Forgetting Dreams

[tetragrammaton]

On several occasions in my life, I've had very intense, and "important" dreams that shortly upon awakening, I completely forget. For example, I'll wake up, and remember the dream for about 30 seconds tops, before I get a chance to evaluate it. I'm curious what the science behind this is, because on other occasions, I will have vivid dreams, and/or nightmares and I can remember them in vivid detail, even to this day I can remember dreams I've had over the years, but at the same time it seems to me that my most intense and what I recall being "important" dreams with some sort of message or lesson to be learned, I instantly forget it upon awakening.

Has anyone else here had the same experience?

 

[Teddybrae]

The 'Right Brain' is the Dreamer. We are usually unconscious of our right brain activity. Unlike the 'left brain', the right brain is not rational. That means it does not have thoughts ... and thoughts imply Language. We dreamers remember/recall using thoughts/language, right?

The only possibility of recall may occur when the left brain is silent and one can 're-run' the dream.


Mostly, dream recall is beyond me too ...

 

[midwestkid]

I've acknowledged this recently. I find it very interesting that I can forget my dreams so quickly.
I watched something on Netflix that explained this. So there is some science explaining it.
I was curious about it because I thought if you can forget dreams so quickly maybe science could find a way to apply this hack to traumatic events.
Just a thought.

As I wake now I find my dreams fleeting. As the worries of the previous day reassemble

 

[MedFaced]

Some have been documenting for a few decades now that cannabis users get less rem sleep and more deep sleep.

Stop using for a week or so and see if anything changes. When I have stopped using in the past, I have noticed I get flooded with ultra intense dreams for a period of time. Then I get high again, get lots of sleep but then either forget everything or dream very little.

 

[tetragrammaton]

Some have been documenting for a few decades now that cannabis users get less rem sleep and more deep sleep.

Stop using for a week or so and see if anything changes. When I have stopped using in the past, I have noticed I get flooded with ultra intense dreams for a period of time. Then I get high again, get lots of sleep but then either forget everything or dream very little.

I can vouch for this. On the few unfortunate occasions that I've gone without cannabis (I'm a daily smoker of 14 years) I have trouble falling asleep, loss of appetite, and when I eventually do have dreams, they are usually insanely vivid and at times quite surreal and disturbing.

Also, a few years ago, I intentionally went 2 weeks without smoking, and the dreams got really vivid and really disturbing, and I found out that my idea of quitting was stupid.

But aside from that, being a daily smoker, I still have dreams, and this phenomenon that I've described in the OP has occured for me even before I smoked.

There are dreams I remember from my childhood for example, that I remember in great detail. I've had many re-ocurring esque dreams that I can vividly remember, but on certain occasions, I will wake up having a dream, and have this sense that it was an important dream that I learned something from, and I will recall it, but it quickly quickly fades into where I have no recollection whatsover about the dream. I dislike when that happens.

As far as midwest kid's idea about this perhaps being useful in being able to forget traumatic events, that's a great idea too, as I have PTSD, but at the same time, those traumatic events, while they are in the past, have made me the person I am today, so in a way I've learned lessons from some of the traumatic events, and it shaped my outlook on life in a positive way, so perhaps it would be up to the individual on what they'd want to forget.

 

[Teddybrae]

I see ... you all want to talk about it ... not think about it. OK. The thread is all yours ...

 

[tetragrammaton]

Teddybrae, the information you provided was very valuable. No need to feel unwelcome. It contained factual information.

You are correct though, in that perhaps we should be deep in thought "thinking" about it, rather than "talking" about it, but I feel that collectively our thoughts can be compared and talking and hypothesizing is a way of thinking out loud, so to speak.

I'm curious about how much if any DMT has to play in this, because similar reports are made regarding intense DMT trips, where the trip is forgotten or key parts were forgotten, and all that the person who had the experience recalls are brief things that they don't have words to describe. From my understanding, and it very well may be wrong, please correct me, but our bodies natural DMT has something to do with the dream process.

Could these intense vivid dreams that we forget have something to do with the DMT levels?

I know many people have different experiences. Some people claim they don't dream, or never remember their dreams. Some people always remember their dreams. Some people claim they see in color, but their dreams are always black and white, so I feel that anybody who isn't a troll has valuable information to share.

 

[Vash]

Damn, I thought this only happened to me. The dream can be very vivid while you're in it. If you awaken while you're in the dream, you'll remember it for only a little while, but then forget it and can't recall. This happens to me constantly since I dream every night. I can't explain it, but I think there's a connection with dreams and death.

 

[Gry]

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01351/full

 

[Teddybrae]

Vash! A connection between Dreams and Death, eh? Gosh! Do you mean your dreams are morbid? I NEVER have morbid dreams I 'm just there. Y'know, IN THE DREAM.

Like my Sister and I used to compete like crazy. I dreamed she was shot. It took a while for me to realise that it was my hand that held the gun and my finger that pulled the trigger.

Don't worry. My Sister did not die. She is living long enough to eat herself to death using milky coffee and ice cream.

 

[Vash]

Vash! A connection between Dreams and Death, eh? Gosh! Do you mean your dreams are morbid? I NEVER have morbid dreams I 'm just there. Y'know, IN THE DREAM.

Like my Sister and I used to compete like crazy. I dreamed she was shot. It took a while for me to realise that it was my hand that held the gun and my finger that pulled the trigger.

Don't worry. My Sister did not die. She is living long enough to eat herself to death using milky coffee and ice cream.

Teddy, I have all types of dreams. The thing is, as soon as I awaken, I forget what the dream is about. It's like your memory banks have been wiped clean, but you know you had a dream. I do dream about water a lot - large bodies of water. Maybe I'm going to drown one day.

 

[Bud Green]

I dream a lot; like every night...

Most of the time they go away within a minute of waking and I have no more recollection..
But some of them stay with me...sometimes for 30 minutes, and sometimes I remember them my whole life...

I cannot analyze them though because they are so "off the wall"..
Very, very seldom are they scary..

During the dreams, they seem to make sense, but upon awakening, I'm like "what the fuck was that about?"

In the summertime, I seem to have quite a few dreams where I'm growing lots of pot...
During the dream, I recognize where I am, but when I wake up I have no idea of where the grow location was...

When i was in my 20's and 30's, I had at least 25 or more dreams where I was flying..
Sometimes under my own power, by just jumping into the air...
other times I launched myself with a giant slingshot or with a really fast elevator that has no ceiling to it..

Once I was on my old motorcycle...driving along, I came upon a huge traffic jam, so I just pulled back on the handlebars and went up in the air...
I drove my motorcycle through the air about 15 feet above the cars for about a quarter of a mile, and when I got to the front of the traffic jam,
I just pushed the handlebars forward and came back down on the highway and kept on going as though what I had just done was the perfectly normal thing to do...

I wish I could record my dreams every night on a DVD...
they would be much more interesting to watch after supper than most of the crap that's on TV...
Well, at least to me they would be...

..

 

[Teddybrae]

But it's what I said before, Vash. We can't recall because the dream happens in a part of the brain that doesn't have thoughts or language. You can see the dream but you can't explain it.


Listen ... what you gotta do is check how you FEEL when you (almost) remember the dream. Often dreams are about unfinished business in yr daily life. Like you may not be aware that an issue has upset you and that night you have a violent dream. So that's yr right brain/intuition wordlesslyinforming you about yr anger.

If you don't deal with anger you get sick. So in this case it would be yr body is looking after itself even if you won't!

In regard to images of water. Water in dreams is recognised to mean Emotions. Water in dreams means you may not be acknowledging yr feelings.

Try to note how you feel immediately you wake up from a dream.

Come back privately if you like ...

Teddy, I have all types of dreams. The thing is, as soon as I awaken, I forget what the dream is about. It's like your memory banks have been wiped clean, but you know you had a dream. I do dream about water a lot - large bodies of water. Maybe I'm going to drown one day.

 

[Teddybrae]

Here's some talk about dreams.

Once when I was looking after a Crisis phone line this Guy comes on and he's drunk as a skunk. Slurring his words and shouting in the phone because there's a honky tonk piano jangling away in the background.

Where are you, Man? I shout. In the fukn Pub he sez. What are ya ringin for? I sez. I have these dreams he sez.
Oh yes, sez I ... what sort of dreams?
Well, he sez I 'm walking about in a darkened room and can't see the way out.

Uhuh, I sez. And what's in the room you can't get out of?
He sez, I can't see the walls but I 'm sloshing about in blood up to my ankles and there's body parts floating around!

I said to him: Man that's disgusting. He excitedly yelled: THAT'S IT! DISGUSTING! IT WAS FUCKING DISGUSTING ALRIGHT!

EDIT: There was a moment's silence, then the Caller said, Yep, my Dad was a bastard.

I said that's the first time you've mentioned Family in the 20 minutes you've been on line. What's the thing with your Dad?

Anyway ... turns out this poor Guy had a father who when he got drunk would amuse himself by getting the kids to have sex with each other. Little kids. The Guy had sworn an oath with his Sisters never to discuss what happened so the issue was boiling up in him.

That Guy got better after the phone call. After talking out his issue with a compassionate Other. He stopped thinking about having sex with his little children nieces and nephews when he baby sat them ... and he stopped thinking about killing himself ... because by discussing his dream his disgust for what happened was brought into the open.

(By the way, Sigmund Freud said that dreams are the royal road to understanding.)

So there you are.

Bye bye ...

 

[Vash]

But it's what I said before, Vash. We can't recall because the dream happens in a part of the brain that doesn't have thoughts or language. You can see the dream but you can't explain it.


Listen ... what you gotta do is check how you FEEL when you (almost) remember the dream. Often dreams are about unfinished business in yr daily life. Like you may not be aware that an issue has upset you and that night you have a violent dream. So that's yr right brain/intuition wordlesslyinforming you about yr anger.

If you don't deal with anger you get sick. So in this case it would be yr body is looking after itself even if you won't!

In regard to images of water. Water in dreams is recognised to mean Emotions. Water in dreams means you may not be acknowledging yr feelings.

Try to note how you feel immediately you wake up from a dream.

Come back privately if you like ...

I basically wear my feeling on my sleeve, Ted. Not often do I suppress them. Sometimes I wake up crying, but most often it's because of a lost loved one, like my mom or dad - or dog..lol Just happened a couple of nights ago - but anyway.....

Like BG mentioned, as soon as I awaken, I forget, and then ask myself the same question - wtf was that about? Never can I fly, though. Been wanting to dream about flying for a long time. Can't seem to dial one up...lol

 

[BadTicket]

Start a dream diary ~ Write down everything you remember about your dream(s) as soon as you wake up. That might help you remember more, or not. Still, worth a try.

 

[BlueBlazer]

I wish I could record my dreams every night on a DVD...
they would be much more interesting to watch after supper than most of the crap that's on TV...
Well, at least to me they would be...

..

Usually you just have to just bore folks with telling them about your dreams, you want to have home movies.


I watched some documentary once about dreaming. In it they theorized that dreams were a way for us to practice things and learn from mistakes. They would have people play a skiing game and then sleep. Upon waking they would play the game again and always showed improvement. So maybe there's something to that?

 

[flylowgethigh]

I have read/heard that dreams last a very short time. It seems like they last a while.

I was getting into one last night as I dozed off after waking, a dream that I didn't like. Had to re-wake and change the mental channel.

I never remember them in the morning.

 

[Teddybrae]

There's a psychological mind-fuck around called NeuroLinguisticProgramming. It uses imagery, just like in dreams, to change behaviour without a need for the Client to sleep.

Usually you just have to just bore folks with telling them about your dreams, you want to have home movies. View Image

I watched some documentary once about dreaming. In it they theorized that dreams were a way for us to practice things and learn from mistakes. They would have people play a skiing game and then sleep. Upon waking they would play the game again and always showed improvement. So maybe there's something to that?

 

[yts farmer]

I watched some documentary once about dreaming. In it they theorized that dreams were a way for us to practice things and learn from mistakes. They would have people play a skiing game and then sleep. Upon waking they would play the game again and always showed improvement. So maybe there's something to that?

Isnt that what they call lucid dreaming? Read an article about that couple weeks back.

The only time i can remeber my dreams is when i go away on holiday and i take smoke break, other than those couple of weeks every year is the onl time i can remeber dreaming.

Peace.