Stuck with dream recall

[Rik]

So for the past three days, I haven't been able to remember a single dream (only a very small, crappy fragment), so you could say I'm stuck a bit. It's only three days, though, and I guess in the grand scheme of things, three days is nothing.
So I assessed what had changed:
- I slept in more, since I'm free this week.
- I noticed during reading about dream recall personality correlates (basically: what are the characteristics of people who recall dreams?) that I don't feel like I fit in the general template.

So, the problem might be two-fold: first and foremost, I think it's a matter of sleep scheduling. I might wake up during a NREM period, which impedes my REM dream recall. Second, I think my confidence may have wavered a bit (on an emotional level).

So here's what I'm going to do:
I plan on setting my alarm in my last REM period, which is around 7:00, since I wake up naturally at around 7:30-8:00. Wakings during a REM period have a 80-90% chance of yielding a dream report in untrained subjects. As someone who has experience recalling dreams, this would be pretty much a way to guarantee recall.
I'm going to review the dreams I've been journalling lately. I'm up to 31 now, in the span of three weeks, so the Oneironaut Challenge is going well. On the subject of the challenge, to get to my target 10 dreams for this week, I'll have to recall 2 or 3 dreams every night (plus a lucid!). This is not a steep number and I've recalled in greater numbers than those. I can do it.


So, how do you guys deal with it when you're getting stuck?
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Quare? Quod vita mea non tua est.

[georgehadow]

Hi TLS,
For me it seems to almost come down purely to motivation.
The times i recall most is when i want to recall the most.
A few days ago i was losing motivation and unsurprisingly went through 4 day of zero recall and last night i almost had a mild epiphany where i daydreamed (in bed) about achieving certain desires. I thought to myself, if i could have this experience lucid it would mean soo much to me.
Although i was really going for a lucid i woke up with an A4 page of dreams - which is pretty decent for me.

- I'm going to write my own post soon to try for the millionth time to get Lucid

Thanks
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Believe you can, believe you can't; either way your right.

[joethfc]

I've found going to sleep earlier has been helpful because it gives me more REM time in the morning; because when it gets to about 10am, it's too hard to get back to sleep.
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La vida es sueño

[Lence]

I find I'm kind of stuck in a loop of unproductiveness, lack of motivation and, at times, mild depression lately. Most of my energy goes to my exams right now, so I keep losing track of all my lucid dreaming, health/fitness and other goals. My dream recall is suffering quite a bit now.

Here's my plan of attack:
- give myself a week off after my exams (next week) to recuperate: no fixed sleep, diet, sports, LD, ... schedules anymore for a while and just partying and relaxing
- revisit my goals & make new plans to achieve them
- work on a better, more efficient dream journaling routine
- analyze my sleep patterns with my Zeo
- make new schedules
- execute

Feels like so much has to be done, but I look forward to a new start. Tabula rasa.

[Rik]

Thanks for the input, guys! I recalled a dream this morning (I think my father getting up woke me right from one), so my ability is still intact at least. It's probably a matter of sleep scheduling, so I'll get that fixed.

Lence, you do that. I think, however, that it's important that you plan relaxation time as well. Personally, I use scheduling and planning as a means to feel better: I discovered I really enjoy not procrastinating. However, I don't plan my days full, like most people do. That gets on my nerves. I only plan what I have to do. Aside from that, I just go with the flow. It's all about balance between the two, I think.
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Quare? Quod vita mea non tua est.

[Tuatra]

Never thought I'd come back to this forum and see TLS having trouble! God much?

Keep at it dude, it'll come back to you

[Rik]

Yeah, I recalled 6 dreams last night, so in that light, I most certainly busted through. If I recall 2 dreams tomorrow, I will still have met my recall goal for the challenge (although with two very crappy fragments).

It's important to note that troubles are simply conflicts between what you are able to do and what you want to be able to do. In the past, I never had any journalling-specific goals, so things like this didn't bother me. However, since starting the Oneironaut Challenge, there's much greater pressure (and motivation) to recall and journal, so that's why you see me 'having troubles' now.
In any case, I thought it'd be a good topic to discuss in the forums.
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Quare? Quod vita mea non tua est.

[Lence]