Your dream diary
The starting point and the most important thing to do, is to start your dream diary. This has several reasons.
Firstly, it improves your dream recall, and secondly you will be able to identify certain patterns and signs to watch for. There are several methods you can use. It can be a sheet of paper, office notepad, online blog or a dictaphone. I personally prefer a dictaphone method for many reasons. When I used notepad, I had to be totally awake to be able to write, which interfered with my ability to recall my dreams. Then I have started to use a dictaphone. When my alarm wakes me up, and I remember my dreams, I only turn it on, put my head on my pillow and the recorder right in front of me. Then I start saying what was I remember from my dreams. I have to say that at that point I am just on the edge of waking state and often see the scenes recapitulating in front of me. An interesting phenomenon appears. At the beginning of my recording, it all makes perfect sense, well as much as you may expect from a dream. Usually, if the previous dream was long, and I have a lot to say. Then, after a few minutes of talking, my sentences start to be less and less meaningful, to the point that it's totally random. Then, silence. Only breathing. And usually after a few minutes, I start talking again as if nothing happened. Strangely, I never remember falling asleep. It all seems like one recording session to me. Moreover, very often I hardly remember the recording itself, which I guarantee you, is the most fun part. Listening to yourself, saying something you don't even remember, describing crazy dream scenes, as if it was absolutely normal. My point is, I highly recommend you to use a dictaphone, unless you find a more natural way of recording your dreams.
Write all your and only your dreams to your dream diary- Write down everything you remember about the dream. Including phrases, feelings, colors, just everything that comes to your mind.
- You can sketch pictures into your notebook or wherever you have decided to keep your dreams recorded.
Ritualize your diary
- By using a dedicated pen in a special colour helps to make keeping tour journal more of a ritual, thus more special.
At bed
- Make it a habit to go to bed early. The longer you sleep, the more and longer REM periods you will experience, thus the more dreaming and hopefully lucid dreaming.
- When you wake up, don't open your eyes immediately if you don't have to. If you can scrabble your notes with your eyes closed, you will find it helpful. Here is where the dictaphone advantage shows up.
- Try to stay in the position as you woke up until you remember your dream. Then record it and return to the 'waking up' position and see if you remember anything more.
- If you cannot remember anything, let your mind to wander through the events of the previous day or issues you have been thinking about. These may be a link to your dreams. (I have personally found many connections in between my dreams and the previous day's events.)
Through the day
- keep a small dream notebook with you all the time if you can. You may remember your dream at some point during the day, but this usually fades away as quickly as it appeared, so be prepared.
- Even if you get a fleeting feeling of some dream during the day, note down as much as you can remember and what triggered your memory as this thought might unfold later.
- It sometimes is helpful to ask yourself during the day "what was I dreaming about?". Also, try to think about your dream in the corner of your mind during the day as it may just pop up randomly at any point.
It is possible to remember your dreams by 'backtracking'
- If you recall just a fragment of your dream, try to remember what were you doing before or what happened after that point. This way you may be able to reconstruct the whole dream. Sometimes you will remember fragments, which you will not be able to order. This is perfectly natural and will improve with practice.
If you notice that your dreams are often about certain items, such as place, people, mode, setting, items, just anything that repeatedly appears, ask yourself whether some of those items appeared in your last dream. I found it helpful, to try to remember if any of my characteristic items have been associated with some unusual place or another item. Those are easier to remember and from there you may reconstruct the rest. You may want to start a lexicon with your common items at the back of your diary of a special piece of paper.
When you have a lot of dreams in your diary, you can start looking for your dream signs. These are similar to the items described above, but you are about to use them for a different purpose. Some common dream signs might be flying, running to chase something, and being in an old house. However, it could be anything such as skateboarding, having one shoe or jumping on one leg! Try to get very familiar with those dream signs and associate them with knowing of dreaming. Check for those in your waking life as if this becomes a habit, you will have this habit in your dreams too. Then when it appears again, this will help you to become lucid. 