Learning to remember your dreams is harder for some than for others. There are many reasons a person would want to remember their dreams, including increased self-awareness and knowledge about yourself, coming to grips with aspects of yourself, education, finding out hidden emotions, and more. Remembering your dreams is like opening the door to your own mind. However, for you it may be incredibly difficult to do so, or perhaps you can remember some things but not others. So here are some tips, hints, and ideas for helping you to remember your dreams and unlock your full potential!

Firstly, focusing on your dreams before you go to sleep at night is one of the most important things. If, right before you go to sleep, you tell yourself "I will remember my dreams tonight" and think about remembering them before you go to sleep, you will have a much higher chance of remembering them upon waking in the morning. Be sure and keep any other thoughts out of your mind before drifting to sleep as a cluttered mind can decrease the chances that you will remember your dreams upon waking.

Also, focusing on remembering your dreams upon waking in the morning is another very important thing. This sounds very easy, but is often hard for some to do. When you very first wake up, simply think about your dreams. Don't allow your mind to drift off to other things, just lay there and think about the things you dreamt about the night before. For this reason, it is helpful to have a pen and paper handy beside the bed for writing things down when you first wake up. Some people prefer a tape recorder, and others get fancy journals to write their dreams in. It doesn't really matter which method you use, the point is to document them while they are still fresh in your mind. Also, when you wake up, try to wake up as slowly and gently as possible. Just lay there for a few moments, relaxing and thinking about your dreams. Often if you wake up suddenly in the morning and try and wake right up, your dream images will leave your mind.

Other things that will help you remember your dreams is to keep a healthy diet, reduce stressful thoughts at night, and avoiding alcohol consumption of any kind as alcohol (as well as some medications) can cause you to sleep so hard you don't even remember your dreams. Also having a regular routine can help when recalling dreams. Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day does help when trying to remember dreams. If you are having a really hard time remembering your dreams, allow your mind to wander a bit. Think of anything you can remember from the dream at all, and just allow your mind to wander off on its own train of thought, and see if anything else comes to mind. In this type of association, you may end up remembering more of a dream.

Remember, the recalling of dreams comes more easily to some than others. It is important not to give up, and it helps to talk to like-minded people about dream you have had. Having a simple conversation about a dream you had the night before with someone who enjoys discussing dreams is a great exercise for dream recalling, and may also cause you to remember more things than you thought you had. Don't get discouraged, and remember that if you don't dream every single night, it is not a crisis...some people dream less often than others. Simply focus on the dreams you can remember having, and use these tools to help you to remember more.

Stephanie Davies is a 27 year old Missourian with a loving husband and an 8 year old son. She currently owns and operates her own business, Mystickal Incense & More, which sells handmade candles, incense, bath & body products and other handcrafted products at http://www.mystickalincense.com