what you told them and you only recall the moment they've talked to you when they talk to you about it.

There's two things I experienced (during the practice sessions of the past few days) that I did not remember right away, that I remembered only a few hours later or the next day.

The first one was this vision I had of a colored tunnel that was trying to suck me in. I got startled and lost this vision, but somehow instantly forgot about it and recalled it hours later. I am pretty sure I was being sucked out of my body.

Another thing I felt was a crash sound. I don't know how to describe it. It wasn't anything like an explosion or a car crash... It was kind of like a rather quiet thunderbolt with "shrapnel" -- like metallic projections of some kind that made this glittery sound. Kind of like a broken window but with electricity, actually! When I remembered it hours later, I realized that it made me question myself, I asked myself what the sound was, and then I said something like "oh, it's just the crash sound, no problem!" and I went back to sleep!

I think this is the famous sound some people hear when entering OBE state, the same crash that accompanied the buzzing sound my mother told me about in her two involuntary OBEs...

I read from many sources that the key to remembering these experiences was to write them down as soon as you wake up -- I've been writing down my experiences as soon as I would wake up or decide to end a practice sessions, but I tend to go back later and 'complete' the entries with "oh, by the way, I saw this".

Recalling things with a delay has happened to me on several occasions in the past... For the most part, they were dreams or lucid dreams, but I remember waking up with sleeping paralysis when I was just a little kid, maybe 8 or 9 years old, and even though it scared me very much, I did not talk about it to my parents until I actually recalled it, days later...

I remember this lucid dream around the same age where a metallic object was stuck in my arm, and I realized I wasn't hurt or anything, that's what made me realize I was in a dream ; the same phenomenon happened, I had this "everything's normal, everything's in order" feeling and forgot about the experience until much later.

Does anyone have memory tips that would allow me to better recall these kinds of events? Is it common to forget things that are actually very startling?

All these things I recall later tend to be extremely important things that I am looking to achieve, yet they are the ones I forget most easily... Weird! Or maybe not so weird... Perhaps the fact that I get startled makes me close a hypothetical door to my subconscious... The ideal thing would perhaps be to stop being scared... Hopefully the fear or feeling of "unexpected-ness" will wither away as I get more similar experiences.

-- Something that I find good about asking questions here is that I tend to answer my own questions. Several times I've closed the window without pressing "submit" because I found the answer, or what I thought to be the answer, right here, in my post. I'd like to submit this anyway

[Sunn]

i suppose writing them down is the frist step,, or repeating that you want to recall your dreams before you go to sleep. I always remember my dreams..esp the important or really odd ones and my lucid ones(all two of them)  

I'm looking for a way to induce lucid dreaming... I think like yourself tehres lots of answers that can be asked in the dreaming state and its not as scary to ask stuff when your awake, like waiting for a spirit voice in the pitch dark at 3am lol

[Leilah]

Does anyone have memory tips that would allow me to better recall these kinds of events? Is it common to forget things that are actually very startling?

Well. I have the same issue. Although lately, it seems like its happening a lot less.

The only thing I would consider suggesting is setting your alarm clock for the middle of the night, at a time where you know you'll be smack dab in the middle of REM. Usually, at least for me, it has been easier to recall dreams during this time. I tend to lose hold of the dream when it was earlier in the night. Even though, in the past I would remember every single dream (5+/night) without using that method.

The only thing I was doing different back then were affirmations. I think I said "From now on, I will remember every dream" once before I fell asleep and.... I did. But that has slightly worn off since then.

As far as forgetting startling things go, I think for the most part it is common. There have been times where I have this amazing experience and yet i don't remember it until HOURS later. Which makes me wonder, just how much do we forget a night? A lifetime? I bet it's an astonishing amount.

Anyway, I don't know if that helped much but I figure its worth a try. Best of luck!

[kiwibonga]

I think I'll hang something over my bed or on my computer monitor that will remind me to remember... This self-suggestion thing really seems to work!

[CFTraveler]

Writing down things when you get up is good because when you start recalling more later, you have a point of reference where to put them- sort of like an outline for the other stuff that comes out of the first moments.  I find that when I remember stuff later, I remember more if I initially write the first things I remember.  Also they stay in my head longer, so I can analyze possible meanings, if it applies.