Having Trouble Remembering Dreams, Too Abstract, Need Help!

So, I have really tried to be diligent in writing down my dreams when I first wake up, but, recently, my dreams have become more and more obscure/random/unintelligible. :confused:

I just remember random images, always changing environments. This lack of a coherent time-line or a fluid chain of events makes it extremely difficult to remember my dreams and write them down. :cry: I thought maybe my watching TV or browsing the Internet before bed may cause these kind of dreams, but I’m not sure.

Has anyone else had this frustrating experience? Do any experienced lucid dreamers have advice for having more coherent, linear dreams or remembering obscure, random, non-linear dreams??? :help:

Mine started out this way and are still somewhat like that, but the more I write them down the better they seem to get. Try to just list things in detail if that’s all you have. You could also try imposing order where none exists and see if that gets the message across.

Thanks for the advice, Aspirant. The list idea is good. I’ll definitely try that. I guess I’m just a perfectionist, cause I try to keep my dream journal very neat and organized and usually I try to write EVERY single detail from my dream and it usually ends up being a novel, so the list idea is good, probably better than writing nothing at all! I also have done the “imposing order where none exists” thing, but I am always very cautious because I don’t want to make up things that I didn’t really experience. Thanks again for the suggestions!

I have dreams like that as well, most of the time when I’m coping with more then one specific thing in my life (Everything comes crashing down your ears at the same time kinda scenario).
I still write it down too, even if it doesn’t make sense. Sometimes when I read my journal from months ago, those crazy irrelevant dream segments actually make sense, and/or remind me of something that has actually happened.
It’s actually fun to laugh about some of the weird stuff that comes out of your head, it makes you accept it, which in turn will make your dreams clearer and more cohesive.

(Disclaimer: I’m probably oversimplifying something somewhere, so please correct me if you know better.)
See, the thing is you do this all the time. For example, according to my Psychology textbook, Frederick Bartlett showed that our memories are distorted to be more like the general representations of what we are remembering than it actually was. For example, you’ve probably altered the memory of several birthday parties so they’re more like what your idea of a birthday party is, if that makes any sense.

Not sure where I’m going with that, but it’s something you may want to keep in mind.

I understand what you’re talking about. Yeah, I guess we all do that somewhat in real life and our dreams. I just try to avoid it if I can.

Yeah, I’ve done that before. And that’s a good point, thanks!

For non-linear dreams, AKA the ones you can’t keep in your head all at once, the best course of action would be noting down the single passage as they pop up in your head, allowing more to flow through after those have been put down.
One good way to do this would either be writing very fast, or just drafting the recall in order to write more detailed things later :tongue: or using a voice recorder/computer microphone to vocally record your memories as they come up.

Also, don’t worry about the structure of your dreams :wink: the content is still there, and you can always use a dream to come up with important lessons for life. So good luck :smile: