Dream Journals

[Moonbeam]

I am too busy/lazy to do a real dream journal; I do try to remember and think about my dreams tho and I think my recall is better now. Do other people have much luck without actually writing down all their dreams?

[.jared.]

Before I kept a dream journal, i could remember about 4 or 5 dreams a week from a completely zero control viewpoint. Now after only 2 -3 weeks of keeping one I can remember 3-4 dreams a night. The other night without waking up in between and writing down dreams i remembered 6 dreams. All a few min after waking up just popped into my mind. It makes it so much easier. I also feel more apart of my dreams even though i have yet to become lucid. Its almost like you are more awake in your dreams when you keep a journal. I would say you get from it what you put in. If you want to enter further into dreams then keep a journal. If you are comfortable where you are then stay there. But im not the best person to give advice.

[Burns]

Originally posted by .jared. But im not the best person to give advice. Don't discount yourself! You're just as capable as anyone else at giving advice! Anyway, to the dream journal question. Yes, it takes effort to keep a journal. And I completely agree with what Jared said about "you get back what you put in." Sometimes my journaling is better than others, but I always make an effort to write down any subtantial dream I have. It always amazes me later on when I'm going through my journal - you can see patterns better after the fact. You'd be amazed at all the dreams you forgot about until you read about it again - it's almost mind-blowing. Bottom line: Keep a journal! It's worth it!!

[ilovefrootloopz]

You write down all of the dreams. Absoloutley everything you can rememeber, maybe even what you felt waking up. Believe me, it is invaluable. Yeah, it sounded stupid to me at first. But you need it to recognize your dreamsigns, motivate your dream recall, and just to remember dreams you would have otherwise forgotten quickly. Really, don't tell me you can remember your dream that you had January 6, 2006.

[Abstract Fire]

Originally posted by Follower Why? If you just play in your head all that you remember right after you wake up, it gives the same effect and doesn't require the effort of writing anything down :-) Not in my experience. I thought it worked at first, but then later in the day I would have forgotten completely what I had dreamed about.

[phoenelai]

I never used a dream journal to write down regular dreams and hi-lite the dream ques. What I do though is started to document my lucids. They are normally very clear and easy to type in the DJ. Then I like to reflect back and read my past Lucids and say "oh yeah...I remember that one!" Sometimes it reminds me to do things I used to do in Lucids. I wish I did it from the begining but oh well...

[Gemini Man]

Before keeping a dream journal, I remembered very few dreams, 1 a week if that. With a journal I remember not only more of them, but I remember more details of them too. I can now remember 2-4 a night and in good detail. I've been keeping a journal since mid April. I can't say how much it effects the frequency of lucid dreams, since I haven't had one yet. (Excluding a few I had at about ages 4-7 that I don't really count.)

[N]

i don't have any dj but my recall is good every night i remember 3 or 4 somtimes more dreams and I try to remember all my dreams just when i wake up or during the day i don't know if i'll remember more than that if i have dj but when I do i'll tell you

[Jess]

Originally posted by Follower+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Follower)</div> I can't imagine what's the difference between rememebering 4 and 8 dreams, yet alone why write them all down.[/b] <!--QuoteBegin-megabenman Really, don't tell me you can remember your dream that you had January 6, 2006. If you don't record them, you won't be able to see any long-term trends or patterns, or any progress you make with lucid dreaming. It helps to find all your dreamsigns too.

[ilovefrootloopz]

And it's fun to see what dreams you had a while ago, and say "Oh yeah.... I remember that dream!"

[grayegg]

I got lazy on keeping a jounel after a while, but after rereading it there were enough "I dreamt that?!" moments to get me motivated again. Still, I tend to focus on lucids or the most vivid dreams. Which isn't saying much different than I'm keeping a journal diligently, since most of my dreams have been vivid lately (except last night, I felt certain I had three or four dreams, but remembered only one). I find that a journal doesn't make a big difference in my ability to recall just as a wake up. Though once I rouse a bit and write I see some things differently. Sometimes I don't realize right away that I achieved a goal of what I wanted to dream about. Or trying to organize everything that happened makes it more interesting. And again there's the benefit of going back to read it later.

[Jack D.]

Originally posted by Follower Why? If you just play in your head all that you remember right after you wake up, it gives the same effect and doesn't require the effort of writing anything down. Well that isn't true. When you write you are working a very specific and very different part of your brain. I'm not certain, but I'm guessing that this has something to do with the effect. Besides,[b] look at all of the people who have regular lucid dreams with control on this board, almost all of us keep a journal. It works When I was a kid I never kept a journal, and I still went lucid - but, I never had control and regular dream recall until college, when I finally started keeping a dream journal.

[grayegg]

[quote]Besides,[b] look at all of the people who have regular lucid dreams with control on this board, almost all of us keep a journal. It works Maybe part of the reason it works is indirect. For me it gives something to do after waking up from the initial 5-6 hours of mostly non-rem sleep, thus rousing me up enough to remain aware in subsequent dreams.