Thread: How Important is keeping a dream journal?

Keeping a dream journal is to lucid dreamers what meditation is to monks.

depends on your method. I've never used one once. I only do MILD wbtb combo

I've only used a dream journal once. I find it to be largely unnecessary. However some people find it to be useful in recognizing dream signs. I think that the key to lucid dreaming however is simply awareness.

@IAmCoder I would assume that meditation is very important to Buddhist monks, so I'm going to have to disagree with you completely.

Depends on the person, it can range from really important to not needed at all.

Firstly, you need to keep your dream recall up as much as possible. Beyond that, the longer your individual dreams are on your mind, it seems to me, the easier time you will have getting lucid. Just helps keep you in that mindset.

Originally Posted by MindGames

@IAmCoder I would assume that meditation is very important to Buddhist monks, so I'm going to have to disagree with you completely.

It is sort of like meditation in that it's a daily practice which makes doing what you do possible. I could be wrong but not all monks meditate.

It's important for most people. Most people can't/won't recall any dreams unless they do something like dream journaling or some kind of activity that makes dreams something more than something that occurs in the head. Humans have a tendancy to make mistakes if they try to keep track of complex things in their heads, by writing things down we are able to think about them more clearly. I find that writing your dreams down or verbalizing them in some way improves recall immensely. I try to remember my dreams laying there in bed, then when I'm writing them down I almost always remember new details I had forgotten. Today when I woke, I remembered 3 dreams, then while I was writing them down I recalled at least 5 more.

Not saying it's necesarry, but if you have trouble with recall without one you ought to try it, it is a great way to improve recall, which in turn improves awareness.

I remember 0-4 dreams nightly. Mostly 1-2 dreams. possibly 3 or 0. rarely 4. I just think that Dream journaling seems useless to me. Writing dreams down doesn't seem like it would help.

I would definitely recommend keeping a dream journal. It's good practice for your memory and helps with dream recall. Keeping a journal of your dreams also keeps you aware of your dream signs and how your dreams generally play out. In this respect you can see how important journals are for dream induced lucid dreams.

I should have started one a long time ago... their a big help for beginners to lucid dreaming, kinda like me.

I dont like writing in them, and i still remember my dreams from last night even though its 7 o clock.

I'll think about wrinting in them, or maybe keeping an online one here.

- By writing in one, you focus your attention on the dreams you just had longer than you nornally would, which enables you te recall more of them.
- Don't know if it has been proven, but I read somewhere that by actively keeping one your dreams become more vivid.

Dream journals are important if for no other reason then to remember your dreams. Generic dreams, unlike lucid dreams, are not stored in permanent memory. You journal is your memory. BTW, I prefer to use a digital recorder in lieu of a written journal. It is just easier.

Well, it doesn't do you any good to lucid dream if you forget it later. Writing it down will help you with that. If you have near-perfect recall, it's not that important. For the rest of us, well...

.it's mainly for recalL -- .but I strongly advise you to keep one, you will be able to remember 3-5 vivid dreams a night, you will be able to recall your lucids betteR .all around, its good to keep onE

I would say writing them down is half for fun, because if you wake up in the middle opf the night and recall a dream, you will remember it much better than if you don't write it down! I had a lucid a few days ago and I didn't write it down so I forgot half of it!