Dream Journal |Everything You Need To Know

By My Dreams Meaning •  Updated: 09/27/19 •  9 min read

Humans have been trying to study dreams and to understand their significance and meaning since ages.

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The purpose of the dreams is still not very clearly understood. It has been a topic of scientific, philosophical and religious interest for long.

Some experts believe that documenting dreams can help to get more clarity.

dream journal

What Is A Dream Journal?

A dream journal, also sometimes referred to as a dream diary is a record of experiences that you dream in your sleep.

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This diary reflects relevant or unusual things that happen in your dreams.

On the basis of these dreams, you start researching and analyzing what they might mean.

This serves as an amazing source of insight into your inner heart. It is mainly a fun exercise.

It helps you to make sense of what is going in your mind.

Why You Should Keep A Dream Journal?    

Dreams can easily be forgotten so it is necessary to record the dreams in your dream journal.

We always experience hopes, fears, anger, anxiety and many more feelings in the dreams.

Dream can be of multiple types such as frightening, exciting, adventurous or sexual.

Hence, maintaining a dream journal serves as an intangible, consistent record of all such feelings.

It helps to record the things that go in your mind. This helps you work through obstacles, and can even assist you in making better decisions in life.

Dreams occur in the rapid-eye-movement stage of sleep when there is high brain activity.

The length of a dream may vary.

Some dreams might last for a few seconds whereas some can go on for a few minutes as well. Dreams that occur at night are usually of long duration.

Some scholars believe that these dreams reveal the inner desires and emotions that are related to childhood memories or obsessions.

They are simply the collection of images, ideas, emotions and sensations that occur in the mind during sleep.

Reasons To Keep A Dream Journal

Here is a list of reasons why you need to keep a dream journal.

1. Emotions

Dreams and emotions are directly related to your soul.

By using a dream journal, you are able to record the dreams and patterns that you have experienced.

For example, if you have felt insulted in your professional life then you might experience the same thing in your dreams.

Even if the source of anxiety is different, your inner heart will help you out and you will wake up with fewer worries in the morning.

2. Creativity

Creativity is needed at every level of life.

Keeping a dream journal can inspire you.

The process of thinking about each dream and asking questions to understand its meaning can inspire you. You would become open-minded and a decision-maker in your life.

This can help you more to solve the problems and situations you face every day.

3. Defeat Anxiety

Dream journal helps in overcoming anxiety, which can be a huddle in your day-to-day life.

Some dreams increase anxiety in the mind which indirectly impacts the thinking capacity.

So there is a need to think positive always to boost your mental peace. \

Hence, by keeping a dream journal you would be able to identify the innermost feelings.  

Benefits of Dream Journal

Waking up from a lovely dream can be a magical experience whereas experiencing a bad dream can be emotionally draining at times.

So, it is necessary to analyze your dreams to gain better self-knowledge.

Dream journals are the best tools for doing so. Make sure to write down your dreams as soon as you wake up, so you do not forget them later on.

Here is the list of benefits of maintaining a dream journal:

Why You Should Write Down Your Dreams in the Dream Journal?

A dream diary includes a record of dreams experienced during night or daytime, personal reflections and waking dream experiences.

Writing down your dreams can actually make you more present, more aware, and connected with yourself.

Here are the ways by which you can write your dreams in dreams journal

1. Evaluating Internal Unconsciousness

When you write down your dreams, you are talking with your inner heart and you try to understand yourself better.

Gradually, your heart will start sending you more and more detailed information that is hard to find in an awake state or thought-created reality.

2. Experiencing Lucid Dreaming

Lucid dreaming is an experience during which the dreamers are aware that they are dreaming.

With the passage of time, you will become good at it. Then you can create your own scenario in the dreams.

You can even change the outcome of your dream as per your own wish.

This gives you the power to control your dreams.

3. Writing And Remembering

When you do not write down your dream, it fades away from your memory after just a few minutes.

But if you write it, you are working with dreams and would be better at remembering more and more sequences.

The best thing about writing dreams is that you can rewind into memory and replay it.

Some Good Dream Journal Ideas

The setup of your dream journal will vary depending upon your goal. Make sure that you understand your own thoughts and emotions.

Evaluate your lucid dreams so that you can control them.

Everyone has his or her own way of keeping a dream journal, so there is a need to find out what works for you.

Here are some of the techniques that might work best for you to keep a dream journal

1. Remember And Pay Attention

You must pay attention to what happens in your dreams.

Try to remember your thoughts and emotions that you experienced. It would be easier to work with it later on.

It defines the comparison between conscious and unconscious dreaming. You are not the same person in the dream.

Paying attention to your dreams helps you to understand the kind of person you are.

2. Patience

You want to remember more dreams, but when you wake up in the morning there is a collection of many dreams, which makes you frustrated.

It might not seem worth writing down at times.

Actually, you have to start from somewhere and collect some clues, which lead to the gateway of the dream world. 

You must learn to be patient and should not put pressure on yourself. When you put high expectations on yourself, you end up with disappointment.

3. Develop A Habit

Dream journaling would be easier if you would become habitual to it.

You must set time to record your dreams.

Keep a notebook and pen by your bedside so that you can easily pen down the dreams that you remember.

You would only mention the things which are relatable with your dreams.

4. Provide A Title To Your Dream

Every dream that you write should start with a tile. It makes it easier to remember the dream later on when you want to think or tell anybody about it. There is no need to give a long title to your dream. Small titles will help you remember the amazing dreams that come into your mind.

5. Present Graphically

If you have a dream while sleeping at night and it is difficult to remember the details of your dreams then you can seek the help of drawings.

It is easier to express some dreams through pictures.

The analysis becomes even more interesting when you are talented both at writing as well as drawing.

Pictures can reflect what your dream is about and help you to gather more information about it.

6. Write Detailed Information:

It is necessary to note everything that happens in your dream including where you were, what feelings you experienced, what time it was, at what place, what were the places you visited, who came into your dream, etc.

It will be difficult initially but it would become easier with more practice. You would be able to interpret it nicely after a few attempts.

Dream Log

A dream log is a collection of dreams which represents a big change or transformation.

Dreams are related to what you go through in your life. Sometimes, dreams turn into the dream moods which show dream symbols and interpretations.

These symbols represent what is going on in your mind and on the basis, you interpret it in a very good manner.

Tips To Create A Dream Log

Different Techniques  To Use When Maintaining A Dream Journal

1.Record Everything You Remember

When you wake up, do things that engage and nourish your mind.

Do not check emails or anything that makes you sleepy and tired.

You must record each and every aspect and write down in dream journal so that you would easily interpret it.

2. Put the margin of 30 to 60 minutes in alarm before from your usual wake up time

We dream a lot in the early morning hours, so this technique would be beneficial to wake up in the mid of the dream so that u can remember it in your conscious mind.

You can easily set an alarm prior to the usual time when you wake up.

3. Make use of a voice recorder:

You can even make use of a voice recorder to recall all the details of your dream.

You can just speak the relevant keywords that will help you remember what your dream was about.

Hence, dream journal is a way out to keep your dreams recorded and remembered for a long period of time.

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