Are you able to remember or recollect your dreams ?

@kiran8 (15348)
Mangalore, India
July 7, 2011 2:01pm CST
We dream of many different hings each night. This is a natural process for everyone. However, I find that there is very little that stays with us.Sometimes I am able to remember certain dreams very clearly even after years. But most of the time , the more I try to remember holding on to something that is a very vague memory, it just vanishes , the more you try to remember...Does it happen to you all? I wonder why this happens? There are times when you actually feel that you have the memory of a dream and when you begin to think and get a clear picture about it, it has gone completely out of your mind ...
1 person likes this
19 responses
@anil02 (24688)
• India
8 Jul 11
Yes Some of my dreams still is in my memory. It happen many time that dream I have in the night I have it in my memory. Some time I believe in these dreams I feel to much happy with these because it please me, but suddenly I realise that I am sleeping at this time it is only a dream. I have some dreams in mine which I had before 10 years or more
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
9 Jul 11
Hi anil, thanks a lot for your responseIt has happened to me too specially when it involves something that has been worrying you and in your dream it gets sorted out, but when you wake up you realise that you are still with that problem ..Yes some dreams keep coming again and again and you are not even sure why they do since they don't seem very important in any way ..
@anil02 (24688)
• India
9 Jul 11
Hello, Some dream keep coming again and again because of our unsatisfied desires. I am a hearing impaired and phyically disable and want to be healthy. So I have dream many times about these.
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
9 Jul 11
Anil, I agree that some dreams are about wish fulfillment and can be repetetive when there is a constant longing for such things.However, I do have the greatest regard and respect for you, the way you come across as a very caring person always spreading positive vibes...keep it up anil and we are all with you
@Sreekala (34312)
• India
8 Jul 11
Hi Kiran, I used to remember those dreams I seen in the morning time just before the wake up time. If the dream is scary then I remember it. Otherwise I don’t remember the dreams I get. But sometime if anything happened related to that dream then I can recollect, ‘ oh I have seen the same in my dream.. but not always.
@Sreekala (34312)
• India
11 Jul 11
Human mind is really complicated
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
9 Jul 11
Hi Sreekaala, when we actually think of all this we realise how complicated human mind is and how little we know bout ourselves....I too have similar dreams like the ones you mentioned which relates some event and you get the feeling that you have already gone through this or somehow see it somewhere... a feeling of deja vu ...all the best Sreekala and have a nice weekend
1 person likes this
@dodo19 (47102)
• Beaconsfield, Quebec
14 Jul 11
Well, I can recollect or remember of some dreams that I've had. But I don't remember all of them. I probably don't remember anywhere near half of the dreams that I have. But I can at least say that I remember some of them. At least a few.
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
14 Jul 11
Hi dodo, thanks a lot for your responseSince dreams are the impressions created by the active sub conscious , we get several dozen impressions which are in the form of dreams and it is next to impossible to remember all of them even on a daily basis.I guess We remember a few that make an impression on us..
@kharlav (1669)
• Philippines
23 Jul 11
Yes, I can sometimes remember dreams,even years after I dreamed of them. I believe these are dreams that are relevant in my life. Like I had a dream way back when I was in gradeschool, I think I was still 7 to 8 years old at that time, and until now, 15 years after, I could still remember the dream.
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
25 Jul 11
Hi kharlav, thanks a lot for sharing your viewsYes I agree, I too remember a couple of my dreams right from my childhood, since it made such a great impact.It never fades with time, remains crystal clear even after years...all the best and happy mylotting
@averygirl72 (37738)
• Philippines
23 Jul 11
I want to say that I also experience this. I believe that every time that I have dreams that i really have a good night sleep or I am in a deep sleep so those dreams occur...I feel the dreams are so real...but then when I woke up, I want to recall the events,,I find it hard to remember,,,sometimes the dreams was so real I can remember it and share that in the morning...
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
25 Jul 11
Hi averygirl, thanks a lot for your responseYes it happens with most of us...When you are dreaming it seems so very real, you can experience all the feelings and emotions , but on waking up it just vanishes without a trace.We do remember the occasional dream ....That is the mystery ,why not all of them?
• India
17 Jul 11
I am not able to remember or recollect all my dreams and not even all dreams which i see when i sleep in night . First of all dreams occur in fragments that also in short interval of time . all dreams occur in succession with a gap of very short interval of time nearly upto 1 or 2 minutes (depending upon person to person) between successive dreams . This gap is a dreamless state in which we are not dreaming at all and only in these gaps our body gets recharged by completely relaxing itself without any expenditure of energy .All dreams are accompanied with loss of energy since while in dreaming also there are various regions of our body which are active throughout . We cannot remember all the dreams seen in one night because our mind is active in dream state but inactive in the dreamless gap so memory of all dreams after passing through this gap is washed out from our conscious mind and memory of only those dreams are left which do not pass through this gap before awaking . That is why we are able to remember only those dreams which we were seeing just before awakening .Other dreams do not get lost instead remains preserved in our subconscious mind which can be accessed either through hypnosis or through meditation
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
17 Jul 11
GHi satyaa, thanks a lot for your feedbackDreaming itself is such a complex process and I doubt if there is any convincing theory for it.We can only surmise and come to certain deductions , but other than that it is very difficult to actually say anything definite about dreams...
@dpk262006 (58675)
• Delhi, India
9 Jul 11
Hi Kiran! I could remember certain dreams till very next day. I just cannot recall them after few days/weeks. Dreams are our hidden desires and we just see dream in our sleep when our sub conscious mind keep working, when we are fast asleep. We should not take our dreams seriously as there is remote possibility of of them turning into reality.
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
9 Jul 11
Hi deepak, even remembering them for a day is good enough and if ti is not really important it does fade away..Dreams are basically the sub conscious minds images that come out from the store house. In some cases we may have seen or perceived something which may have disturbed us or made some kind of an impact and such things have a way of coming up in dreams in quite a different form. Dem analysts are able to analyse it so well...all the best deepak, enjoy your sundy
@bhanusb (5709)
• India
8 Jul 11
Kiran, rarely we can remember our dreams. It is a state of subconscious mind. But two dreams I can remember clearly. Some years ago I often dreamt that I was flying in the sky. Other dream was : I was studying in an university. But when I was going to appear in the final examination something happened for which I could not complete my exam. That was really happened in my life. That dream haunt me for several years. Still when I remember this incident a long breath comes out from my chest.
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
9 Jul 11
Hi bhanu,I agree that some dreams are very strange and one simply cannot explain as to how it happens? They seem so close to real life and also act as a fore warning in some instances.There have been several such incidents where people have been able to avert some misfortunes since they were fore warned ...
@cmang83 (285)
• Malaysia
8 Jul 11
For my situation, i can't really remember clearly what i dream after i awake. I remember a little bit of the dream only but not in detail. Even i try my hard to refresh but i still i remember the whole story of my dream.
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
9 Jul 11
Hi cmang,it happens wit most of us I guess The harder you try to recollect the more difficult it becomes to hold on to those memories and images..thanks a lot for sharing your views, all the best
@sanjay91422 (2725)
• India
8 Jul 11
Hi, Nice DP, :) yes I remember my dreams. Sometimes I remember those dreams which I had forget earlier. It happens when you have the similar kind of experience in real life also. You have the same kind of feelings in the dreams and suddenly it strikes to your memory that you have this experience earlier also. That is the moment when I re-collect my dreams and it comes in front of me again.
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
9 Jul 11
Hi sanjay, Yes it is called deja vu and it happens many a times. The feeling that you have done something before and know about it even before or already experienced or witnessed an event before.Our mind is such a complex network of images that we will never learn about it even in our life time...all the best sanjay, enjoy your sunday
• India
10 Jul 11
yup i too dream different each night.. but i thinks some dreams every night and pray from god please fullfill my dreams as i m doing hard efforts for fulfilling it. and i know one day god will listen me.. and fulfill my those dreams of which i thinking daily....
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
10 Jul 11
Hi hemant,There is a saying God helps those who help themselves - we should all do everything that is within our capacity to make our lives better...As far as dreams go they are nothing but a reflection of our sub conscious mind which becomes active when we are asleep - thanks a lot for sharing your views , enjoy your day
• Philippines
8 Jul 11
Some medical specialists say that dreaming is really a way of processing your experiences during the day and storing them in the proper "slots" in your brain, perhaps to be used someday. I don't know if this is true, but somehow, it gives me an assurance that in a crunch, what has been filed in my "mental filing cabinet" will come to the fore, albeit in a subconscious way, to guide my actions and decisions especially in tight situations and moments of extreme doubt.
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
9 Jul 11
Hi RBBantiles, It is very true what dream analysts and psycho analysts say about dreams.Our sub conscious stores all the images and events and also those that have made an impact on us get stored as well. When we sleep the sub conscious takes over and various images form a pattern depending on our state of mind and the result is a dream..I doubt if most of the dreams have any intention or a set pattern. However, there have been some amazing dreams dreamt by people who have had very disturbing images and later find the same happening in real life as well...
@surfer222 (1714)
• Indonesia
9 Jul 11
sometimes i can, other times i cannot... it's weird but that's what happen... also if during that day when i awake i see/experince something and i don't want to remember it(example: i saw something bad on TV), when i was sleeping... the thing that i don't want to remember became my dream and i can remember it when i awake... our brain are just weird...
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
10 Jul 11
Hi surfer, thanks a lot for your response I agree that human brain patterns in our life time and I doubt if we will be able to deduct and analyse about it in our life time. Dreaming is in itself an extremely complicated function of the brain and psycho analysts have interpreted it in many different ways, but I doubt if any one in their life time will be able to go into the intricacies of it so easily...Enjoy your day
@casmar (9)
• Portugal
8 Jul 11
I think remembering your dreams is like a muscle that has to be trained. If you try to stay in bed every day, for a few more minutes trying to remember your dreams then you'll see you'll get better at it. Do not try to move much, be passive about it, if you try to hard you'll probably get nothing out of it. Some people advocate the use of a dream journal, even writing down just a sentence if that's all that you remember. With time you'll get bored because you have so many memories that you don't want to write them all
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
9 Jul 11
Hi casmar, thanks a lot for your inputs Many members have also written about dream journal and are of the opinion that it is very helpful.I too would like to try and maintain one so that it becomes a record of sorts and an interesting pattern on our thought process...lol you may be right that after a while we may get bored especially if our dreams are uninteresting and nothing much to convey except some erratic images as it happens so often...you see faces that you have never ever seen and have no clue about and they become important people in your dreams..all the best
@_sketch_ (5742)
• United States
7 Jul 11
There are some tricks to help remember your dreams. First, start writing all the dreams you do remember down. I have found it helpful to first write some keywords and then going back and writing it out more clearly and completely. This way, you will not forget your dream as you are trying to write it down. Second, before you go to sleep, remind yourself of the intention to remember your dreams. Third, as soon as you wake up, write whatever you can remember down. Do not wait. If you pay more attention to your dreams, you will start to remember them more. I keep a dream journal and just this task has helped my recollection. I am not really sure why we can forget our dreams so easily. I guess some would say that it is because they are not important, but I strongly disagree. I love dreams and I pay attention to the messages my dreams hold.
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
9 Jul 11
Hi sketch,thanks a lot for sharing your views - That's right, writing down soon after you wake up helps you remember.It is great to know that you are actually recording what you dream.It will be a very interesting study..As for why we forget certain dreams it is all about dream cycles I guess when you are into some you are unable to remember, whereas some other where you are still partially open to suggestions make you remember what you dreamt...
@SIMPLYD (90722)
• Philippines
8 Jul 11
Lately, i have some dreams that i can vividly recall when i wake up. Maybe it's because they are happy dreams. I was even so happy narrating it to my office mates that were in my dreams and we had a nice laugh.
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
9 Jul 11
Hi SIMPLYD,Thanks a lot for sharing your views . It is nice to have happy and pleasant dreams , it makes you feel positive and also react positively to people...all the best and enjoy your weekend
• United States
7 Jul 11
I always seem to remember the dreams I want to forget. It seems the good one fade away. I can still remember nightmares I had when I was a kid. Have a Blessed Evening
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
9 Jul 11
Hi emilyn, I to remember a couple of very distressing dreams that I had long back , also one or two really pleasant ones.But most others are in bits and parts not meaning anything. there is one dream which is constant - as if I am falling of from some spot and land safely or that I am about to fall off the bed lol...wake up and see that I am safe still on my bed ..all the best and have a nice weekend
• United States
7 Jul 11
I think I know what you mean. I used to never remember my dreams. And when I suddenly remembered something, it was gone just like that. Now that on meds I remember bits and parts of my dreams, but never the whole thing.
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
8 Jul 11
Hi opheliac, thanks a lot for your responseI agree most of them that can be remembered are in bits and parts. But I remember a few very clearly even to this day. It is probably what makes an impact on you the most .I also read somewhere that when you wake up halfway through a dream you tend to remember it...
@ak102012 (11)
• United States
7 Jul 11
Trying to recall my dream analysis class from college.. so don't quote me.. from what I think I remember (lol) how much of a dream you'll be able to recall is based upon which part of your REM cycle you wake up from, some parts of the REM cycle dont allow you to remember anything and you think you don't dream, even though we are always dreaming. The best way to remember a dream is to keep a pad of paper and a pen next to your bed, the moment you wake up jot down everything you remember about your dream because once you start other tasks your dream memory begins to fade away. Have you ever tried a dream analysis? it can be fun!
@kiran8 (15348)
• Mangalore, India
9 Jul 11
Hi ak,Yes I too have learnt that since I too studied Psychology in the university...We even had some demos on that if I remember right with most students volunteering to sleep and dream lol..Once we sleep the sub conscious takes over and becomes active and it is like an exercise where the all the stored images become active and form their own pattern...