Keep still in bed a few minutes after waking up and try to actively remember what you were dreaming. I also used to think I couldn’t remember but once I started trying like this I realized I was just letting myself forget. Also keep a dream journal. Even if it’s just a few images. Write down whatever it is and eventually it should become clearer.
Yeah, like buttercup just explained, keeping a dream journal and writing your dreams down is determinant in order for you to practice and develop your skills in dream recall. It’s completely normal what you’re experiencing. If you have generally ignored most of your dreams for some time, then your mind automatically gets used to that mindset. Which is why it takes some practice to remember your dreams if you have never done it before, just like learning a new ability.
If you’re having trouble remembering a continuous plot from your dreams, then start with the images you’re able to recall. To help you start, you can try describing in detail these images you’re able to remember. Focus on what you saw, heard, touched, smelled, tasted, felt or thought about. Basically, try to include as many senses as you can, so that you begin training your mind to pay more and more attention to your dreams and what happens in them. Also, try finding a meaning behind all those images you remember. Can you infer your position by what you can see in the image? Where you doing something as the image suggests, was there someone else, someone you might recognize? What can you infer from it? How does each image relate to the next? Do they take place in the exact same setting? What does the set of images make you feel? You’ll find out that if you start asking yourself all these sort of questions, you’ll start remembering more and more details to your dreams.
As a final point, really intend to remember your dreams as you fall asleep for the night. Even keeping yourself reading about lucid dreaming, thinking about the topic will help your mind slowly ease in into the dream world. Lastly, there’s not much to say from here but for you to keep practicing and gain experience as the days go by.
Well, you seem to be on the right track, maybe you just need a little more practice? I don’t know how long you’ve been trying to recall your dreams, but, if you’re just starting out, then don’t worry about it. Your recall will gradually improve in time. Note, however, that the idea behind all these methods lie in how you use them. Asking all sort of questions about your dreams, even on the ones you randomly remember, are all opportunities for you to train the mind in providing a vast amount of information for it to properly encode, store, and subsequently reconstruct the memory of your dreams. Even on the days you feel not remembering a thing, note whatever comes to mind when you wake up, a feeling, anything to work your memory.
Also, you should take in mind a couple of factors that have an influence in dream recall:
The amount of stress you have(the more relaxed you are, the easier it is to remember your dreams.)
The quality of your sleep. (Healthy sleep habits, getting enough sleep time.)
If you’re still having trouble, why not practice WBTB and see how that goes? Simple things like waking up an hour or two before your usual waking time, and staying awake for 10-20 minutes, allow you to retain a little more consciousness for when you return to sleep again. Also, REM periods have shorter intervals in between one another, and they last more as the night progresses, which provide a considerable advantage for you to actively remember your dreams.
It’s maybe about the stress, and I tried to remember my dreams when i’ve got to go to college so i’ve got to wake up early and i don’t sleep as i do in the week ends.
Also the dream i remembered was after i woke up, it was 8 oclock and i was tired so i decided to sleep instead of going to school, and then i woke up at 11 oclock and this is when i remembered my dream.
I don’t know if it’s really important to say that haha but it’s something who makes me think about how to remember my dreams
Remember that DR is a skill. Like any other skill it needs to be learned. Some have longer some have shorter learning curve but it’s possible if enough time and dedication is put to it.
I’ve found it effective to think of it as opening communications with the subconscious. Just like I don’t feel comfortable talking to someone who’s obviously not listening, the subconscious needs to be reassured that I’m paying attention before it’ll talk to me.
So, for me, practicing DR involves–
Making my intent clear at bedtime: Have my dream journal at the bedside ready to write in the moment I wake up. That’s like saying to my subconscious, “I’m listening!”
Affirming to myself as I go to sleep, “I remember my dreams. The next dream I have, I will remember. When I wake up, I’ll remember a dream.”
The moment I wake up, writing down any scrap of dream I may recall. If nothing comes to mind, then writing down whatever thought is in my head, everything I can remember for as many minutes back as my memory can reach. That reinforces the message that I’m ready and willing to listen to my dreams, and it helps cement the habit of paying attention.
Really writing it down is important. It’s tempting to just think “Ah, no dream, why bother?” But practice makes permanent, like they say–I don’t want to get in the habit of “not bothering.” And I don’t want my subconscious to “think” that I’m ignoring it! Instead, I’ll physically write down or type something like, “No dream again, but I have this song stuck in my head and my neck’s sore and there’s a loud truck outside that I think woke me up. And for some reason I just remembered that conversation I had with so-n-so over dinner.” Or whatever else is in my head.
You might even try making up a dream and writing THAT down. “I don’t remember a dream this morning, but if I did, it would be about flying around the rings of Saturn with my best friend. The rings are made of ice and I only have my nightshirt on but I don’t feel cold. The view of Orion from here is spectacular. I’m glad I’m with my friend; I haven’t seen him/her for more than ten years.”
Remember that the process itself is worthwhile. Rather than be disappointed in not remembering a dream, feel accomplished that you remembered to turn to your dream journal first thing upon waking. Just keep practicing that process every morning, knowing that by doing so you’re making room in your mornings for dream recall. Eventually a dream WILL show up–probably when you least expect it.
