So how much detail should a dream journal have?

So I started back to school earlier this month and when I get up I do the usual taking of notes of my dreams, so I can write them down later, then I get ready and go to school. I've noticed that when I wake up I have a good memory of my dreams, however, When I get off of school later in the day, it seems some of my memory has faded and most of the time I only remember the small notes that I took.

So, my question is even though I'm remembering the key points of my dream and sometimes not the whole dream, will it still benefit me doing what I'm doing now or should I wake up a little earlier so I could write more down or what? Thanks for reading and any suggestions will be helpful. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Silver Bullet

So I started back to school earlier this month and when I get up I do the usual taking of notes of my dreams, so I can write them down later, then I get ready and go to school. I've noticed that when I wake up I have a good memory of my dreams, however, When I get off of school later in the day, it seems some of my memory has faded and most of the time I only remember the small notes that I took.

So, my question is even though I'm remembering the key points of my dream and sometimes not the whole dream, will it still benefit me doing what I'm doing now or should I wake up a little earlier so I could write more down or what? Thanks for reading and any suggestions will be helpful. :)

---

There is not direct answer to your question. Maybe the simplest response could be: Do, whatever could benefit you in your Lucid dreaming journey. There are more approaches, which you might take and decission is yours to make, becouse you are the only one who knows about Your mindset.

You may want to keep detailed journal, write down everything you dreamt of for future reference.

You may keep two documents. One for taking notes, which might help you recall specifics of your dream later on and the second one which could be used to store dreams worth remembering.

You may use your dream journal as self development tool and track your progress into it. you may also write down what you are planning to do, even LD induction method results.

Each of this possibilities (And there are surely more) has its advantages and disadvantages. Your choice depends on what role your dream journal should have in your LD development.

Time to sit down and think about it for a while.

Hope this helps.

Andy

Hey thanks for the reply man. Those are some good ideas, especially keeping two journals, one for notes and one for the worthy dreams. I would never of thought of that, I may start doing that soon, it might relieve stress of trying to remember all of my dreams in extreme detail every night. I think I may be trying too hard to have another lucid, might be why I cant have one :) Anyways, thanks again for the reply and advice :D

When I wake up in the middle of the night after a dream i write notes at the top of a new page in my dream journal and then in the morning I write out the full version, I don't like leaving it later than that. If I'm in a rush in the mornings i might type it into my phone while on the train to work and copy it into my journal later.

Generally i find more detail is better, completing a highly detailed dream journal is very satisfying :)

But of course people have different preferences with these things

I don't write down every small detail, because that could take a while, and be annoying. I just write down the key points, what my actions were, and some things that I saw. If it's a dream that meant a lot to you and you don't want to forget then write down as much as you can.

Thats what I was thinking was the more detail the better the recall. However, I don't have a cell phone or laptop or anything to type on when I'm on the go. I guess I'll make do with what I have at the moment.

And yes it is pretty annoying writing down every detail in a dream every day. I've spent over an hour writing down a very detailed dream, but I guess whats the point since I'm the only one whose going to be reading and writing in it, plus I guess if I just put down the necessary details then I wont forget. I'll probably just start doing that. Unless I'm bored, then I don't mind writing for an hour :)

I write all details that i can, because i know that if i wont, i'll forget 90% of the dream.

It's funny to write every detail, and later read it thinking "WHAT THE FUCK?How can i forgot this?"

Ha Ha! I know what you mean. I've had a lot of times I'll write down a note like "bought new car" and then later I have no recollection of it.

Go for as much detail as you can remember or as much detail as time permits you to record.

The important things to note are things that capture your attention. Identify the major things that catch your attention, then write out what happens next.

Thanks for the advice The Cusp. I've been going to bed a little bit earlier so I may be able to get up earlier and write down a little more detail and leave the extream detail for when I get home.