I'm afraid my dreams may never be as cool as everyone else

I could be way off on this, but this idea has been growing in my mind for about 5 years now, and want you guys to tell me if I’m completely off base.

I got married about 5 years ago, and at that time I realized my wife dreams are much more impressive than mine. I can describe any dream of mine in less than two minutes, but wife has talked about dreams she’s had for over a half hour. Not only are her dreams longer than mine, but they are filled with amazing and intricate details.

I thought at first this was just a dream recall issue—that she was better at remember her dreams than I was, but I’ve been working hard on recall for a long time, sometimes I can remember 5 dreams in one night, but I still can never have as long and detailed dreams as my wife has.

My theory now is that I don’t have very good spacial skills. I don’t think about how the world around me looks. I am about the least observant person in waking life that you can imagine. And perhaps a lack of noticing things in the waking world keeps my subconscious from creating dreams as well as it otherwise could. Sometimes in my dreams I don’t see anything, or hear anything, it’s just me thinking. I’ve tried to change, tried to look at the world around me more, but it’s hard, it’s just my personality to be lost in my own head.

What do you guys think? Are some people simply wired to have less detailed dreams?

Firstly, I don’t think anyone’s dreams are more cool than anyone else, but as far as vividness, that seems to be your problem. I do not believe anyone is wired to have less detailed dreams, if you look through many of our sections you will find people asking how to remember more details of their dreams, and I believe that is your problem.

If you are keeping a dream journal I suggest straining your brain to remember every little detail you can and writing it down, this will train your brain to keep remembering. If you’re not keeping one, well you should be if you want to remember more detail

Perhaps. But that shouldn’t mean that it’s insignificant. I remember one nonlucid dream I had where this arm burst out of a grave, and the hand looked like a root. Simple, startling, and when I woke up I felt horrified–but unstuck from a waking life concern that I’d gone to sleep with. So, even if they’re short and simple, and nonlucid, they can have great significance.