Thread: Why have a Dream Journal?

the main reason is to help your recall, becuase journally is telling your subconsiouice that you are serious about dreaming and lucid dreaming

yes write everything...and even how it made you feel...i hope this helped

good luck on your Lucid dreaming journey


and btw lucids are worth the effort!

If your recall is good enough, you don't really HAVE to keep a journal. But for people whose recall is not up to par, say max 3 dreams per night, keeping a dream journal can help them build that up and remember details of dreams better. Why does this help? A few reasons.

Firstly, if you have a lucid dream you'll be more likely to actually remember it once you've woken up. Just as you can easily forget a non-lucid dream, you can forget lucid dreams.

Secondly, it will help you determine your dream signs, so that you can do better at getting lucid. Having better recall increases the chances that you're going to realize that something shows up in your dreams frequently.

Third, I forget the third because I was just distracted. See how important recall is? Umm... well here is the fourth in place of third: being dedicated enough and having the motivation to keep a dream journal tends to help your lucid dreaming endeavors for whatever reason- people like to say that it tells your subconscious that you are serious about remembering your dreams and learning to lucid dream. Whether or not that's why, it still seems to help.

I'll post the third when I remember it hahaha

Ah wait never mind. It was that if you train yourself to remember the details of your dreams better, overall the non-lucid AND lucid dreaming experiences will be better because instead of just "I remember being in a room with wood flooring and I knew it was a dream" you will be able to recall the amazing details that help make lucid dreaming the incredibleness that it is!

The late billybob held to the stance that it is always good to keep a DJ. It helps bridge the gap between your sub-conciouss and conciouss mind and so not only does it help your dream recall but improves cross-over memory, (remembering things from the waking world in LDs.) Plus, it's fun!

Anyway, welcome to the forums.

See ya' around.
~Spock

I think it is important to think of it as developing a new habit. You need to get to the point where you automatically wake up and start scribbling in your journal.

Plus, like taking notes during a lecture, it helps you commit the fleeting memories to long term memories. The act of writing helps grind those amazing experiences into your memory so you won't lose them.

I look back on my old dream journals all the time. I review them alongside my sketchbooks for inspiration.

The main thing is that you can find dream signs that you may not have recognized if you didn't have a written record of your dreams.