I just started trying to dream journal...

Ok, here's the thing. I started having lucid dreams about a year ago. I never said to myself "I'm going to start lucid dreaming"; instead, I began to have them because I was interested in the subject and read about them a lot. Because of this, I never actually started a dream journal.

Recently, I decided that I had cheated myself long enough, and that I should start keeping a dream journal. I wanted to try it for at least few weeks and see what happens. So I put a composition book, a flashlight, and a pencil on my bed next to me, and I have been trying to focus on recording my dreams.

So far, not so good. Last night, I went to bed and then my morning alarm went off. It was one of those nights that seems to pass in the blink of an eye, and I couldn't remember a thing. I think that I need to be more precise and persistent in auto suggestion. I've been saying "I will remember my dreams," but perhaps I should say "I will wake up and remember my dreams." I don't know.

Anyway, I've read other threads and people seem to either set their alarms to go off in the middle of the night (which I know won't work for me) drink tall glasses of water before they go to bed, or mysteriously do it through auto-suggestion. I guess I could try the water thing, although I usually drink some water before I go to bed anyway.

So, I have two questions:

1) How did you start dream journaling? Are there any other methods that I don't know about? Why can't I seem to start?

2) Does dream journaling make your dreams seem more vivid? My lucid dreams (as well as normal dreams) have often been hazy, and I thought it was perhaps due to my hazy dream memory.

I find that I have way more luck on weekends. During the week I don't get much sleep, and wake up to an alarm, but on weekends I just sleep until I wake up, and I tend to remember (and record) more dreams.

Are there any dreams that you do remember? If so write them down. Read over it before you go bed. I find that that helps me recall my dreams a great deal. And try to be sensitive to anything that happens during the day after you wake up that might trigger recall. During dryspells where I don't remember my dreams instantly, I've sometimes seen something on the ground that reminds me of my dream from the night before.

On the whole, keeping a DJ helps a ton for having clear recall. Try to write down as much detail as you can. I don't know if doing so actually makes your dreams more vivid but it surely makes your recall of them more vivid.

I began dream journaling with autosuggestion. An old one I used was "I will wake up after every dream period and perfectly remember my dream." Kind of lengthy, but it worked. Simpler variations would be like "I will be aware of waking after every dream." Anyway, it took a few days before I remembered much, but it was successful - some mantras work better than others, and you've just got to find one that suits you. Something you might want to include in whatever mantra you decide on is the aspect of waking up right after each dream. You will be able to recall dreams without autosuggestion, however it is more difficult(in my opinion) and building up recall takes longer. Don't worry if you start out not remembering anything.

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Originally Posted by PhilosopherStoned

On the whole, keeping a DJ helps a ton for having clear recall. Try to write down as much detail as you can. I don't know if doing so actually makes your dreams more vivid but it surely makes your recall of them more vivid.

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I agree with this for both types of dreams. As for lucid dreams, there are many things you can do to increase vividness.

Also, here is a helpful tutorial on dream recall.

It honestly just takes time. I started once again from recalling 0 dreams a night, and after a month im recalling at least one a night now, sometimes up to 3 or 4.

A month is not long in terms of dreaming. You have your whole life ahead of you. Just keep it at it, it really is just a case of it sinking into your mind over time.

Thanks everyone for the replies! I'm trying to write even if I don't enter the dream state, just to get into the habit.

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Originally Posted by Higurashi

Something you might want to include in whatever mantra you decide on is the aspect of waking up right after each dream.

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Thanks for the tip! I should have thought of that. I kept using mantras to say that I will remember my dreams, instead of saying that I will wake up after every dream. I will try that tonight. I just starting trying out FAT, or the focus attention technique, for auto-suggestion. I like it so far; we'll see how it works in the long run.