# Dreaming



## Kainita (Aug 31, 2011)

I very rarely remember a dream. Usually I only remember when it is a nightmare of sorts.


----------



## .17485 (Jan 12, 2011)

Maybe once a month. I can't remember


----------



## Subtle Murder (May 19, 2012)

Usually I am pretty good when it comes to remembering my dreams, but it honestly depends on my state of mind and how exhausted I am. Up until a few months ago, I could recall dreams pretty much 6 out of 7 nights of the week (maybe not all of them, but at least one per night). Recently, however, I'll wake up in the morning and lay there for a few minutes trying to recount my dream, but it seems like the more I try to remember, the quicker it slips away. It's getting to be quite frustrating. Especially since just before I've woken up I've had a lucid moment and thought: "Oh wow, I am dreaming! Awesome! I'll totally remember this!"... and then nothing. :frustrating:


----------



## FiNe SiTe (Dec 11, 2009)

Probably several times a month.


----------



## demonicgod92 (Aug 5, 2012)

There are dreams that stuck with me, but 99% of them are as most people describe 'extremely vivid'.


----------



## Runemarks (Jul 23, 2012)

More than one per night! And I'm absolutely proud of it.


----------



## Toristar (Aug 20, 2012)

I dream every night, more than once, and almost every time I nap. I also have trouble figuring out if something happened in real life or in a dream. lol I will ask my BF after a nap stuff to confirm things, like "Hey, you still have your dog, right?". Or sometimes I have to sit and ponder if something I am remembering was a dream or real. It used to creep me out but not anymore as much. My imagination is cool.


----------



## Mmmm (Jul 6, 2012)

I dream every night & sometimes several times per night. I voted with my average which is at least once per night that I can recall. My dreams are very real & detailed to the point that I can mistake them for memories. Sometimes I will write them down because they give me good ideas to use. I hear some people dream about dinosaurs chasing them or dancing with monkeys but mine never have anything weird like that. My dreams are very life-like little movies, there are even times I can continue a dream from a previous night right where I left off. I love that when it's a good dream.


----------



## Bricolage (Jul 29, 2012)

I remember four to ten dreams every night. The trick to remembering dreams is relaxing and not overlaying one's waking, rational consciousness (beta state) onto the dream consciousness (alpha state), which is where the memory will come from, especially right upon waking up. Just relax and try to inhabit the _feeling_ of the dream. I actually like to make mnemonics for individual dreams and then move onto recalling the next dream as quickly as possible. For instance, with five dreams on the verge of being consolidated into short-term memory, I'll recall the one about the exploding buildings and simply remember the word "buildings" and then move on. The three generations old wisdom from cognitive psychology is that working memory can only store seven plus or minus two items (magic number) at one time - therefore I try to operate as quickly as possible. At the end of this process I will invariable have five words or phrases such as: building, cat, organ donor, green cape, and ice cream. From these five words I further delve into the feeling and information that the dream presented. Whenever I lose the memory of the dream it's usually due to either the last dream's incredible vibrancy or failing to quickly and efficiently consolidate the mnemonic process; the former actually bungles the latter oftentimes. Once I get that word or phrase (e.g., green cape) I'm usually golden. :kitteh:


----------



## Rinori (Apr 8, 2012)

Between 2 to 5 dreams per night but on some occasions i only have 1


----------



## Missolitude (Sep 21, 2012)

Several times per week. But it depends a lot on how much sleep I'm getting, if I'm stressed out because I have to get up early, what my first thoughts are after I wake up, if there are any subjects/people/problems that bother me at the moment and my subconciousness tries to process everything in a dream. I also tend to remember intense dreams much clearer than short dream sequences where no emotions are involved.


----------



## blackpeppergeneral (Nov 7, 2011)

Extremely vivid dreams, often lucid in nature and I am able to remember them 70% of the time.


----------



## Missolitude (Sep 21, 2012)

blackpeppergeneral said:


> Extremely vivid dreams, often lucid in nature and I am able to remember them 70% of the time.


Wow, that's impressive! Did you do some training in order to archieve lucid dreaming or is this a natural gift of yours? I had only one semi-lucid dream where I knew I was dreaming but I couldn't control my surroundings or what was happening.


----------



## blackpeppergeneral (Nov 7, 2011)

I've done specialised military training...
is what I would like to pose, but alas... such is not the case.


I have always found lucid dreaming to be something that I have been able to do with ease, but I am sure that there are nuances in that ease which I have taught myself without realising it.


For fun, I'd recommend these three movies which deal with the topic in varying degrees.
- Waking Life
- Vanilla Sky
- Abre Los Ojos


A few useful tips to be aware of a lucid state:


*Dream Sign*
Identify your dream sign, this is merely an indication of the 'dream world'. You can differentiate the reality and fantasy with certain signs. Good examples of this is checking items which tie to the 'real world' such as calendars and clocks - the brain interprets the date based on association but in fact, you do not actually process concrete data.
mcuh leik tihs 


There are also other forms of dream signs which may be of personal use to you. An example: you may have a ginger cat in reality but in your dream the cat may have pink fur. If you can reason at this point that due to the cat being of a different coat that it may not be yours - then that is a small recognition of a lucid state.
Of course the example is not the best one, but starting small may help.


*Keeping a dream journal*
It helps to be able to remember details, perhaps starting with the amount of details and then slowly focusing on the vivid data of those dreams.


*Other tips*
I find that having a very clear understanding of 'reality' and 'fantasy' and being able to discern unfamiliar to familiar situations is always a good practice to observe while awake - when asleep the mind is still active so differentiation should be an act which becomes natural for lucid dreaming.


---
Feel free to inquire more on this matter if this post was not informative.


----------



## Missolitude (Sep 21, 2012)

Thank you very much for posting such helpful advice! I read a lot about lucid dreaming and came across similar suggestions. If you have a number of themes or objects that always occur in your dreams, like water or a cat or flowers, you should always look for them and ask yourself a few times a day if you're awake or if you're dreaming. Same for clocks (in a dream, it could be that if you look at a digital watch, look away and look at it again, the numbers fade or mix up) or jumping (in a dream, you would float away instead of landing on the ground again).

Also, I watched this video, which was extremely helpful to me:





The problem for me seems to be, I don't have reoccuring dream signs and my dream environment is never the same. As a matter of fact, in dreams I rather focus on people's faces or the action itself than on my environment. And my dreams are always extremely vivid and realistic, it would never occur to me to wonder if I'm awake. I'm always extremely immersed in my dreams and would never doubt that everything around me is reality. 

But I'll keep trying!


----------



## The King Of Dreams (Aug 18, 2010)

I dream a lot, hence my username...


----------



## gammagon (Aug 8, 2012)

I love dreaming *so* much but unfortunately I rarely remember any of them :sad:


----------



## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

I often have lucid dreams. Not only am I aware in them, and I can _change_ them.


----------



## Mammon (Jul 12, 2012)

I had this atomic bomb dropping dream again last night.

I LOVE THEM!!!!!!!!!!! EPICNESS ALLL OVER


----------



## Reicheru (Sep 24, 2011)

sometimes it is every night, sometimes it's only 5 or 6 days a week.


----------

