Thread: I need help making time for dream journal entries.

I consider myself to have really good dream recall but I'm not sure I'd remember much on less than three hours of sleep either. Getting adequate sleep will be essential. As far as not having time or energy in the morning, that's normal. Before I get out of bed I lay there and try to remember as much about my dreams as possible then just jot down key words. Here's an example from my dream journal: Blueberries. Volleyball. Movement. Spiders. Sea sick. Water. Cat. Boat. Gunshot. Etc. That took only a minute to write yet when I go back and read it there's enough information that I instantly remember most of the dream. However, I remember less than if I wrote the dream out in detail. If you typically have poor recall I recommend writing down as much detail as often as possible. That will really help with your recall overall.
In summary, quickly writing down key words is better than not journaling at all but less effective than elaborating. Yet neither of them will prove beneficial if you don't get enough sleep.

Originally Posted by lunagoddess

I consider myself to have really good dream recall but I'm not sure I'd remember much on less than three hours of sleep either. Getting adequate sleep will be essential. As far as not having time or energy in the morning, that's normal. Before I get out of bed I lay there and try to remember as much about my dreams as possible then just jot down key words. Here's an example from my dream journal: Blueberries. Volleyball. Movement. Spiders. Sea sick. Water. Cat. Boat. Gunshot. Etc. That took only a minute to write yet when I go back and read it there's enough information that I instantly remember most of the dream. However, I remember less than if I wrote the dream out in detail. If you typically have poor recall I recommend writing down as much detail as often as possible. That will really help with your recall overall.
In summary, quickly writing down key words is better than not journaling at all but less effective than elaborating. Yet neither of them will prove beneficial if you don't get enough sleep.

I've actually tried laying there trying to remembering my dreams, but usually I forget. And even if I do remember its really hard to remember a dream if your mother is yelling at you every 30 sec. and stressing you to get ready for school which is in 15 min.. Anyways, like I said, I trying to improve the amount of sleep I get each night. I'm trying to aim for at least six hours on the weekdays, but until I can achieve that, I guess I can only record dreams on the weekends effectively. Thanks for the tips anyways and that short journal entry will definitely be useful!

3 hours?! Before you start working on your dream recall you should really find a way to clean up your Schedule. For good dream recall you should either sleep 7-12 hours or take up to 1.5 hour naps.

7-12 hours of sleep? My gosh, if I had that much sleep everyday, I would be one of the happiest people alive! Alas, I am in high school and that means you are gonna be down on sleep, like every night. Every. Single. Freaking. Night. It's funny, I get so little sleep, my naps become my new sleep! Every night I get around 2-3 hours of sleep, but I get like 4 hours of nap. Go figure.

If the memory of your non-lucid dreams is dispensable, then you don't need to dream journal. If you're conscious during a dream, you have the same chance for that dream to become lucid no matter how well you recall it upon awakening. So, if the goal is lucid dreaming, dream consciousness is infinitely more important than dream recall, especially since lucid dreams are much easier to recall upon awakening. Improving your dream consciousness is more a matter of improving your in-dream awareness. To improve your awareness your in-dream awareness, you can either improve your awareness in general or set an intention to pay more attention to your dreams.