Ideas	Voting results and bounty paid	Comments

You question implies you don't dream every day. You do. What you're really trying to do is more like the second part of your question which is control. First, understand that you dream every day. Tell yourself that. Then tell yourself that you are going to remember your dreams. Start our with observation, then work to participation if you want to. Don't just wake up in the morning and write down your dreams, tell yourself to wake up after each and every dream period and write them down. Gaining an in-depth ability to observe your dreams is the first step in controlling them.
Suggested by John using Word Atoms "Lucid" and "tired"

Dinking lots of water will cause you to wake up several times during the night and keep you in the lighter stages of sleep where dreaming occurs. You will then be more likely to wake up during a dream and remember it.
Suggested by Nancy

REM sleep occurs during light sleep (not the exhausted "dead to the world" deep sleep) so keeping the lights on tends to keep you in the lighter stages of sleep where dreaming occurs.
Suggested by Nancy

Your mind continues to work even when you are asleep. You may not remember a specific dream when you wake up but you frequently find that you have a fresh solution to your problem. This works with everything from "writer's block" to solving difficult math problems to personal relationships.
Suggested by Nancy

To meet a people in the dreams, before fall asleep, the two interested persons, in the "experiment" should imagine the same place, the same situation, describing the place where they want to meet them. The description should be very full of little particulars, which improving the dream's experience and the "dream's reality perception". Personally, this happens to me only a time: it was a very hard situation to control. When you wake up, lie still on your bed, close again your eyes and try to remember the last interesting thing you remember about your past dream. Often you'll be able to come back on your dream's temporal sequence. To "control" the dreams, to interact as in the real life, our mind should not understand we're sleeping.
Suggested by Alessio

Ease of any tension in your body. Make sure you are comfortable in bed. Put on some ocean sounds and let yourself ease in to a dream.
Suggested by Frank

A classic idea is to constantly check analog clocks when you're awake to see if the time has changed. This will become habit so that when you do it in dreams, you will realize that the time changes wildly and hopefully be able to realize you're in a dream to stay lucid. that hasn't worked for me personally, but it's the most common method. I'm making progress by focusing on one thing/person as I go asleep and then having that person appear in the dream. Doing this when you're very tired, physically (staying up late by itself usually doesn't work) it can be very reliable to remember and slightly control the content of your dreams. It's tough and takes practice. Right now, I can remember most of my dreams and control the content sometimes. The best I've done after concentrating for three nights in a row is to be able to realize in the dream that I'm dreaming, but I still can't "control" myself in my dreams.
Suggested by Scott using Word Atoms "banana" and "tired" ($0.25 bounty each)

Read more fantasy novels. Get into the habit of visualizing what is being described. This will stimulate your imagination so you have more vivid dreams.
Suggested by Crystal

Eat a banana before bedtime. The potassium in bananas helps stimulate more vivid dreams.
Suggested by Crystal

Clearing your mind before going to bed is a start. Then, as you begin to dream, try to control the direction of the dream and remember everything about where you were in your dreams when you awake. Notes are always a good idea when you wake up.
Suggested by Doyle

Eating before bedtime tends to increase not only the frequency of my dreams but also the vividness of the dream. I have no clue why but the closer I eat to bedtime, the more I dream.
Suggested by Doyle

Only when you can get away from the everyday grind of your J.O.B. can you begin to relax and think about how your business can grow and prosper. Too many people get caught up in the daily "work" and therefore stuck in the moment of operations. Get someone else to do the grinding work so you can focus on dreaming and growth. Once you get out of the technical and management work, you can begin to dream and plan every day.
Suggested by Doyle

Everyone dreams every night (unless there is something wrong with you). What you're looking for is the ability to remember your dreams. Get into the habit of writing your dreams down every morning as soon as you wake up. Keep a notepad and pen on your bedside table. If you don't remember your dreams at first, simply write "I chose not to remember my dreams this morning." Do not worry. Soon, your mind will get into the habit of remembering your dreams.
Suggested by Crystal

You body needs time to relax and enter REM sleep. Getting a full nights sleep increases the odds of getting into a dream state. Set an intention to remember or wake up if you dream something interesting. Your body can wake up without your alarm...and can wake up after a cool dream if you want to too.
Suggested by chad

this will keep your mind active
Suggested by Troy