Need help improving dream recall

[holy reality]

i'm going to make a guess and say that your problem is that you sleep too well

if you can wake up and not remember a thing... wow... what i would give for that to happen once and a while...

me, I wake up after every dream, I wake up during the middle of dreams, wake wake wake wake wake wake wake...

basically, I don't think I ever hit deep sleep, I mean... the last time I rememebr laying down to bed and instantaneously waking up in the morning, no dreams, nothing, just REST and PEACE and waking up feeling whole and energized... was 2 years ago... and that was a once in a lifetime type event, I was like "whoah!"

so...

develop a sleeping disorder?

I wake up so much it isn't funny, and I'll often times dream about waking up so much that I'll often times get ticked that I'm not dreaming anymore, only to actually still be in a dream and not realize it (yes I do reality checks with my clock, but it's tiring to do them over and over again)

So it's like... well... I don't know what to say, a nova dreamer would work... I basically don't need one because once REM sleep tends to end I wake up, so it's usually pretty easy to phase back into a dream or OBE shortly after waking...

Unless I wake up at 3-4 a.m. like I have been and can't get back to sleep for 2 solid hours of lying in bed trying.

I guess it's possible I go into deep sleep though and just dream during deep sleep? Becuase you'd think I'd hit some sort of NREM rebound frequently and just black out and not dream once or twice a week.....

Just try and set your alarm to wake you up 3 times a night at times you are positive you'll be sleeping.

Say if you sleep from midnight to 6 undisturbed.... set it for 2 and set it for 4.

?

That'd be my advise, aside from obtaining reversed insomnia (can't remember the proper name for it).

[Tolvor]

Ironic isn't it.  What I would give for poorer sleep and better dream recall.  The really funny thing is that some of the dreams are interesting, and I'd really like to know the first part of the dream.  After I recalled three dreams in one night, I was also 'WHOA!!  DREAMS!!'

I can't afford the NovaDreamer.  I am in the process of constructing a DIY electronics projects for a ND-alike, no computer interface in V1.  

What is really frustrating is that about a week after I had started the dream training, I woke up with no recalled dreams.  However, I did wake up feeling *great*.  I hadn't felt that good for *years*.  I felt great all that day, and I mean it was weird.  It still makes me wonder about just what I was dreaming about *that* night.  It hasn't happened since, but I hold out hope.

[holy reality]

you know, i wouldn't mind about the waking up so much if my dreams were actually OVER when I wake up, instead of in the middle...

becuase there are only so many times when you can roll over and pull yourself right back into the dream you left off in....  you know

i shouldn't be sleeping 12 hours a day I suppose and I wouldn't have that problem, since up until about 9 a.m. i can pretty easily get back into any dream that may have been disrupted...

but dreams are kind of addictive lol... if I could consciously AP or phase or dream or remote view I'd probably spend all my time disconnected from this reality....

but this reality isn't so great anyway !


how are you building a nova dreamer and is it hard to do?

[Tolvor]

Look thru my past posts, for my post on a DIY-Novadreamer.  Link: http://brindefalk.solarbotics.net (the Kvasar dreammask).  Total cost about $60, tops (assumimg you already have a multimeter), and that's including the microcontroller programmer which I'm building mow.  Complicated?  Not really, his plans laid it all out.  Some basic knowledge of electronic assembly, some common sense on the use of a multimeter as a diagnostic tool, and some patience is all that is required.  Turning the prototype into a integrated circuit board is somewhat messy the first time around, as the inking and washing process of the board is tedious and somewhat expensive.  If you get to that point email me and I'll send you a component-less washed board ready for plugging and soldering.  Its no more expesive to wash one board than two.

If you start it and have difficulties let me know, and I'll give you advice, if you have a digital camera to post pictures of what you are seeing.

[jilola]

I think you may be undermining the reality check by having a watch remind you to do it. Try to make it a subconscious habit, that's thhe goal after all.
It seems to me that the you are making the response to the watch alarm (ie. reality check) the habit instead of the check itself.

Also, I make the disctinction between remembering and recalling. THe dreams you have will be stored in your memory, the trick is to be able to recall them.

Think back and try figure out what kinds of words or emotions have helped you to recall the previous dreams. Everyone has a number of keys, if you will, that usually trigger  dream recollection. They offten are the same, or at least similar, keys that help you recall things you've forgotten in the waking life. Examine your methods of recalling something that's at the tip of your tongue but eludes you.

The time it takes to improve one's dream recall varies hugely.
Don't get discouraged yet, it will happen eventually if you persist.

2cents & L&L
jouni

[kozzi]

Jilola's response is pretty good.  I would say that I think you might be trying too hard, Tolvor.  Maybe just give the practicing a rest.  Actually, try going a while without doing anything to help recall dreams!  I could be wrong, but it sounds like you just need to relax

Kozzi

[Tolvor]

I already keep a dream journal, both on paper beside bed, and later transcribed and elaborated on computer.  My watch is set to hourly chime, and I do reality checks.  I make sure that my thoughts before I go to sleep is 'REMEMBER!!'.  I'm careful when I wake to work on recalling the dream.  I've set my alarm clock to buzz early, with little improvement. I've been doing this for over a month, with little result.  My recall has gone from about a recalled dream a week, to about 1 or 2 a night, which is poor performance.  

The dreams that I do remember are usually the ones that immediately preceeded me waking up, and usually I have the impression that what I'm recalling is only the last part of the dream.  I can fuzzily recall at one point knowing what had happened, and that I had understood the dream while I was dreaming, but the dreams are still fragmentary.  Some nights I wake up (by alarm clock) and recall nothing, no fragments and no impressions.  

I would like to know how long does it take to improve dream recall and dream vividness?  Is there something that I should be doing that I'm not?

Any help would be appreciated.