Dream Recall Tips
_It can be really frustrating to have an extraordinary dream and then be unable to remember the contents upon awakening. Recalling dreams can be a slippery business as the brain undergoes a major chemical shift upon awakening that causes us to forget our nocturnal adventures. The key to improving recollection is to do something with the dream as soon as you awaken. Here are three easy techniques to help you improve this skill.
TIP #1. SET AN INTENTION
As you fall asleep tell yourself that you will remember your dreams when you awaken. Use an affirmation such as. “I will easily remember my dreams in the morning.” See yourself waking up and writing them down. With a little practice, this will become as easy as fluffing your pillow.
TIP #2. JOURNALING
Keeping a dream diary is a very important step in helping to remember dreams. Almost anyone with good recall skills engages in this in one form or another. These days, in addition to hand written diaries, many active dreamers have gone digital, using a word document to log their dreams or an on-line web database. The chief advantage of electronic journals is that they make it easy to search for repeating symbols and themes.
TIP #3. DREAM REHEARSAL
One of the best ways to improve recall is to remain still upon awakening. Try not to move your body when you first wake up. While lying still go over whatever dream fragments come to mind. Rewind and replay the dream several times in your imagination. Each time you rehearse the dream it will become further etched in memory. Then when you feel like you have a solid handle on it, move your body and jot it down. If you are pressed for time in the early part of the day, just make note of the key feelings, characters, setting and actions in the dream. Use short hand or speak it into a digital recorder (many cell phones come with recording applications these days). When you examine your notes later in the day the rest of the dream will come back to you and you can fill in the details.
TIP #4. CREATE SOMETHING WITH YOUR DREAM
If you experienced a particularly poignant dream, create something with it. Turn it into a poem, a story, a drawing, a work of art or just turn on some music that reflects the mood of the dream and dance it out. Share it with someone you might think would be interested in hearing it. Being creative with our dream content sends a message to our brains to open wider the portal between dreaming and waking and deliver us more which in turn can improve recall.
TIP # 5. UNPACK THE DREAM
Unpacking a dream can take on many forms. Some would call this dream interpretation but there are many levels at which we can unpack a dream that don't involve a full interpretation. For example, simply asking ourselves, what was the key feeling in a dream is a simple way of unpacking a dream. Simply asking this question when we awake each morning, even if we don't recall any dream imagery can be helpful in enhancing our recall abilities for it helps us to bridge the the two worlds of waking and dreaming.