[Alexandra]

This is not a problem I have ever really suffered from previously. In the last five years I have pretty much recorded every dream, of which most nights there are at least one. Some while ago I decided as I’m further along now and so some of the more mundane dreams were less important in terms of recording them (a mistake perhaps!) So I no longer write them all down.

Now I find, that often I wake knowing I have dreamed. Any time of the night I wake I seem to be coming out of a dream, yet I am grasping at threads, unable to get the whole story.

One thing I considered, perhaps it sounds trivial, but i felt it might really have made a difference. I like a radio alarm in the morning if I have a beep beep beep its too abrupt and interrupts my dream recall terribly. The station I chose for years had the same DJ for years, a familiar and friendly voice. Then he left, and the new DJ, I didn’t like, his music choices were often as jarring as the BEEP BEEP BEEP. This definitely seemed to coincide with the loss of recall.

I’ve changed station and its slightly better but still not as adept as it had been before.

Also, my life has become more settled over the last year.

Another change was before. I used to write them all down and that was that, no other info. Since doing Janes course, i try to make time to records recent events that tie in and any interpretations. This takes a lot longer and has become at bit offputting timewise sometimes.

 

Has anyone else suffered this, got any tips. My instinct is telling me that perhaps i need to return to writing them down every day in a simple way.

 

 

thanks!

 

Alex

 

[Jane Teresa Anderson]

Oh this is very interesting. You’ve posed some great questions alongside your experiences here, Alexandra. I’m looking forward to hearing people’s thoughts!

[Marion Khoshuei]

About 25 years ago, I got seriously into dream interpretation, and actually resolved my repeating dream, though for the life of me I can’t figure out how I figured out what I needed to do. It was, with hindsight, pretty weird. Anyway, for a while after that I still had good recall, but as they were always just reflecting the mood of the day, and there wasn’t, at least with the available information back then (No Teresa Jane AFAIK) anything more to do with them, so I lost interest and except for the occasional fun one, or a lucid dream I stopped remebering or even noticeing that I had dreamed. Then about a year ago, weird things started happening, and I rekindled my interest in dreams. My recall improved considerably, I figured out some things, and now I’m finding it really hard to recall anything much at all most mornings. Which is annoying, as I really want to do more in depth interpretation and try and find out where it all comes from really. (Hence my joining this course.)

I have a theory, that once you have dealt with any major issues, you sleep better, and stay asleep longer after dreaming, so when you do wake up, you are no longer waking up from dream state so don’t remember what you dreamt.

[Jane Teresa Anderson]

I think you’re right about sleeping better and staying asleep longer once major or pressing issues have been resolved, Marion.

Alexandra, feeling more settled can have a similar effect: less pressing concerns, less change to assimilate.

That said, we all still dream every night, so it’s a question of finding ways to bring back the memories of those more subtle dreams, rather than relying on the really dramatic ones to break through loud and clear.

Habit is one way. Wake and write something down, anything. Gradually dream recall will resurface. Go to sleep expecting to remember your dreams. Fuel a strong belief in yourself to remember. I think that once we start to dismiss dreams (‘oh, that was just a small one’ or ‘I know what that’s about I don’t need to record that’) we make it harder for ourselves to bring our dreams into the morning light.

Calling other students! What tips have you got for remembering more dreams? What are your experiences?

[Cíntia]

There was a time I also decided to stop writing the “weak” dreams I didn’t like much, because I just wanted to think about the best dreams. I found most of my dreams boring and trivial, and I didn’t want to “lose” time thinking about them and writing them down. But when I did it, I realized I couldn’t remember any dreams at all for long periods of time! Then I started writing all of them again, even when they get me really bored. My dream recall has improved a lot since then.

Maju Barbosa, a Brazilian therapist, said once in a video that she made a deal with her unconscious mind, or with her spiritual guides, I don’t quite remember now… She asked them to have clear-cut dreams, only. And she says today she achieved her purpose – clear dreams, with clear messages. Impressive!

I also read a book by Swami Sivanda Radha in which she said she also made a deal with her unconscious mind, and she only remembers the dreams which are important, the ones that convey a lesson she needs to learn. At the same time, however, she says each dream is important and we must honor them, write about all of them, and never ignore a single dream. I got a bit confused, but it got my attention…

Anyway, I prefer to write all the dreams I have and keep recalling most of them than to risk losing powerful dreams just because I was lazy to acknowledge the ones I was not particularly interested in.

[Jane Teresa Anderson]

I’m enjoying this conversation, so much so, that it inspired me to write a new blog, although I haven’t shared anything from here because, of course, it is a confidential space.

I’m looking forward to more students joining this discussion!

Here’s the blog: When dreams ebb and flow.

[Marion Khoshuei]

Hi Cintia,
Apart from being utter rubbish at keeping any kind of diary for more than a very few days, I can relate to everything you have written there!
I used my own version of the swami’s ‘deal’ to reduce my dream recall many years ago, and more recently, as well as back then, a version of the therapist’s request for clearer dreams. Such methods do work, but require a particular set of beliefs. For the therapist’s, and the swami’s methods, you’d have to believe in spirit guides, their abilities, and how to make a deal with them. My method is perhaps more mainstream, but also requires certain beliefs, so would not work for everyone.
It highlights what I like about Jane Teresa’s methods; they are accessible to all regardless of beliefs.
I actually used a combination of methods to overcome my problems with recall and get suitable dreams written up, and now have a whole bunch to work on! I particularly found lying in bed after waking to consolidate recall very helpful. One time, it even provoked the memory of another dream, from another night, that I hadn’t remembered on waking, even though it was actually very important! It was actually the resolution of a dream that I wrote to Jane teresa about, I finally got the point. Literally, a pin stuck in my finger.

[Cíntia]

Yes, I think you’re right! It’s necessary to hold some beliefs to make it work. Although I believe in spirit guides, it’s not something I really feel all the time, it is more like a mental connection, and it may not be enough to make that special “deal”…
Your methodology seems intriguing! I like the idea of combining different things into something unique, even though it doesn’t work for everyone. Everyone is different, after all…
I also spend some time in bed in the morning as often as I can. But sometimes there are some fragments that only come to my mind some hours later, or even the next day. And guess what! Somehow these “forgotten” fragments seem to be more intense than the other dreams I had previously recalled, I don’t know why! So I totally get your story about the conclusive dream you mentioned. It’s a crazy thing… To think that we crave for intensity in our dreams, but we may tend to forget about the juiciest ones in the middle of other “minor” stuff.

[Alexandra]

Hello, thankyou to everyone for these interesting replies. You will be pleased to know my recall returned. A lot of things discussed here I feel are relevant to my own feelings also. Jane when you said ” oh, that was just a small one’ or ‘I know what that’s about I don’t need to record that” that’s a big thing, for me it is necessary to write them all down. I also think that all dreams have meaning, sometimes the most seemingly mundane dream has a lot to offer. I do find though if I neglect them for more than 4 or 5 days then my skills definitely seem to wane a little, and night by night the details fade a little more. In fact I have just been away to visit a friend in Scotland, to my horror I left my journal behind!!! each day I’ve been waiting for it in the post, the big details are there, but the finer stuff is out of reach already. I also need to lay in bed for a time before I get up, I read somewhere that you have to scan your brain in the first 12 seconds of waking to catch a dream, I think that’s true. Changing the radio station worked a treat, its a very generic station that doesn’t cause me any anxiety so I wake gently. I have recesntly been finding that I wake from a powerfull dream about 5am which is unusual for me. I have a disabled child so I wake often each night when he calls and most times even If I cant recall it, I do know that I have just woken from a dream. it is less common for me to be woken by the dream, but that is happening at the moment, im not sure why.

[Cíntia]

Cool that you have your recall back! It’s hard work to write all dreams every day, but it is worth the time and effort in the end. Well, about being woken by the dream, it usually happens to me when there are stronger emotions involved, but not always. Sometimes I just “wake up while still dreaming”…

[Caroline]

I scribble my dreams occasionally, i scribble them so fast as to catch them that i can’t read my writing. Go figure

[Kim]

First of all I never like to be jarred awake. I think it affects my entire day in a negative way and it definitely scares my dreams away. I have a quiet peaceful music alarm, but I usually wake up before it’s needed. That being said, I do remember the dreams if I am awoken in a quiet manner; especially in the middle of a dream.
I am on a Flexi plan as far as journaling.
Monday through Friday because I have less time, I choose more sleep and less journalling. I write less often and jot down less details; though I may meditate on my dreams through the day.
But then On Saturdays, Sundays or vacations I find (like Marion) that laying in bed for a while helps me to remember what is usually an abundant stream of my dreams. The less light and more quiet the better. I like to wear earplugs. On these mornings I usually have so many dreams that I first write a brief outline of each dream and then fill in the details in a separate paragraphs afterwards. Sometimes after that I also enjoy dozing in and out and having many/mini “one liner” dreams. For example I hear a few words or a phrase. “Stir fry your address and stand before God where you are”(is one of my favorites). Sometimes it’s just a visual flash like for example: the image of a dead goldfish.
I have an agreement with myself that if it’s really important it will be really loud on a weekday OR I will dream about it once again on the weekend, perhaps in a more transformed/ progressed state of what it was during the weekdays; but I’ll get it then. I trust my sub conscience knows my limitations( or belief of my limitations)I guess and that it is willing to work with them and support my need for a good long sleep on work days. I laugh writing this because it seems so practical and I know dreams don’t come from a practical place necessarily; but there it is from me.
If I have a night mare any day of the week, I pay attention and write it down; Believing my subconscious really wants my attention.

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