Thread: What's a good format for a dream journal??

I've been lazy with my online journal, so really I'm a bad example But I like having a description too.

But I format mine as:

Title
Synopsis:
Night Time Note:
Title of the Dream again
dream entry, lucid is blue

Having a synopsis makes it easier for me to quickly find a dream I'm looking for, some times titles aren't enough. And I think they make it easier for other readers, not that I have any.

My night time notes is mostly for me, if I tried a new induction technique or if I just had a bad night. Just to see if there is any correlation to that and my dream. Choosing a different color for lucid is also good. Also sometimes I highlight key words to help me identify what my tags should be.

Dream name.

Type: regular dream.
Lucidity: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Vividness: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Important notes:
I put anything the reader should know here, like if I went to bed early that night or if I took medicine.

I now describe the dream.

Thanks guys, I am going to toy around with a few of these ideas, like puffin your rating thing is good, but I wouldn't know how much a rating of 7 would be cause I am too unexperienced, and juroara that highligting of tag words is a good idea, thanks again.

Anyone else have any good ideas. And should I number my Lucid dreams, or all my dreams?

I'll just quickly post my own lucidity scale.
1- Not lucid or aware.
2- Not lucid, but more aware than I normally am.
3- Consider the fact briefly that I might be dreaming, but ignore it.
4- Become lucid but it's very low-level, I don't break from the dream plot.
5- Become lucid and it's mid-level, more awareness than the previous number but still not enough to break from the dream plot.
6- Become lucid and it's mid-level, I can change the dream plot.
7- Become lucid and it's a higher level lucidity, I can change the dream plot. It's like I'm "there" but my mind isn't fully functioning.
8- Higher level lucid than the previous, my mind is functioning properly.
9- Higher level lucid than the previous, almost fully lucid.
10- So lucid, i's like I'm actually there!

In that scale, I'm usually a 7 or 8.

Vividness is just how much you can remember the dream, almost every detail remembered is a 10.

Okay thanks puffin, that will help. One question in a dream lets say that is 5, have you ever experienced knowing your lucid, but when you try to walk one way the dream forces you to walk another way to continue the plot, like its a current in water, really hard to walk the opposite way?

No problem!
I think you're talking about losing lucidity because you end up forgetting what you're about to do, and follow the dream plot again. That's happened to me a few times. With that level of lucidity though, it's not a surprise. It's hard to think critically and concentrate on your own advancing of the dream plot when you're not that aware.

In my DJ, I've worked out a nice standard system. I modeled it on a lab notebook (being a scientist, it kind of comes naturally). Anyway, here's the format:




DAY MONTH, YEAR (dating from the day I wake up in)

Procedure: Here, I list what time I go to sleep (approximately, of course) anything dream-related I do before going to sleep, and what time (or times) I wake up. I also list my 'morning procedure,' basically what I do when I wake up.
Dreams: Each of these are titled creatively (for example, I had a dream where FBI agents were after a tin of beans, which I called "Spooks Want Beans"), and categorized into full dream or fragmentary dream.
My rating system for each dream (which shall be detailed later)
V:
C:
R:
E:
W:
Total:
Results: Comments on procedure and dreams recalled. Here is where I list anything interesting happening within my dreams.
Dream Signs: List all dream signs which appeared tonight

My rating system goes thusly:
V: Vividity/Sensory Intensity; 0 (detached/can't recall)--10 (fully & perfectly realistic)
C: Dream Control; 0 (Non-Lucid regular dream)- 1-3 (Semi-lucid/ failed lucid)--10 (perfectly lucid with omnipotence)
R: Recall Quality; 0 (didn't remember at all)--10 (perfect & complete recall)
E: Emotional Intensity; 0 (detached/can't recall)--10 (realistic and lingering past dream state)
W: Dream Weirdness/Entertainment Value; 0 (entirely boring)--10 (wacky beyond imagining/extremely amusing hijinks)

Wow thanks plamadude! That's a lot of detail, I like it. There are plenty of ideas i like from it, thanks for sharing!

Here's mine:

Date: <YYYYMMDD>
Type: <insert type>
Level: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Lucidity: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Vividness: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Recall: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

<Any notes>

<insert what happened in the dream here. If it's fragmented, list key symbols>

----

Some of the things explained:

TYPES: What kind of type of dream it is, according to your definition of it.
Examples: Nightmare, Fragmented Dream, Wet Dream, Symbolic Dream, etc.

LEVEL: Emotional or Spritual significance and value of a dream.
1.0-2.5=Hardly valuable. Not worth giving a crap about. Just random thoughts and visions.
2.5-5.0=Notable. Worth giving attention to. Moderate to Intermediate significance.
5.0-7.5=Quite notable. Very worth noting. Significant emotions and events.
7.5-10=Very/Extremely significant/valuable. Without a doubt important.

LUCIDITY and VIVIDNESS: Pretty self-explainitory.

RECALL: How well you remmember the dream.

----

Hope you like.

You guys make it so complex... mine is
What I want to say about the night
Dream 1
Dream 2
Dream 3
Dream 4
So on...

I personally do it very unorganized, as I see the purpose of a dream journal as increasing dream recall, so I just write down my dreams in a notepad, I just number them, thats it.

I've been lazy with mine but the general layout I've always used is:

Title
Date
How many dreams I had.
Descriptions.