Possible without a Dream Journal?

[SanCho14jfm]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and have been interested in Lucid Dreaming for quite some time. I have lucid dreamed twice in my life, both times accidentaly. Obviously I want to be able to lucid dream every night. Now to the point... I think that it is absolutley annoying to wake up a couple times during the night and write something in a DJ. So my question is this...is it possible to attain lucidity consistantly without keeping a DJ...and if so...how? Thanks for any help! -Jared

[TygrHawk]

Hey Jared, and welcome! There are two main reasons for keeping a dream journal: improving your dream recall, and identifying "dream signs" -- people, places or things that appear often in your dreams. There are other reasons as well, but those are the two that are most important in relation to lucid dreaming. If your dream recall is already excellent, and you are already aware of common themes in your dreams that you can use as dream signs, then keeping journal may not be all that important. However, I'd have to say that the majority of people find it to be a great help. You don't necessarily have to wake up several times a night, it just depends on how your own system works. If you can wake up in the morning and recall several dreams from the night before, then just do your journaling first thing in the morning. For most people, however, the only dream they will (clearly) remember in the morning is the most recent one. And of course, many times getting a full night's sleep is more important to your mental and physical health than working on a dream journal or lucid dreaming (yes, I know, heresy!). But, if you have a night every now and then where you can spend a few extra hours sleeping, you might try waking up intermittently to see if you can recall more dreams, or recall them more clearly.

[Burns]

I would strongly recommend keeping some sort of journal. Personally, I've never recorded a dream in the middle of the night. Sometimes if I wake up early in the morning, before I actually need to get up, I'll scribble down 2 or 3 keywords and then plop back onto my pillow and go back to sleep. Or I'll just jot down a few quick sentences after I get up, so I can remember more details later. Then, later in the morning or sometime that day, I'll write the entire, detailed dream in my dream journal (a Word document on my computer). I know writing dreams down later in the day isn't ideal, but I think better late than never. This just works better for my lifestyle. You need to develop your own techniques, whatever works for you and gets the job done.

[The Blue Meanie]

My own experiences with dream recall to date: Prior to keeping a dream journal, I was remembering one or two dreams a year, tops. I sllep deeply, I guess, and my brain just wipes it all before I wake. So, I joined dreamviews, and started keeping a dream journal (actually, this was slightly BEFORE I joined dreamviews). After only about two weeks of keeping a dream journal, my dream recall has sky-rocketed to about four dreams a night, one or two of which are usually pretty longish, and pretty vivid. Now, PERSONALLY, I have to wake myself up (at first alarm, but now I can do it without an alarm) after my REM-cycles, and record the dreams. Otherwise, my mind is blank in the morning. Even doing what I do, I lose some of the dreams, just plain forget them as soon as I shift position in bed after waking. This, of course, might not be neccessary for everyone... if you can remember dreams in the morning, without waking yourself up in the night, good for you... but if ya can't... keeping a dream journal is definately the way to go.

[computernerd90]

I would keep a dream journal if I were you. I'd say that it's improved my dream recall. I don't wake up in the middle of the night to record them, though. In fact, I really don't keep to writing in my dream journal. Occasionally if I'm on my comp. and a dream comes to mind, i'll type it down.

[Amethyst Star]

I've tried it and was met with very, very limited success. I could recall the last dream I had each night, but it wasn't uncommon for me to forget it during the day. If you really want to go without a dream journal, you're going to have to find a way to imprint those dreams into your memory so you don't forget them due to another dream or the affairs of the day. I personally don't have the memory for it, but you could try it for a time and see if you have any luck. But as everyone's said, a DJ is the most reliable and fastest way to build recall. And you don't necessarily have to write down every tiny little detail, though it often helps if you're looking for dream sings. But if you're short on time, just write down the main points in the dream and things such as characters or places you thought were important, enough to help you recall the dream later. -Amé

[Gwendolyn]

It's possible, but keeping a dream journol really, really helps. It increases dream recall, and the frequency of LDs. Couldn't hurt, right?

[Neruo]

Keeping a DJ doesn't mean you have to wake up any more in the night. I advise to keep a DJ anyway, and perhaps even just write in it when you want to. Like in the morning. I wouldn't adice to do it long after breakfast. Perhaps writing down your dreams in the middle of the night is better for you DR, but it's hard as hell to get the willpower. I only write in the morning, unless I had an LD.

[PenguinLord13]

[size=15]Does anyone have any ideas for how I can keep a dream journal?, because I don''t know what to do. I have had two lucid dreams accidently, and just two nights ago (a day or two after trying to get lucid), I had another. The problem is that I can't find a way to get recall. I REALLY don't want to wake up in the middle of the night unless its an absolute must because I just barely get enough sleep anyways , and I can't spend the ten minutes in the morning to try to remember because I have to get up quickly and eat breakfast so I can catch the bus to school. Also with the morning thing I can't ever remember what was a dream, what is my imagination because when I wake up my mind drifts and dreams are already forgetten. I don't have good recall in general (only a few dreams a year), so thinking of them in the middle of the day won't work. What should I do?

[The Blue Meanie]

[quote][size=15]Does anyone have any ideas for how I can keep a dream journal?, because I don''t know what to do. I have had two lucid dreams accidently, and just two nights ago (a day or two after trying to get lucid), I had another. The problem is that I can't find a way to get recall. I REALLY don't want to wake up in the middle of the night unless its an absolute must because I just barely get enough sleep anyways , and I can't spend the ten minutes in the morning to try to remember because I have to get up quickly and eat breakfast so I can catch the bus to school. Also with the morning thing I can't ever remember what was a dream, what is my imagination because when I wake up my mind drifts and dreams are already forgetten. I don't have good recall in general (only a few dreams a year), so thinking of them in the middle of the day won't work. What should I do? So, what you're basically saying, is that you want to remember your dreams, totally without spending any time or effort towards actually remembering them...? Sorry, it can't be done! It's pretty much a given, that whichever way you try to remember them, you ARE going to have to put at least SOME time into it, or lose SOME sleep, or even both. Once you've got your dream recall to a decent level, perhaps that will kickstart your dream recall so that in the future, you WONT have to spend time or lose sleep. But until you DO develop decent natural dream recall, you ARE going to have to put some effort in, unfortunately. No pain, no gain, right? If there were a way to remember dreams without waking yourself up, or spending time in the morning remembering and writing them down, we'd all be doing it already... Sorry I can't be more help... *shrugs* EDIT: The one positive suggestion I CAN make is this: Regularise your sleep schedule, and go to bed earlier. If you have trouble getting to sleep, then get some exercise mid/late-afternoon, and have a shower half an hour before bed. A HOT shower. As hot as comfortable, preferably. For somebody who used to have trouble getting to sleep, let me tell you, this works WONDERS. Personally, I've started going to bed at nine. (though that said, I get up early... usually six or seven). If you regularise your sleep schedule and go to bed earlier, this will make it SIGNIFICANTLY easier to wake up, record your dreams, and get back to sleep again fairly quickly.

[Gwendolyn]

Originally posted by The Blue Meanie So, what you're basically saying, is that you want to remember your dreams, totally without spending any time or effort towards actually remembering them...? Sorry, it can't be done! It's pretty much a given, that whichever way you try to remember them, you ARE going to have to put at least SOME time into it, or lose SOME sleep, or even both. Once you've got your dream recall to a decent level, perhaps that will kickstart your dream recall so that in the future, you WONT have to spend time or lose sleep. But until you DO develop decent natural dream recall, you ARE going to have to put some effort in, unfortunately. No pain, no gain, right? If there were a way to remember dreams without waking yourself up, or spending time in the morning remembering and writing them down, we'd all be doing it already... Sorry I can't be more help... *shrugs* Exactly. You have to put time in effort into your goal. Nothing is ever easy and that goes for dreams too. Good Advice.

[PenguinLord13]

I came in understanding the no pain no gain thing, so really i was just praying anyone had some miracle idea. I'm really not a lazy ass that hopes things will happen on their own. I will try to get myself waking up in the middle of the night and jot down some words to get me to remberer later since I have NO time in the morning to lie in bed remembering dreams for my DJ. Also, I woke up last night during a dream, but could not remember what it was about, and I think I got lucid the night before (again I don't know what the dream was). p.s. Thanks "The Blue Meanie", I'll try your falling asleep ideas too, I do have some trouble falling asleep, which can get annoying because I go to bed at 9:30ish, and can't fall asleep for a while only to have to get up at 6:15.

[PhilipJFry]

It's a good idea to write down a few keywords to keep the door open to the dream, then you can write it down anytime you want. I do it like this and often I write my dreams down in the evening before going to bed! (Only if I don't have time in the morning or I forget to do it). Even in the evening I can still remember the dream because of the keywords. This is also a great way of bringing you in the right mood before falling asleep

[Alric]

So what would you do if you had a lucid dream every night but then you forgot you had them? A dream journal is the best thing for recall. Infact if you use a dream journal and nothing else sooner or later you will have a lucid dream. You are looking for an easy way but the thing is, a dream journal is the easy way. You can't possibly have it any easier than, waking up and writing down what happened.

[Ubik]

The only alternative I can think of is to buy a dictaphone (or any kind of voice recorder) and just talk through your dream when you wake up. You can then write up the dream later when you have more time.

[Alric]

I use a tape recorder for my dream journal. You still have to wake up enough to click the record button but it really isnt that much work.

[Burns]

Originally posted by Alric I use a tape recorder for my dream journal. You still have to wake up enough to click the record button but it really isnt that much work. Do you go back and write them out later? I would think logging dreams on a tape recorder would make it hard to go back and review them later.

[AirRick101]

I've been through the entire journey from not even knowing that I could consciously recall dreams by journalling to becoming what I would believe to be an expert recaller, able to conjure every painful detail about the dream, ending up with far too much to record. And the span it time it took for this to happen was only a few weeks, my brain just eventually got to used it. Ever since then, my recall is generally easy, but I journal recall occasionally to keep the skill "up there." In my experience, it's definately possible to remember some small details about dreams without a journal, but it's usually when I wake up and am barely conscious. Writing down the main points with what little energy I have and reading them later jogs a lot of memory. or if I felt willing, just writing whatever details I remembered would cause me to remember more and more details, and if I didn't write anything down, I wouldn't be able to remember the rest. Another thing is that I tend to remember my dreams backwards, from the moment I wake toward the moment the dream started. I'm not sure if this applies to others, though.

[The Blue Meanie]

Personally, when I get up after the dream to record it, I write down the whole damn thing, even if it takes me a couple of ninutes and five notebook-pages. I'm gonna keep doing it this way till I get my recall up to a very good level, and after that I'll try just writing down key points, and remembering the rest later, and see how that works...