Dream recall is an essential prerequisite to lucid dreaming. This is because when you know how to remember your dreams, it becomes easier to understand the features and patterns of your dreams.
Some people are naturally good at remembering their dreams but there are others who may find this task frustrating. Nonetheless, we all have the ability to lucid dream. In fact, whether you remember it or not, you must have had such dreams at some point in your life, especially in your early years.
Tips on How to Remember Your Dreams
- When trying your hand at dream recall, it is imperative that you desire it genuinely and sincerely. Therefore, it is suggested that before going to sleep, you should ask yourself (vocally, not just mentally) to remember your dreams.
- Maintaining a dream journal is a widely used method that you can try to help you remember your dreams more accurately.
While recording your dreams, focus on noting down even the most trivial objects, dialogs, odors, tastes, etc. More often than not, these minute details are the ones that are forgotten quite easily. - You may also use a voice recorder for this purpose and recount your dream in detail as soon as you wake up.
- If, on waking up, you only remember the end portions of your dream, try to rebuild the story by recalling dream events in reverse order. It may sound weird but staying in the same position in which you were dreaming can actually help in recollecting memories from your nocturnal journey.
- Apart from the main theme/plot of the dream, you also need to record any lingering feelings or emotions from your dream. However, do not start evaluating the dream right away, or else you will miss out on other valuable details.
- At times, you will remember faint images from your dream hours after waking up. Record these too.
- Avoid setting your alarm at a noisy and disturbing tone because by the time you recover from the unexpected, shocking noise, you will have forgotten most of the dream. In case you ask somebody else to wake you up, it is better to ask that person to wake you gently, without talking to you.
- If you are intent on learning how to remember your dreams then you could make use of consciousness altering audio meditations to improve dream recall and lucid dreaming.
- Some other tips and techniques that facilitate dream recollection are: following a regular bedtime routine, ensuring plenty of sleep and refraining from consumption of alcohol.
Here’s a video explaining how you can remember your dream.
It has been observed that dream periods tend to become longer, ranging from 45 to 90 minutes dedicated to each dream after having eight hours of sound sleep. Plus, the chances of remembering a dream are much higher if you awaken directly from the dream.
Therefore, if you wake up at least once during this REM sleep cycle, you are more likely to remember your last dream. The simplest way to let this happen naturally is to drink lots of water before bed time so that you would be forced to get up from your sleep during the night.
How to recall a dream using a dream journal
- Try to remember your dream immediately upon waking. Stay in the peaceful feeling between sleeping and waking to help you remember the dream.
- Keep your eyes closed while recounting the events that took place in the dream. Then, write it down or record it in a voice recorder before it fades into nothingness.You can draw images as well. Incomplete or incoherent dreams also have their own importance. Thus, while recording your dreams do not ignore such fragments.
- Record it in present instead of past tense.
- Reread the dreams you have jotted down in the dream journal to improve your dream recall.
So, if you are eager to learn how to remember your dreams, you have to make it a habit to record your dreams regularly.
It is suggested that you keep your dream diary simple and plain as fancy designs are likely to create distractions while recollecting dream events.
Needless to say, place the diary and pen by your side before sleeping so that upon waking, you can focus at remembering the dream right away rather than wasting time trying to remember where you put the pen last night!
