How Can We Improve Our Out Of Body Memory And Recall?

Remembering clearly what happened in an out of body experience or lucid dream is something that I've been having issues with - falling asleep instead of immediately noting everything down in my journal probably has a lot to do with this! So; apart from telling myself to 'man up' and write everything down instead of lazily falling asleep- what can I do??

I've been thinking about this a lot, and the more I think about it the more I realise that my memory sucks in waking life too. Perhaps improving our day to day ability to remember things will improve our memory of what we get up to when we're not in our bodies?

So, I've set myself some homework and this what I've come up with:
I'm big on visualizing - so, I'm going to try and remember my shopping list (which I usually forget - go figure!). I'm going to try rehearsing my shopping trip in my imagination (this would work well if you usually go to the same shop and know where everything is). Sit quietly at home before your weekly shop with your list in hand and mentally see yourself walking through the entrance of the store and walking around picking up everything you need and putting it in your basket. It might take a few goes of doing this run through before you feel confidant you can go to the shop and put into practice what you've rehearsed. I'm giving this a go on my next shopping trip; either it'll work and I'll be a memory genius - or the kids will starve. Good luck kids!

In my quest for a better memory I found this great article called "7 tips to improve your memory" and I particularly like #3 which suggests giving greater awareness to your everyday life and weaning yourself off the habit of "continuous partial attention" - you can find the article here: http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,20723699,00.html

William Buhlman (in his book Adventures Beyond the Body - it's brilliant I highly recommend it - you can visit his site at http://www.astralinfo.org) suggests that while you're in an out of body experience (or lucid dream) that you should say "I remember all". This feels like it would work to me, as it sends a very powerful message to your subconscious that remembering your experience is important and gives you an anchor with which to focus your mind. I haven't tried this yet - but it's on my 'to do' list! Another idea is to write down an affirmation along the lines of "I remember everything I experience" on a piece of paper and putting it under your pillow. Re-read this every night to remember your dreams or out of body experiences and increase your lucidity.