Thread: Could dream recall be counter-productive?

Originally Posted by virusje

Can you really totally forget that you had a lucid dream/became lucid?
Haven't had a lucid dream in 2 weeks now, didn't put much effort in it lately, so my recall is kinda bad.
But is it possible having a lucid dream and totally forget?

Yes, I personally experienced that a couple years ago - I was sure that I had not had a lucid dream at all that night, but then I randomly started listening to the music in this video (it is a pretty eerie melody, but also very dreamy and beautiful), and the scenes in the video suddenly made me realize "hey, I did have a lucid dream where I flew over buildings!".
Sometimes you are lucky enough to get those "reminders" in waking life that make you suddenly remember a lucid dream.

It's just like forgetting awesome things from waking life - you may enjoy something a lot while it's happening, but then forget about it a couple years later.
It's the same with lucid dreams - you might enjoy them and be aware of them while they last, but then have no memory of them when you wake up, since it might be too faint, or the lucid dream could have possibly been sandwiched between NREM periods, which of course makes it even harder to remember it.

Originally Posted by Yuusha

Yes, I personally experienced that a couple years ago - I was sure that I had not had a lucid dream at all that night, but then I randomly started listening to the music in this video (it is a pretty eerie melody, but also very dreamy and beautiful), and the scenes in the video suddenly made me realize "hey, I did have a lucid dream where I flew over buildings!".
Sometimes you are lucky enough to get those "reminders" in waking life that make you suddenly remember a lucid dream.

It's just like forgetting awesome things from waking life - you may enjoy something a lot while it's happening, but then forget about it a couple years later.
It's the same with lucid dreams - you might enjoy them and be aware of them while they last, but then have no memory of them when you wake up, since it might be too faint, or the lucid dream could have possibly been sandwiched between NREM periods, which of course makes it even harder to remember it.

So now I'm convinced, cause last night it happened to me, lol.
Had a very long dream and became lucid and non lucid a few times.
When I woke up(after a non lucid), I remembered some things like doing rc's and being lucid for a while.
But it's no way close as being lucid for say 5 minutes and waking up, now it's more like a normal dream.