something_crass

What about for people who never dream, or at least aren't aware of having dreamed. Are there any techniques for developing some kind of memory of dreams, never mind control?

I don't have trouble with a lot of other types of visual information, but am utterly hopeless with faces. Acquaintances will approach me at the shops, and if I'm lucky I'll recognise their voice after a few lines of smalltalk and put two and two together. Even my closest family members can be hard to identify if they get a new haircut, or if they're laying down (a sideways face might as well be a Picasso).

I'm also hopeless with stuff like icons. I have to turn labels back on in the Windows taskbar, and after several years with this keyboard, I still can't find the shift key at a glance, as it isn't labelled. I don't have problems with 'match these rotated shapes' type tests, it just seems to be an issue of retention. I can remember words, but I'm not going to remember your stupid 'snake wrapped around a can of soup' icon on your app, even if I use it daily.

I'm not sure you understand. I've had people wake me up and tell me that I spouted gibberish seconds earlier, and I've had no awareness of it. I don't even have much memory of whatever I was listening to before I went to sleep (one podcast tends to last me three nights). In thirty-something years, I can recall two dreams and maybe three weird mundane waking dreams (eg. getting up and having a shower, then slowly realising I've been staring at my bedroom ceiling the whole time). Every other night of my life, sleep has just been lost time.

Are there any particular sleep habits or types of alarms which can get me to the point where there's... anything to write down?