2. throughout the day, remind yourself that you want to remember a dream.

3. When you go to bed, relax your body and review the day; events, thoughts and feelings. Ask yourself what changed for your today. What was surprising, confusing, disappointing, wonderful, scary, sad, ect.? What was new?

4. As you are getting close to falling asleep, repeat over and over, "when I wake up, I will remember my dream." A physical "trigger" along with the verbal suggestion often helps, i.e. pressing your thumb against each finger as you say each word of the suggestion.

5. If you remember a dream during the night, write it down (at least notes) right away.

6. When you wake up in the morning, don't move! Stay in your same position, relax your body and let your mind drift closer to your dream. Remind yourself that you want to remember your dream. Shutting your eyes may help.

7. Write down whatever you remember right away so you're not trying to remember that material while trying to recall new material. Or , review the parts of your dream in your mind once or twice before recording.

8. If you have no recall for a couple of weeks, write down any made-up daydreams or fantasies.

9. When memories are coming quickly, jot notes about each part. Do not worry about sequence.

10. When something is hard to describe in words, make a quick sketch.

11. When you have exhausted the recall in that body position, move slowly to another body position that feels natural. See if your can remember anything else. If so, write it down.

12. When you can't remember any new material, review whatever you have written. Sometimes that will trigger forgotten parts. Ask yourself questions about it. Some sample questions are: "Which side was it on? What color was it? How many were there? How do I feel about that? how far away was it?"

13. This is a good time for putting the parts in sequence. Don't worry about how you got from one scene to another. Dreams often just jump.

14. As soon as you have time, write your dream. Make up a title and write the date.

15. If you are unable to recall any images, just experience your feeling. Each morning when you wake up, you feel a little bit different. Give that feeling some space. It is, at least in part, the effect of your dreams.

16. Keep your dream in the back of your mind during the day. Does something remind you of your dream? Ponder your images. This helps you to feel more connected to your dreams.
17. Whatever you recall, treasure it. Your dream images are perfect! With practice, you will develop your ability to recognize their perfection.

18. Create an image of yourself recalling your dreams. If trying to remember dream scenes feels like fishing, then see yourself fishing when your are recalling dreams. Other images: open container lids to see if anything is inside, play a TV game show, pull in ropes with dream scenes attached to the other ends, or run a movie backwards slowly. Find your own image.

19 Be clear as to why you want to remember your dream. Tell yourself during the day, "I want to remember my dream because..."

20. Tell your dream to someone (person, pet, doll or yourself in mirror).

21. When your images are fading fast:
a. Strobe Effect -Instead of trying to ignore waking stimuli allow your awareness to flash, briefly and rapidly, back and forth between the dream imagery and the waking stimuli until the dream imagery is firmly fixed in your memory.
b. Let It Go - Intentionally let the dream go, telling yourself that it will return to you within a few minutes and you will catch it.
c. Let It Go Longer - Let the dream go. During the day, if you find yourself thinking of your dream, try to remember other parts of the dream at that point.
d. Synchronicity - During the day you may encounter some element of your dream. At that point you can sometimes recall other parts of your dream.
e. Incubation - Ask for a dream that will give you the forgotten dream material.
f. Lucidity - If, while dreaming, you become aware that you're dreaming, you can ask to recall forgotten dream material.

Gregory, Jill (1988) Developing Dream Recall. In _Dream Tips_ (pp. 8-9). Novato, CA: Novato Center for Dreams.

A full copy of _Dream Tips_ is available for $10.00 via
snail mail at:
Novato Center for Dreams
%Jill Gregory
PO box 28
Novato, CA 94948