Question about DJs, dream recall.

I decided to do a small experiment over the past week and a half and stop writing in my dream journal, and only try to remember the dreams in my head. I got four lucid dreams, and two WILDs that week, and over this week, so far, one lucid dream. Is it really necessary to write your recalled dreams down, instead of just remembering the details in your head?

I know DJs are good to discover your dream signs and all, but I haven't had much of a problem with those. I don't have recurring dream signs.

Some people naturally have good recall, but then there are people such as myself who use DJs as an exercise to help build my own recall. Dedicating time to write down my dreams shows that I find my dreams important and I've found that you tend to better remember those things that are important to you. When I've stopped writing down my dreams, my recall goes down noticeably, though usually not right away.

Journaling also helps you to remember to recall your dreams. If you don't take those few minutes to write down dreams, there's not much to prevent you from just getting up and going about your day. If you can recall your dreams without a DJ, more power to you, but you'd be surprised what you can find from writing down dreams. Also, it gives you something to look back at in the future, and I love going back and reading something and thinking, "I remember that!"

Why writing is important

Writing something down almost always makes it easier to remember. Plus, you can always go back and read earlier dreams, which is fun in and of itself. :D Say you get a really great lucid, right? Wouldn't you rather have it written down in story form so you could read through it and "live" through it once more? Plus, if you recall it better and more clearly, there would be less reason to have to repeat your lucid goals and such. Just another tick on the list. :D

I recommend Banhurt's DJ program if you have a computer nearby. It adds a bit of a competitive edge in that you can gauge your scores against other members. Always fun to see your rank climb up the page. :D

But yeah, if you can recall everything just as well without a DJ as you can with one (which I kinda doubt, but it's not beyond the realm of plausibility), then go ahead and ditch the journal.

I can tell you from my own experience that you'll regret not having a DJ down the road. Like yourself, I too was always able to recall my dreams and managed to get lucids without much effort on a regular basis. Luckily, I've carried most of those with me to this day without writing any of them down. However, over time, I've lost the details of a few very important LDs and have completely forgotten others. There were just too many to manage all at once.

I found that writing down my dreams, if only the lucids, takes the strain off of remembering all of the LDs I've had in the past, if only slightly. Take it from someone who's been there, no matter how developed you think your recall is, there is a limit to the number of dreams you will be able to accurately recall. If you plan on LDing for the rest of your life. . . well. . . I think you get the point.