Dream Journals

**lazerblade** · 12-05-2012 07:31 AM

Given my previous experience with not listening to that which was commonly stated as essential to attaining lucidity(specifically, having to sleep before WILD,) I am not planning to reject the idea of dream journals at all. But I'm not 100% sure why they are needed for every induction technique. I know they are great for targeting dream signs, improving recall, self-psychoanalysis, DILD, and other things, but for MILD and WILD what benefits do they provide for you? In MILD, do they help tell your subconscious that you want to be aware and logical during dream related events or what? What does it do for WILD? I have accepted dream journals the same way I would accept a martial arts teacher telling me to point my foot this way when performing some technique, but I'm still curious about the real reasons and mechanics behind them.

The plan is also to start my move from bring a lurker back to a participator by starting some kind of interesting discussion. Previously, my lucid regularity and progress had dropped as well. I wasn't doing RC's or awareness exercises because my days were 100% packed with stress and work, and I wasn't doing WILD because I didn't have time for WBTB. Now I'm just doing MILD based on Nayia's technique and planning to get my DJ going again.

**Michael073** · 12-05-2012 10:08 AM

Hello lazerblade! Always good to see people re-starting!

About Dream Journal...

1. Dream signs <- check
2. Improving Recall <- check
3. self-psychoanalysis <- check

Those 3 things u listened are already 3 important things why u should keep a dream journal.

The very very very very main reason why I keep a dream journal is simple, because it's fun.
Don't u think it's fun to write down EVERY single dream u can remember, and while reading it back sometimes u will rofl ur ass off.. was i really dreaming THAT...?

For me, writing down my dreams has become some sort of automatism.. already long before i even knew what lucid dreaming is.. because me and my girlfriend always shared our dreams we had in the morning.

It's even more fun if u can be dedicated enough to keep writing for 10 years+.. then u can use your Dream Journal as some sort of Fantasy Disney book for your kids. and when they go to bed and say: Daddyyyy/Mommyyy i want you to read out a story! And then u pick out ur funny dreams and tell them to your kids (maybe with a little modification here and there).
And then when they are older (like 16-18) u can tell them look; this is my dream journal were i have been working on for so many years, and i even read out my dream journal to tell you stories before u went to sleep.

Those things are just main reasons for me to keep my dream journal... maybe i am a bit hardcore in journal-ling but i think it's fun.

**Buhl** · 12-05-2012 02:41 PM

One main reason would be that, if you don't wake up immediately after a dream has ended, you can't remember it later without good recall.

Another thing that I have experienced after starting my journal is that you get more "in touch" with dreams in general and more aware, thus more likely to become lucid.

It can also be a really fun habbit as described above me and I hope you pick it up!

**ANunion** · 12-05-2012 04:15 PM

A dream journal of course enhances dream recall, but what im wondering is that, say my dream recall was a bit lacklustre, could you have a a lucid dream and forget it upon waking up?

Or would that feeling be something that you would most certainly remember?

**lazerblade** · 12-05-2012 04:41 PM

could you have a a lucid dream and forget it upon waking up?

Yes, it is. Sometimes I wake up and can't remember anything and then later that day just have this memory pop up and realize it was from a lucid I didn't know I'd had. Of course, at that point I can reconstruct all of the memory from that handle.

You realize of course, that without using equipment to read activity in whatever parts of your brain that are active when lucid, you can't prove whether or not you forgot a lucid because you don't remember it.

**Sensei** · 12-05-2012 04:55 PM

When I had pretty bad recall I had a dream that I looked at my hands, became lucid and I dont Remember anything else.

If you get a really long WILD you can easily forget parts. I also believe that dream journaling helps keep lucidity as well. I know what my dreams are like. Throughout the day I try and imagine what it would feel like if I was in a dream and then I become lucid.

You can always be in a dream.

**CharlesD** · 12-05-2012 08:04 PM

My normal dreams are usually pretty vivid, but there is still a certain feeling that comes with being lucid. Yesterday I was walking through the mall and had that feeling. I don't remember what I saw that triggered it, but I just stopped walking for a second and took stock of everything, because for just a brief moment I felt the same way that I had in a lucid dream that I had before waking up that morning. It was kind of strange, but it didn't really take long to confirm that I was awake.

For one, in my dreams I am rarely in real places. Even if I think really hard that I want to go home, I never can get to my current house. I will always end up in someplace I have lived in the past, or a random house I've never lived in. I can never seem to be in my real house in a dream. Cities and public places are the same. I will be in a city that in my dream I know to be New York, but it won't resemble the real New York. One of my goals is to get to a real place and have it actually look like the real place.

**Boulder** · 12-05-2012 08:28 PM

From what i know, to master the dream world you need to be aware of it and its nature. If you can keep track of it, you will get insight into reality as you experience it. YOu will better know the feel of the dream and getting lucid will be easier.