Too wild to write down

[Chawp]

Hi there. My dreams are often otherworldly, or at least highly unusual. They typically consist of many different "scenes". It's hard to explain, except to give an example of a dream I had the other night: I was on a tiny gray island dotted with fake trees. I kept jumping from island to island, until I met with a military-type group. The island they were on was much larger, and featured real jungle scenery. In the group was a bald woman. She died for reasons unknown (or I can't remember), but it seemed "heroic" at the time. She left me a picture album of herself as a child in school. The outside of the book said something about witchcraft. I joined the military group to explore a series of similar islands. I found several plastic palm trees, like one might use to decorate a cake. They were loosely placed in cups that were submerged in the ground, like golf holes. The next thing I remember is a man in a business suit carrying a briefcase, running down a country road. He wasn't actually moving, but the trees were passing by, as if they were props at a play. I noticed that he was trying to outrun a slow-moving black car, but he was shot by a helicopter. Somehow I sensed that he was running from a secret government agency. After that, I noticed myself in the middle of a cathedral-like building. There were members of British parliament in balconies above me, and judging by their white wigs, they were of the old days. I walked up some stair toward one of the balconies. It was pitch black, but I could see text naming someone if I touched them. Among the people in the balcony were Storm from the X-Men, the Thing from the Fantastic Four, and Trinity from the Matrix. I joined their group and walked back downstairs. I gigantic door opened up unto a long, industrial-looking road the curved uphill. People began shooting at us as we charged up the road. Then I woke up. If you read all of that, then you must be a very patient person. The whole point of this is to illustrate just how much it takes to describe the unusual and intricate details of my dreams, especially considering the lack of everyday terms to describe such events. How can I keep a dream journal without writing a short-story every morning? Does anybody else have dreams like this? Thanks.

[dodobird]

The dream journal doesn't have to be fine literature.. Just describe it as reasonably as you can, putting in as much details as possible without it taking too long from your day. If you think that you don't have time to write everything down, then write only some of it.

[soultraveller]

I have dreams like yours sometimes but I always have a feeling they're just a "stream of consciousness" thing - a bit like HI, and the only reason I write them in my DJ is to check how much I can remember or see if something interesting strikes me about them as I write. Most often they relate to programs I've been watching on TV, and I don't take them seriously. Although I was interested in your plastic palm trees for some reason Don't you think that sometimes you have a dream and just know it means something more than a series of random events? They're the sort of dreams that kind of haunt you through the day, and you get the idea there's a message in there somewhere.

[TaNK]

I would say keep writing as much as you can, but you need not do it in the morning. Instead, try what I do: 1. Wake up, and stay in bed for a minute or two to remember. 2. Keep a pad or notebook near your bed. Write down a few key words corresponding to the imprtant parts of your dreams. For example, the dream you mentioned would have keywords like "island, fake trees", "heroic album lady", "man in black, black car". Things like that. Depending on how good your memory is, you might be able to get away with "lady, islands, album, man in black". 3. Later in the day, look at your notes. You'll find that something as bland as "island" will trigger very vivid recall about that part of the dream. When you have the time, go ahead and use your notes to remember your short story and write it down. BTW, I'm not nearly the inventor of this, but it should make things easier. Hope I helped, and good luck with the recall.

[Chawp]

Thanks everybody. I'll try TaNK's method. It sounds like a good idea. soultraveller: I know why some of the images were in my dream. A lot of them had to do with things I saw on TV or the internet, or a game I played. I honestly have no idea what the plastic palm trees mean. :-)