I need a replacement for dream journal.

**Zalak123** · 12-03-2011 12:21 AM

Okay.

So I've been having a long dry spell. And I realized this happened right after I stopped writing in my dream journal. (I really can't write in it. Due to personal reasons which I will not go in to.) Anyways. Is there a replacement for a dream journal to give me LDs and improve dream recall?

**Robot_Butler** · 12-03-2011 01:17 AM

You could try keeping an audio journal with some sort of voice recorder. If you don't like words, you could keep a sketch book type journal. What don't you like about keeping a dream journal?

**Zalak123** · 12-03-2011 03:08 AM

It can't be any sort of journal.

Audio

Sketches

Anything.

I CANNOT write a dream jornal

Or draw drema pictures.

And I will not go into why.

**Darkmatters** · 12-03-2011 03:17 AM

Well, one way to help you recall dreams without keeping a journal is to wake up and immediately review the dreams you can remember as if you're telling them to someone. Same advice applies - don't move, don't open your eyes, but go through and remember as much as you can and put it into words (this is the important part) like you're explaining it to somebody.

I mean you can just do it in your head - you don't have to say it out loud or anything. Just make sure to put it into words. This impresses it onto your memory a lot better.

**Zalak123** · 12-03-2011 03:33 AM

Thanks.

I tried that before. But I didn't know not to move.

I'll defiantly try this tomorow morning.

But wait?

Will this help me become lucid at all?

**n00bf0rlyf3** · 12-03-2011 05:04 AM

Sorry but your recall is not going to improve without writing in your journal

**ShadowOfSelf** · 12-03-2011 10:28 PM

If you have an iphone/ipod - app called sleep talk recorder, it records any loud sounds that happen whilst you sleep. It works great, though i havnt tried it for recording dreams i assume you could wake up, without moving and just say out your dreams, or even just keywords if your that tired, then fall straight back to sleep. I dont know if this would affect a DEILD but atleast you dont have to move to record your dreams.
I would still suggest recording them in a journal after you wake though, I dont know what personal reasons you could have to stop you.. you could write them on your phone so no one sees if thats why?

**Reagan** · 12-03-2011 10:47 PM

I hate to be Johnny Raincloud here, but it would really help us to answer you if we had an idea as to why a DJ isn't an appropriate solution to your problem. No offense or anything!

**Zalak123** · 12-04-2011 07:10 AM

It's not someone else seeing it.

It's rather hard to explain.

**fOrceez** · 12-04-2011 11:42 PM

Then it's rather hard to help

**Zalak123** · 12-05-2011 12:29 AM

All you need to know is that I can't keep any sort of dream journal.

I can recite my dreams in my mind.

Or even talk about them with a friend.

I just can't keep a recorded jornal

**ShadowOfSelf** · 12-05-2011 12:02 PM

Originally Posted by Zalak123

All you need to know is that I can't keep any sort of dream journal.

Then how are we meant to find a replacement..?
All i can think of is recording soundclips when you wake up?
If that is still considered dream journalling then I dunno.. draw a picture of your dream?

**JohnnyBoi** · 12-05-2011 01:43 PM

There is a program that I use called DreamJournal 2.6. It is owned by Banhurt. It can also put a password on it so that only you can open it.

**Zoth** · 12-05-2011 03:16 PM

We can only suggest good alternatives if you give us at least an abstract idea on why you can't use a dream journal. If the problem was someone seeing it, we would suggest X. if the problem was you live with someone who you can't wake up, we would suggest Y.

**Howlgram** · 12-05-2011 06:12 PM

Originally Posted by Zalak123

All you need to know is that I can't keep any sort of dream journal.

I can recite my dreams in my mind.

Or even talk about them with a friend.

I just can't keep a recorded jornal

Write your dreams down on paper, then tear the paper apart and throw it into a fire or just dump it, in that way they are not going to be recorded

This makes total sense with the info that you are giving ^_^ lol, and should solve the problem.

**Zalak123** · 12-05-2011 09:26 PM

No it's a traditional thing of keep the past a mystery never record.
My folks are weird.

**ShadowOfSelf** · 12-05-2011 10:13 PM

What kind of tradition is that? So you're not allowed anything of sentimental value, no photos, nothing?
Surely they cant check up on everything your doing, if you was to record it on your phone for instance?

**pepsibluefan** · 12-05-2011 10:25 PM

The only thing I would try that doesn't involve any journal of any shape or form is just try a different food diet or go to bed earlier. What about naps? I would also look online and find memory games and puzzles that exorcise your mind. I never heard of anyone doing this or succeeding at it, but what do you got to loose? Let's try to experiment some.

**JohnnyBoi** · 12-05-2011 10:35 PM

I guess you can't keep any type of journal then even if it's on the computer. But then again, they don't have to know.

No offense, but that is an idiotic tradition to me. What about the childhood photos that could be extremely precious to an individual?
No disrespect intended but damn, if I were you I would have went crazy.

**fOrceez** · 12-05-2011 10:39 PM

Wait, so are you not allowed to even own a diary?

**Zalak123** · 12-05-2011 11:38 PM

Well no

Pictures are okay.

I just can't go into detail.

They say I can't live in the past.

**ShadowOfSelf** · 12-05-2011 11:47 PM

Tell them they are dreams. You didnt actually 'live' them, therefore theres no living in the past.. dreaming in the past if you will.
And living in the past is one thing, but remembering the past is a human right, they are telling you, you cant have memories???
Me personally, no disrespect to you or your family, I would tell them to stuff it, like anyone could take away someones rights to remember something, how do you expect to have a future with no past?

**Zalak123** · 12-06-2011 12:52 AM

Thanks shadow.

I'll try that.

**dreamguy1515** · 12-06-2011 02:39 AM

@Zalak123, good luck with your parents

**Entaria** · 12-06-2011 03:09 AM

What if - as suggested - you were to write the dream down initially when you wake up, and then once you've had time to go over it in your head so you will be able to remember it, you get rid of it - by ripping up the paper, deleting the document, whatever. That way, you aren't keeping a journal of any kind, but the act of writing it down will serve as a memory aide.

Otherwise, whenever you wake up, just spend a few minutes focusing on what you had been dreaming. This is generally what I do. When I tried to keep a regular dream journal where I would write down the dream immediately after waking up, I found that I actually had a greater tendency to forget. I would have false awakenings in which I wrote the dream down, and then when I actually woke up, I'd completely forgotten it.

It sounds like you yourself are not big on this tradition, so why not just write the journals anyway and hide them? Keep them in with your schoolwork, keep them at school, write them as "fictional" stories (or story ideas), or make sketches.

Also, a note on the lucid dreaming aspect: keeping a dream journal is not necessarily going to help you to lucid dream (although the mere fact that you're thinking about it may help), but it WILL help you with better dream recall, which is an important part of lucid dreaming. If you can't remember your dreams, then what's the point of attaining lucidity? When left to it's own devices, most people's brains only keep your dreams in short term-memory, and won't encode them into long-term memory, because dreams aren't important. Keeping a dream journal, or taking the time to remember and repeat your dreams to yourself, will help you to move those memories to long-term memory at first, and eventually will retrain your brain to automatically encode your dreams to long-term memory, because now they are important.