Advice on dream journal techniques, among other things...?

**Sirocco** · 05-10-2013 01:33 AM

Good day, all! I just wanted to say a word or two regarding my dream journal habits and practices, to see if there are any improvements I can make, or if there are some other interesting things I could try out.

First off, if you haven't seen my introduction, I'd like to sum it up in a few words: I've had very vivid, intense, involved, and detailed dreams as far back as I can remember, but have not attained lucidity too often, or deliberately. My dream recall is quite good (being able to recall most dreams and their details soon after awakening, or after a "trigger" of some sort) and I've only started keeping a dream journal recently. Furthermore, I haven't "deliberately" sought to dream much in the past; it has only been recently where I've been seeking to seed my dreamscape. This has raised some questionable results, as my experimentation with supplements and substances leaves me questioning their efficacy, as well as how counterproductive "forcing" dreams in myself may actually be; I've noticed that the best dreams occur "naturally" and "organically", without too much tampering, or deliberate seeding.

Furthermore, I only record the dreams that I consider "cool enough" to record; am I making a mistake here by skipping on the "filler" dreams, of which I usually have a decent number of almost every night? Those tend to have their own dream signs, and recurring themes. Now, these dreams aren't entirely rubbish; they sometimes have a plot, and there is often a goal/ending, but they just aren't very "entertaining" or "provocative" to me. They seem more like satire, or altered versions of real life experiences, with some twists and variations thrown in.

What does go into my dream journals are what I consider the prime picks of the crop; those which are exceptionally vivid, involved, and detailed; those that surpass real life, and almost seem to exist on a totally different dimension, or those that have some philosophical, artistic, or intellectual interest/merit. In this case, I probably have a couple a week, depending on many factors. It seems that I have a sort of dream cycle, where there are bumper crops of vivid dreams clustered together in close proximity to each other (Sometimes several a night), a period of average dreaming (let's say, 3-5 "mundane" dreams coupled with 1-3 "sorta ok" ones), followed by a drought of them. Then of course, there are some short naps that are accompanied by several vivid dreams, and then others which have nothing at all. Some of this cycle can perhaps be attributed to life or lifestyle changes, stress, new experiences, etc. So, is it wrong to limit my recording to the cream of the crop? Some of the "rubbish" dreams often contain unsavoury topics or occurrences, based on assorted experiences, and the like.

As a side, I've also started recording some of my...um...how do I say..."psychonautic experiences" alongside my dreams, since some of these experiences and visions are quite intense, visceral, and often involve or provoke some philosophical, artistic, or spiritual topics. I find that these waking experiences almost can fit the description of lucid dreaming (at least, when I'm in "the other dimension), and sometimes even have some degree of influence on dreams that occur afterward.

Furthermore, I also tend to avoid writing down bad experiences/nightmares, of which also occur often. For instance, I've had multiple recurring nightmares involving a family situation that occurred a year ago, and those make me pretty uncomfortable; they're not something I'd like to recall, but my memory makes it impossible to forget, which seems to allow them to recur quite often. However, I have had a few instances where I am able to take control, and turn them towards my favor. Is there a way to program yourself to NOT dream about things like this?

Anyway, I'd like to hear what some of you guys think, and maybe be pointed in the right direction if there are some relevant existing topics/threads around here that may be of interest to me. Thanks!

**JoannaB** · 05-10-2013 04:59 AM

I have found that I am better off trying to record everything, and here are some reasons for why:
(1) if I record anything I recall, my dream recall tends to improve over time
(2) sometimes I wake in the middle of the night with faulty logic, such as that a dream is not worth recording, but if I do it anyway, then I am surprised to find later that it may have been much better than I thought, and maybe my mind was just tired and lazy (not wanting to record the dream)
(3) sometimes I only after a while realize the significance of dreams that I did not realize at first, and I notice something cool about them when I reread my dream journal, which I missed at first
(4) looking for patterns, it really helps to have the full picture, so that one can see what themes reoccur, plus also maybe try to figure out why a drought or especially vivid period of dreaming happened when it did (whether there is a pattern to that pattern)
(5) reoccurring nightmares are one of the best way to get lucid, and they provide one a motivation to get lucid. In nightmares one can recognize them as dreams if they are worse than reality. If they reoccur one can notice that. And if one gets lucid, one can change the nightmare. I remember some of my most awesome lucid dreams ever started out as nightmares.

**stonedreams** · 05-10-2013 12:43 PM

I would record everything even if it's the smallest fragment. It's very important to do so, do you can increase your dream recall even more. I can't stress this enough, record everything in your dream journal even if it is the tiniest little fragment of dream.

**Sensei** · 05-10-2013 01:42 PM

Check out my DJ system in my sig "how to DJ".

I dont DJ anymore because of the system.. I know what makes. Me remember my dreams. Instead of just mindlessly writing down dreams. It also helps find out what makes you lucid.

**Scionox** · 05-10-2013 08:05 PM

I would say write everything, dream journal not only helps with recall, but it helps with lucidity because you think about dreaming more when writing/typing DJ entry as well as analyzing it in the progress. Though if you really don't want to write less interesting entries or don't have time for full entries you can just write them as keywords/tags.

As for nightmares it's up to you but i would suggest to write them anyways if possible, as JoannaB said it can be one of ways to get lucid. Though about preventing them... it just happened to me almost naturally once i got into lucid dreaming, my fears vanished... but it helps if you defeat your fear in the dream while lucid i guess.

**Sirocco** · 05-11-2013 12:57 AM

Originally Posted by BrandonBoss

Check out my DJ system in my sig "how to DJ".

Alright, thanks for the link! I already applied that to a major dream I had last night. I'm going to continue to do something similar, in hopes of recognizing more dream signs. However, my problem right now isn't about recognizing dream signs. Often when I perform a reality check in my dreams, I come back with a false positive; ie, I come to the conclusion that I am NOT in a dream. Hopefully a few changes and deliberate musings will enable me to break through more often than not.

And then I realized...am I training my subconscious, or is my subconscious training ME?