Can't remember dreams. Ever. Well, mostly...

Started by Iblis121, July 14, 2012, 08:19:16 AM

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Iblis121

Hey everyone :] Just looking for a good conversation really, and I guess some answers.

Okay, so, all throughout my life I've had a really hard time remembering dreams. Most of the time I don't even remember a dream happening. I just sort of fall asleep, and the next thing I know I'm waking up. Even when I do remember dreams, though, they're usually...I dunno...bland. Like, the events of a past event changed ever so slightly. People I know who weren't there will suddenly be there, slight changes to the environment, things like that.

So, I dunno...what do you guys think? Is this even normal?

Lilias

Some explanations on why we forget dreams can be found here.

I generally don't remember dreams either, and I chalk it up to chronic general exhaustion. Can't summon dream awareness when I'm sleeping like a log! ;) As long as I do get sufficient REM sleep, though, I don't feel I'm missing out on anything if I don't remember what happened during it. (Especially as the only dreams that surface, even through such conditions, are nightmares about being pursued by unnameable horrors. >_<)

If you'd like to train yourself to remember dreams, there are several techniques. This is a good starting point.
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
~Wendell Berry

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Starlequin

When you're talking about dreams, I would ask, 'well what is normal?', I think. I've had stretches where I've had the same dream every night for months. I used to have dreams (still do, sometimes) in which I watched other versions of myself live completely different lives from my waking one. I've even had dreams with continuity, where I'd fall asleep one night and dream and then a few nights later it would pick up again right where it left off, or sometimes it would be years later. I rarely have much trouble remembering dreams either,  because they're often emotionally charged enough that they can leave a hell of an imprint. So basically, what I guess I'm saying is: the sunconscious is frackin' weird, man, and its probably gonna be a looong time before we figure all of it out.
You live for the fight when it's all that you've got.

Iblis121

Quote from: Lilias on July 14, 2012, 09:29:53 AM
Some explanations on why we forget dreams can be found here.

I generally don't remember dreams either, and I chalk it up to chronic general exhaustion. Can't summon dream awareness when I'm sleeping like a log! ;) As long as I do get sufficient REM sleep, though, I don't feel I'm missing out on anything if I don't remember what happened during it. (Especially as the only dreams that surface, even through such conditions, are nightmares about being pursued by unnameable horrors. >_<)

If you'd like to train yourself to remember dreams, there are several techniques. This is a good starting point.

I'll definitely have to give those links a look, but you know, I'm probably in the same boat as you xD I sleep well, definitely! I just don't remember dreams, and I find it strange only because, well, we all have them. I don't particularly feel like I'm missing out on anything, but many of the other people I've ever had this conversation with remember their dreams often.

By the by, I've only remembered one nightmare to date. I guess I should be thankful for that though, heh heh.

Quote from: Starlequin on July 14, 2012, 09:31:32 AM
When you're talking about dreams, I would ask, 'well what is normal?', I think. I've had stretches where I've had the same dream every night for months. I used to have dreams (still do, sometimes) in which I watched other versions of myself live completely different lives from my waking one. I've even had dreams with continuity, where I'd fall asleep one night and dream and then a few nights later it would pick up again right where it left off, or sometimes it would be years later. I rarely have much trouble remembering dreams either,  because they're often emotionally charged enough that they can leave a hell of an imprint. So basically, what I guess I'm saying is: the sunconscious is frackin' weird, man, and its probably gonna be a looong time before we figure all of it out.

Oh, trust me bro. When I say 'normal,' I'm in no way asking what kind of content is normal or abnormal within a dream. My question was whether or not remembering dreams for such a long time is normal for a person. I guess a better question would be how many people remember dreams regularly versus those who don't, or how common is it for a person to not remember dreams.

Also...yeeeeah...the subconscious IS friggin' weird.

Oniya

It's fairly common to not remember dreams.  The exceptional ones are the ones that stick around (not that the subject matter is any more likely to be exceptional.  I'm not sure if lucid dreaming techniques would help you remember them better, but it can't hurt to look into them.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
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Iblis121

Well, the idea of being able to control a dream does sound appealing, but as you said, I'm not sure if it'd help me to actually remember them.

Trieste

I don't know what is normal, but I can tell you that your experience would be abnormal for me. I sleep deeply, but I dream extremely vividly. I usually remember my dreams on waking, although they don't tend to stick around because I make no effort to try to hang onto them. I can only recall going lucid once, ever, and that was a month or two ago - it happened by accident, when I dreamed of walking through my bedroom. I noticed it was clean with no laundry piled in it and the carpet was vacuumed, and I remember thinking to myself, "This has got to be a dream". For the most part, I think the theory is that everyone can have lucid dreams and recall what they dreamed about, but I think the majority of people don't feel that it's relevant or worth the effort.

For myself, I couldn't imagine waking up and not recalling what my mind had been up to for the past eight hours.

Oniya

I was vaguely thinking that learning how to tell that you were in the dream-state could be useful, and that you could then 'tell' yourself 'I will remember this'.  Sort of like self-hypnosis, only not quite.  I know that I do have very vivid dreams (some of which I'd love to be able to finish!), but waking up usually makes them dissolve into mist.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Trieste

The good dreams that I would like to finish dissipate much more easily than the dreams that leave me with a sense of foreboding and make me want to call the subject of the dream and ask if they are okay. Those ones can put a cloud over the whole damn day.

EroticAlchemist

Most of my dreams can range from being incredibly weird and random to being drudged up from very eventful experiences in my life, like past relationships and such. Sometimes I have the tendency to distort my dreams whenever I try to remember what I just witnessed with each one, sometimes they help me understand but other times they kinda make my day go by less easily.

Brittany

I remember vague echo's of them at some times but forget them very very quickly.  There was one exception where I had 3 dreams in a week.  While they were all different, they all had similar themes and involved people I didn't know as well as some I did.  I believe these to be more like premonitions or warnings or a dream version of the state of my life.  Something that could be interpretated anyway.

I think in general, forgetting dreams is the normal thing to do.

Hemingway

A friend of mine developed an interest in lucid dreaming a while ago. If I remember correctly, working on trying to remember your dreams is a sort of first step. One way of doing that, I think, is to start a journal. Just writing down what you remember right as you wake up. I have no idea why that would improve your recall of dreams, so I could be wrong ( perhaps I dreamt it all, hah hah. . . ), but if you're really interested ... well, at least there are ways of doing it.

Parker




To greatly increase your dream recall, do this:


Before you go to sleep, take a bit of paper ( loose, or in a journal, whatever ) and write the line "I always remember my dreams". Where you write it isn't the point, it's the act of writing it that matters. Don't do it on the computer, do it long hand with an actual writing implement. Write this 5 times. Then put it aside and go to sleep.


When you wake up, whenever you wake up, jot down some keywords about the dream you just had, the one that's evaporating. Even if it's just one keyword, it will help. Go back to sleep.


When you wake up in the morning ( after your alarm, or whatnot ) do the same thing...  jot down some keywords. As many as you can. Keywords are beter than writing out whole passages of dream-recall, because just the keyword read later can open up huge bits of memory, and keywords are much easier/quicker to write down. Plus the act of deciding on a keyword helps to encode the memory in a more accessible place.


During the day, look at your keywords. Try to recall the dreams.


Do this for a few days. If you hardly ever remember your dreams now, doing these few things regularly should send your recall off the charts. The more you do these things, the better your recall will get. It's like exercise.

Oniya

Quote from: Parker on July 31, 2012, 08:14:12 AM


To greatly increase your dream recall, do this:

I must remember to start doing this.  I come up with some marvelous plot-bunnies in dreams.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17