Remember Your Dreams
Before You Go To Sleep
Plan to remember - You're much more likely to remember your dreams if you plan to remember them and strongly intend to remember them as you're falling asleep.
Dream journal - Prepare a page in your dream journal to record tonight's dreams. Write down the date and time, what you did before sleeping, what you ate, how you're feeling, etc. This creates a strong incentive in your mind to remember your dreams so you can complete tonight's entry.
Affirmations - Tell yourself that you will remember your dream. Tell yourself that you will have a lucid dream. Say it out loud. Say it repeatedly. You may feel silly, but if it works then it's worth it, right? When you say or think affirmations as you're falling asleep, your brain can accept them as instructions and actually follow them.
When You Wake Up
Think about your dream immediately - Don't think about anything else yet. Once you start thinking about other things, the memory of your dreams is likely to fade away. If you think about only your dream, you have the highest chance of remembering the most about your dream.
Don't roll over - Have you ever been thinking about a dream you just had, then rolled over in bed, and the dream just faded away from memory? When we dream, our body is kept in a sort of sleep paralysis so that we don't act out our dreams for real. Once we wake and start physically moving about, the motor centers of our brain activate and pull us out of dream mode into full consciousness causing our dreams to fade. When you wake, avoid moving until you're sure you've remembered all you can of your dreams.
Don't open your eyes - As soon as you open your eyes, the visual stimulation causes your brain to switch over from dream mode to fully awake mode. If you haven't firmly remembered your dreams first, your dream could fade away.
Dream journal - Once you're sure you've remembered everything you can about your dreams, write it down in your dream journal. If you don't have time, at least write down some key points that will jog your memory when you fill in the details later in the day.
Things To Remember
What happened? - For each scene that you remember, try to remember what led up to that scene, and what followed. By starting with whatever you remember, then stepping forward and backward, you can jog your memory and discover things you've missed.
People - Who did you see in your dream? Did you see anyone you know? Did you interact with them? Did they change into someone else? Who were you in your dream?
Places - Where did your dream take place? Was it a place you know? Was the dream version different than the real location in some way? Was it a place you've never been to, but somehow knew many minute details?
Time - Did your dream take place in the past, present, or future? How old were you?
Words - Did you see any written words or messages? Words often change in a dream and can be hard to make sense of. Did you have any conversations? Were you asked or did you ask any questions? What was the answer?
Dream signs - Did you notice anything strange in your dream that couldn't possibly happen except in a dream? These are dream signs, and are important because they can make you realize that you are dreaming. Once you are aware that you're dreaming, you can enter the lucid dream state.
Was it a lucid dream? - Did you have a lucid dream? How did you enter the lucid dream state? Did you notice any dream signs or perform any reality checks?
Insights - Did the dream send you a message? Did you gain any insights which could be valuable to you in your life? Dreams are a direct connection to the subconsious, and the subconsious has amazing abilities. We can receive valuable insights when we listen to it.
What If I Can't Remember?
Don't worry about it - It takes time to train your brain to get into the habit of remembering your dreams. Sometimes something else will trigger your memory later in the day. If not, let it go and try again the next night. Keep trying every day and eventually remembering your dreams will become second nature.
