Dream Journal method - could be working?

It's been well over a month since my last (and first) couple of LD's. The frustration of failing to have another has led me to try just about every method I could find on this site: MILD, WILD, audible cues, BrainWaveGen, B6.... I even tried NOT trying so hard.

Of all the methods I came across, one of the most fundamental - dream journal - was one that I felt had the least relevance for me. I never really had a problem with dream recall, and I had already identified my dream sign (note screen name) before learning about lucid dreaming. However, a few days ago in the chatroom OpheliaBlue (and friends) convinced me to give it a try, "it somehow really works". So, armed with a spiral notebook and a pen, I've been trying it.

Close Call

1st missed cue:
It was one of those horrible dreams where my teeth are falling out. My mom is driving me around to somekind of appointments all around town. This alone should have tipped me off as a dream - she passed away a few years ago. It still bothers me that I completely ignored this painful reality in my dream.

2nd cue, barely slips away:
At one point in the dream I was stressing over my teeth when I remembered that I have had dreams about teeth falling out before, so it was time to do a reality check. I'm walking towards the glass doors on my way out of this building. I decide to try leap off the steps and fly once I get outside. But as I push the doors open I convinced myself that I was awake. Why? Because everything was just too real!

So, maybe I was lucid enough to see and feel the dream so real - but not convinced enough to participate in it. I don't know. But it is the closest I have come in some time. Maybe the dream journal is helping - "somehow". Or not?

NOTE: I've been in a pretty crappy mood the last few days and last night I just ended up staying up later than normal yet getting up at my usual time. I'm wondering if that caused me to wake closer to the middle of my REM cycle - hmmmmm.

Anyway, not giving up on the journal yet. 8)

i have to admit, i find that when i'm not worrying too much about the lucid dreaming, and just concentrate on recall, i am more likely to have them.
although i haven't had one since the 1st of feb, which was a while ago, there's been a couple of false awakenings, but i've had too much going on to worry about lucidity, i've been more concerned with sleep!!

I dunno...

Ive been entering dream journal stuff 3 or 4 times a week, pretty detailed stuff, and my LDing rate has pretty much stayed the same...

I'm studying LD since the beginning of january and since them I'm writing every dream I recall in my dream journal.

I think the dream journal is a very good tool, for lots of reason:

1) - You get historical data

When you read a dream that you had a couple of months ago you can remember that dream and revive it with every detail. It's like be there again.

You can start to recognize things that it's not possible just recalling the dreams in your brain. The human brain cannot store so many data (40, 50 dreams) and compare it. I, for example, started to see that I had two kinds of dreams: very day ones and very night ones. The night ones are not dark, but a very dusk/dawn/fuzzy light.

I can say that at least 30% of my dream signs I just recognize after started to write my dream journal.


2) - You get statistics, so YOU can see the trends.

I had a total of 126 dream entries: 49 in january, 60 in february and 17 in march. From that 12 of the dreams were lucids (5 in january, 6 in february and 1 in march).

I also have the dreams per week:
February
--------
week 4 - 18 (1 lucid)
week 3 - 12
week 2 - 16 (3 lucids)
week 1 - 10

January
-------
week 4 - 11 (2 lucids)
week 3 - 16 (2 lucids)
week 2 - 12 (1 lucid)
week 1 - 07

3) - You can have your goals in your journal

As suggested in EWLD book, I put my short and long term goals in my journal. I think it helps me get motivated to achieve lucidity.


4) - You can see if you are improving

Recording every dream/LD I had I can see if I'm improving from month to month.

5) - You can see trends

When the situation is relevant I write, just before the dream, what happenned in the night, if something different occurs, etc. This helps me see trends and I could repeat something and see if it works again.

6) - You can have everything LD related in your journal

I tried to put everything that I think can improve my LDs in my dream journal. As I said previously I write my dreams/LD, put my goals (short/long term), statistics, what I have achieved (like the lucid tasks from Seeker), my dream signs, and so on.

Well, I do not know if it's the dream journal, but I'm having consistency and regularity in my lucid dreams. As the numbers says, ~10% of my dreams (recalled) are lucidy. I think it's a good number to 2 months of study.

Well, if you read all the post, congratulations, you'll have a lucid dream tonight or your money back! :D

Hmmm, Recently I started keeping a dream journal and making the effort to actually roll over after every time I wake from a dream and write down as much as I can remember. For me it worked well, before I would have Lucid dreams on my own but thanks to this site and methods i've been introduced to my LD frequency has increased 10 fold. Its a pain in the ass I know. But on my off days (3/week) I have the time so I make the effort.

Also after getting a few dreams on paper you can review them for common trends, which for me has been a HUGE help. I found common trends in my dreams and made myself a list: "If I experience or see this _____ I am dreaming" This method has worked great for me. Also not trying so hard helps, instead of focusing in a general way of LD'ing, focus on recoginizing dream signs/questioning logic/dream recall and try to keep and open analytical mind... Just my two cc's

Quote:

---

Originally posted by cerebusdreamer

---

Amen to everything posted above

I think dream journals are a must for anyone interested in their dreams. I'm not sure if mine's helping me to become lucid at all, but at least I can see my dream history and when I was lucid dreaming on a regular basis, I was able to tell at a glance how far apart my LD's were. I use a spiral notebook, as well as writing mine down into an online jouranal, which keeps track of my dream symbols for me and lists my top dream symbols.

Plus I like looking back and reading my old dreams from years before. It's interesting to be able to do that and read through the dreams knowing what I was going through at that point in my life and being able to see how it related to my dreams at the time.

sicerely I used the dj only maybe the first week and ever touched again i dont know whats the big hype with it. my advice would be to practice all the techniques that you can and eventually one or two of them will suit you really well.. its been almost 2month that I knew about lding and I can have a ld pretty much every night or should I say morning
if I want. they arent that long and some of tehm are not so vivid but I guess its prety good for a start.

Another advice is to not take every advice (we have a paradox here) come to your own conclusion ld's are in your mind its not exact science so test