How do you personally record your dreams?

[bombdiggity]

So I know this is sort of a weird question, but the process of recording my dreams has been annoying me lately. How do you actually record your dreams? By this I mean, what do you record them on, how detailed do you do it, and when do you do it? For instance, I keep a notebook by my bed, but whenever I wake up after a dream, I always feel too lazy to write my dream down. Instead, I grab my phone and make a note with some brief details, depending on the length of the dream. I later go back and try to fill out as much as I can remember in my dream journal on my laptop. But I don't think my method is very effective, since I don't write down very much initially. How do you record your dreams and how detailed do you make it when you FIRST write it down?

[Puffin]

I would recommend against using a phone or digital screen with a backlight at night, because the light can prevent you from falling asleep and maybe even inhibit dream recall to an extent. But if you're not having problems with it, that's okay! I keep a sheet of looseleaf at my bedside, along with a pencil. If I wake up and remember a dream, I gather up what I can remember and, without getting out of bed or turning the lights on, I write down important points on the paper - just the larger details, not going into patterns on the carpet or what people were wearing unless those details were prominent. In this DJ entry, for example, I'd have written down on the looseleaf the following things (tried to get it as close to what I'd actually write). - Daytime, standing on driveway, mom stops me from leaving - Gravel road, flew small yellow plane to mountainous area - Dodge a train, kids steal piece of plane in alley The next morning, I look over my scrawl of notes and usually remember even more details than I'd recalled that night. I then type them up on my Dreamviews DJ. Oh, and here's a picture of my setup. x) Water, earplugs, clock, looseleaf... and sharpie. I lost my pencil.

[DREAMER242000]

I keep a small Dictation recorder beside my bed and after each dream throughout the night I use this. For me the main benefit of this is I can record with my eyes still closed and I then find it easier to get back to sleep. Then after I get up I transfer these into my main Dream Journal.

[Kezune]

I keep a journal by my bedside and record my dreams after I wake up and give myself some time to collect my memories from the night. So I wake up, lay there for a second (letting the puppy bark for a little bit) just to think back on my dream. I do my reality check, grab my journal and start jotting down major themes, usually in chronological order (it's rare that I need to remember my dreams in reverse). After I've taken the dogs out for their morning leak, I have breakfast, sit at my computer and fill out the details of my dream using the prompts in my hard-copy journal since I type more fluidly than I write. When I'm done, I copy the virutal entry into my bedside journal. Sometimes, I remember little details as far as a or more week out, when I read back on my dreams. I add those details to my bedside journal. I also keep a large, leather-bound sketchbook to record and illustrate my most memorable dreams. At the end of the month, I track what days of the week I had the most lucid dreams and recall, which weeks I got the best recall and lucidity and I make a little graph in my bedside journal (It's a little graph-paper journal, anyway).

[ninja9578]

I use a little notebook sometmies, but lately I've just been trying to remember, (not working)

[Mancon]

I have a notebook by my bed and I just write down the key points right after I wake up. Then later I update my Dream Journal on here and describe my entry more.

[bombdiggity]

I would recommend against using a phone or digital screen with a backlight at night, because the light can prevent you from falling asleep and maybe even inhibit dream recall to an extent. But if you're not having problems with it, that's okay! I keep a sheet of looseleaf at my bedside, along with a pencil. If I wake up and remember a dream, I gather up what I can remember and, without getting out of bed or turning the lights on, I write down important points on the paper So you don't turn lights on? My main concern with that is that it's dark in my room when I wake up (I have these huge curtains that block out the only window in my room) so it is hard to see what I'm writing. Any suggestions? Should I use my phone's light for that? This seems like I'm complicating what seems like a simple problem but it's bugging me And thanks for the replies, I got some good ideas

[Puffin]

You can turn room lights on (I make a personal choice not to do that); it's not harmful for recall. But looking at a bright screen that's right in front of you can have detrimental effects. I essentially just write in the dark; different people will do different things but that's how I do it - I can remember details better when it's dark and quiet.

[Paigesaddiction]

I have a note pad application on my BlackBerry now, I used to write them down in my diary, but I've found it is a lot easier and quicker to jot them down on my phone. I always have my phone on me so I can flick through them at any time. "All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream." ♥

[Vespara]

I just go to my computer and open my word document that contains all the entries (I keep it open to record anything I remember during the day).

[matemlak]

I have a dream journal app on my iPad. When I wake up in the morning, I try to remember and review what went on during my dream before getting out of bed. Then I'll turn my iPad on and write down as much as I remember, in as much detail as I can. I usually also like to include thoughts or intentions as well that I had in the dream. Usually I can get quite a few paragraphs in.

[IAmCoder]

I record my dreams in a program that I wrote back in high school and have been maintaining over the years: LD3. Dreams definitely have a very short half-life, so the sooner you write them down the better.

[JussiKala]

My PC is in the same room as my bed and I hate writing by hand, and don't own a voice recorder, nor would I use one, so I just write up in notepad, with first writing down major events, then clarifying, and then either going away in a hurry or going back to sleep. Then when I have the next opportunity to access my computer, I usually remember more details and have more time to make sense out of them, so I just type the whole thing up completely later.

[UnderTheBlueOfYourMystery]

Personally I keep my dream journal at my bed, wake up, take a shower while remembering my dream and only then I record it. As for using a cellphone for writing notes why not voice record it instead?

[DaTechnoKing]

I remember as much detail as I can and then write down my dream on the computer in a notepad. Then post to DV.

[JussiKala]

Also, I usually do the process throughout the day. First, basic plot. Then expand. Then go away for a few hours pondering what more happened, then expand on the thing more. Then repeat. Maybe twice. Then if it's good enough or not embarrassing I might end up posting it on DV.

[Fale55]

I use to keep a dream journal. But by the time I finished all my details in the dream my handwriting looks like garbage, and it's usually hard to get back to sleep. So now I use my voice recorder on my iPod, so I just sound drunk.

[korky]

i keep an awake journal in my dream space and when have a lucid i take notes of what happened during my physical time. this way no need to worry about writing, lights or recorders i can just 'want' it all on the page at once. : ) minus the sillyness, jot dot points between REM's with my finger over a head torch to minimise the brightness. i have tried in the dark and too many times written sentences over sentences and left with nothing retrievable. i am interested in maybe using a red light/globe to minimise the shock to the system of a bright LED or lamp. i like the recorder idea but not overly accessible here. that reminds me, must go and make sense of last night...

[duke396]

I try to jot down notes between dreams if I wake up enough to do so. I usually roll over and grab my phone and type in a few notes because its much quicker and requires little to no effort on my part. I have terrible handwriting and don't write fast enough to suit me, but sometimes I write in an actual notebook anyway if the light on the phone bothers me. If I have time when I wake up the final time I'll review my notes and try to fill in the gaps and then type it to a detailed journal on my computer. If I don't have time, I'll drive to work while thinking about the dreams in more detail and write more notes and then when I get off work I'll review all my notes and transfer to my computer journal. A few years ago I'd write the entire journal entries between dreams. I wish I could still do that because the details were incredible, but it disrupted my sleep too much when I had to get up in the morning. The problem I have now is sometimes after almost 12 hours have passed between the time I write the notes and the time I write the journal entry, I'll look at the notes and not have a clue what I was talking about. Also, for my main journal I now use Coder's LD3. It's a huge step up over my insanely long Word documents separated by dashes, and easier to cross-reference..

[Frogga]

I don't really find recording dreams helpful. I record extremely good/weird ones sometimes, but very rarely. Recording them all the time just piles them up and I can manage to easily recall at least two dreams a night vividly without a dream journal.

[smoothcriminal1]

I have a blue journal where I write them down.

[Wolfheart]

Since I can't have a little desk near my bed I keep my Dream journal under my pillow so when I wake up, I see if I remember anything and if I do I'll quickly take it out and start writing.

[Evolventity]

I sloppily jot down some key notes from my dreams with a pencil and paper lying next to my bed and type them up in full description later in my Waking Journal here on DreamViews.