Boosting Dream Recall

First off, I would like to say Hi to all the dreamers on this forum. I am new here, and am impressed by this site. I have been following my dreams for about 4 years, and have experienced quite a few lucid dreams and obe’s over the years, though not as many as I would have liked! I thought I would share a method I use for recalling dreams if I am in a hurry in the mornings and don’t have time to write them down right away. It is basically using very simple mnemonics, but with a little practice has been a great help, as it enables me to recall up to 10 dreams instantly at a later time, and thus banishes a lot of the annoyance of forgotten dreams. This method can also be used to recall short shopping lists, names, things to do, whatever.

Memories are linked by association…that is the mental linking of images, sounds etc. Any sensory data can be used to trigger memory, once it has been actively linked or nailed to mental “posts” in our mind. First we need to imprint mental images of the numbers 1 to 10 in our minds, so that we can then link to those numbers whatever we wish to remember.

For each number I use a simple mental image starting with:
1 = paintbrush
2 = swan
3 = heart
4 = sail of a boat
5 = hook
6 = elephant trunk
7 = cliff
8 = snowman
9 = balloon on a string
10 = bat and ball

As you can see the associated images are visually similar to the actual numbers. This helps us to remember them. Now the first thing to do is to learn this list with it’s associated images…this should not take long at all, a few minutes perhaps. Once we can successfully link all the images with the numbers, we can then start to link other data, such as dreams. Now, going by my own experience, on some mornings I awaken with maybe 3 dreams in my head. I know I will forget them if I don’t write them down quick, but I am in a rush to go to work. So I do this…Say in the first dream I was back at school, and I was with an old girlfriend. There may be lots of other data, but these are the key elements. So to link this dream to number 1 in my memory, I strongly visualize myself painting a girl with bright red paint, while a noisy crowd of school kids chants around me. Running this through my mind a couple of times quickly should suffice. Now say in the second dream I was down at the local arcade, playing pool. I now strongly visualize a massive white swan running around an arcade with a pool cue in it’s beak, smashing up everything in sight. Again I run this image several times to allow it to grip. For my third dream, I have to use number 3’s associated image which is a heart. So if my dream had been about myself cycling in the mountains say, I visualize myself sitting on a bike with a big red heart balloon tied to the handlebars, which then floats me off the ground. The trick is to exaggerate the images and sounds we use, as this helps to ingrain them better in our memory. With a little practice, this process can be done very quickly…but allows us to go to work or school or whatever…then come home and recall our dreams of that morning.

So I get home, think to myself…“ok, number 1 is a paintbrush, so what did I paint? Ah yes, that girl! And it was in a school, all the kids were chanting!”
And with this memory of the key elements, I guarantee plenty of other detail will flood into your mind from the dream, as like I said, associated images link and link untill the whole dream is there in your mind. Then on to number 2, the swan…“ah yes, that gigantic swan with the cue, wrecking the arcade”…and so on. If you find you forget the linked images, then you are not exaggerating them enough. Don’t just settle for say, using a tiny paintbrush to paint a small picture, make it a foot long and an inch thick, and the paint as bright as you can! We can see how this method can easily be used to recall 10 items, say off a shopping list.

1 = paintbrush = oranges = visualize yourself painting a gigantic orange with bright purple paint
2 = swan = bread = visualize yourself feeding a massive swan whole loafs of bread, and it snapping at your hands. feel that pain!

And so on. Sorry for the lengthy post, but hopefully some of you may discover some method to my madness. Like I said this is simple mnemonics, I actually use a more advanced system too, which allows me access to as many things as I want, from 1 to 10,000 if I needed to! But this simple version is used regularly by me to aid my dream recall. Try it and see for yourself, I know in the mornings or sometimes in the middle of the night one can be reluctant to get out of bed and write down dreams, but if you use this method, you can actually go back to sleep and when you awaken later, if you did it right, your earlier dreams will be waiting for you, still linked to your memory! No more lost dreams! I have used this method quite a lot this week myself actually, and as on some mornings I had up to 7 dreams to remember, it came in very useful! let me know how you get on, if anyone tries it.

Practice memorising a shopping list or something first untill you get the feel for the system. Notice how long the list will stay in your memory, if you do it well enough you will be able to recall the list for days. Of course once a list has served it’s purpose or say your dreams have been recorded, just mentally “wipe” the list clean, and start again, with new images. Again, if they are visualized strongly enough, they will easily take the place of the last things that were linked. The good thing about mnemonic systems too is that they force you to use your imagination, as well as giving your memory a boost. Helpful things when it comes to dreaming.

Welcome to the forum:)
Just wondering…wouldnt it be faster just to go through what u have remembered few times in your head?or(and) write down few key elements?
Dont get me wrong but this method doesnt sound much simplier.
Anyways im gonna give it a go to see how it works…maybe with it we can recall more details?dunno how but im keen to try.
thx

I don’t mean that I say that your method is useless, but I would like to add abit of something…

When memorizing your dreams, you don’t have to memory that 1, 2, 3. Just memorize any basic keywords like… if you dreamt about flying with an orange in your right hand. You can just visualize yourself having a rush flying with orange all over you. :happy: Just imagine and dramatize something so you can remember it easier. Just use the basic keywords and you will mostly likely to be able to recall the rest.

Once you can remember the associated images of 1 - 10, it is really quite easy to quickly link stuff, as long as you exaggerate everything like I said. The reason I find such a method useful is because instead of just hoping that you will remember a dream, it really allows you to ground the dream in your memory. Sure, if you can write it down that is ok, but if you don’t have time (I often don’t!) then you can use your mind to remember the dream(s) whilst you rush about getting ready. With practice it becomes very easy to safely secure dreams in memory for later “playback”. I was aiming the method more at people who perhaps experience multiple dreams in one night. For example last Saturday I actually had 7 different dreams in a short space of time, and often I will wake up and remember 2 or 3 different dreams at once. By using the linking method, I can quickly ensure I can recall those dreams later. I had forgotten dreams in the past when just trusting to memory, and it really annoyed me, so this method works for me anyway.

I actually use a more advanced memory system that enables me to permanently remember as many dreams as I want, and at present I have 200 of my more special dreams stored in memory. When I have spare time I can mentally analyse them, or just re-live them for enjoyment. I remember all lucid and obe type dreams so that I can study them mentally at any time in the hope of inducing more, and I also commit to memory any dreams that I think are…well, worth remembering! All that may sound a bit extreme…but I for one believe there is a big link to good memory practice and good dreaming! In the last week I recorded about 30 dreams, which averages out at about 4 a day, so compared with when I first started remembering dreams my recall is at an all time high now. I used to remember 30 or 40 in a month only.

The problem for me right now though is having more lucid dreams! I guess that is why I am here, to learn as much as I can about inducing them. That is the next “step” for me, better control over the actual dream matter. To be quite honest, I am finding it to be the biggest challenge of my life so far! But I think that is perhaps because for many years before I got an interest in dreaming, my conscious mind was nothing but a slave to the senses, a limp, impotent piece of crap! It is taking some beating to get it into some order and shape!
But I will persevere… :smile:

Surely sounds like me! I love to remember everything but I don’t have any time so I learned how to memorize them quickly. I don’t really have any specific images or anything to interpret/retrieve from… but I just uh… memorize it based on main keywords and then link some… that way I can recall very well. :happy:

Lets hope sciencists of 2003 will bring us a small hdds to join with the brains:)

Welcome!

Yes linking something to something you can easily remember does help out a lot. I use this kind of thing a lot when trying to memorize something, like when studying for a test or remembering an odd name. The best part is after trying to follow the link enough you will eventually not need the link so you’ll have it memorized.

Ascension… what is this more advanced system? where can i learn more about it? it sounds interesting :smile:

Hey, that sounds very cool.I heared about similiar systems before, but I never thought of using it this way.
I can see a big advantage to “just going over the dream”: If you do it like this, you always got a point to start from (e.g “It had something to do with a swan, let´s see…”)
Did you choose the pictures yourself?

I´d also like to know more about you system for more than 10 memories.
I think I got to give the simple system a try, since I have some problems to even remember simple things

thanks for sharing
Traumgänger

I’ve used something similar before but instead of attaching memories to numbers, you attach them to points on a journey. Perhaps this is Ascension’s advanced technique since it’s not limited to ten ‘items’.

To remember a list of ten items I’d take ten rooms in my house, walked through in a specific order, and I’d place a memory in each room.

To remember more items you’d take a longer journey you already know well and place an item at each memorable point along the way. This is the same method that memory experts use to remember the exact sequence of cards in a number of decks for instance.

It’s not something I use often but it’s extremely effective, the book I learnt this from over ten years ago suggested using a shopping list of ten items to practice with, and I can still remember that list today :bored:

First off, sorry for not replying sooner guys…I had overlooked this thread and only realised today that there were recent replies to it.

The more advanced system I learnt from a book called “Master your memory” by Tony Buzan. A really good book indeed. It is also where I got the simplified list of 10 from. The advanced system involves associating letters of the alphabet to the digits 0-9. This allows you to convert numbers to letters and vice versa. It is a very worthwhile system to learn. I learnt it fairly quick, a couple of weeks to a month, and I still use it to this day. It is great for creating a mental catalogue of dreams, instantly recallable at any time. Or for remembering anything really.

I don’t think it is still available, but Tony Buzan is a famous authour with loads of “mind map” books out. Check out “Use your Memory” by him, it is a more up to date book, and apparently there is a chapter in it about “capturing your dreams”. I just ordered it myself, so I don’t know how good it is, but all the reviews I read about it say it is great. If it is anything like the older book of his I have it should be money well spent.

I’ll look into that book… thanx!!! :grin:

Hey, when you end up reading the book, you should post your results of using the ideas in the book, i’d be really interested b/c i don’t have a ton of money to go buy books that end up not working, so keep me updated!

Well, I am telling you that unless Tony Buzan has deviated greatly from the effective techniques that he advocated in “Master Your Memory” to what he is writing now, which I highly doubt, I found his methods to be highly useful, and they worked just great. I think his newer books just add more up to date techniques that can be employed. However, I am expecting my book to arrive soon, so I may just add a post onto this thread reviewing it once i have read it. I can honestly say now though that I have several hundred dreams memorised at this moment, due solely to use of Tony Buzan’s methods. The guy knows what he is talking about!

bump this one to the top

well i found the book: Master your memory but i didnt found the Use your memory one. i just found one by Tony Buzan that was Use your perfect memory is this one the one you mean?

sorry ive already found it ! :grin:

buzan.com.au/book_use_your_memory.htm

i have to buy this book!!!

but first tell me if it is a good one

Ascension, for giving us this type of info. I woke up from a nap earlier and tried your concept. Its been 3 hours since i woke up and i still remember my dream and in exactly the same way i dreamt it. And to top it all off, i still havent written it in my journal just yet! I mean i dont know if this is a good thing or bad but my dream is still stuck in my brain, its awesome! I used to try and hurry up and write it all out while being half awake but even then i would forget some by the time i would finish writing. And if any of our forum are married you all understand how hard it is to write in your journal at wee hours in the morning while having your spouse bitch and complain about the light or too much movement in bed. Your a lifesaver or should i say “dreamsaver”! Thanks again!!!