How to Start a Dream Journal

~How to Start a Dream Journal~

1) Find a suitable journal. Depending if this dream journal of yours is going to be long-term or a short term, it's better to get a good quality paper, lined journal. You definitely don't want your journal to fall apart or when you start writing the pencil goes right through.

2)Don't forget to get a suitable writing pen and pencil(s). If you're like me, a constant mistake maker, get a set of mechanical pencils, and i know this takes a little longer but once you finish, go over your pencil writings with a black pen.

3): If you plan on traveling, consider using a travel cover or protective case for your journal. I've made this same mistake before and it's not a pretty outcome.

4) A dream journal is best written upon waking up, so the best place for keeping it is next to your bedside. I keep mine on my left side nightstand. Comes in handy a lot.

5) Also a book reading light by your bedside comes in handy as well. Just in case of those middle of the night awakening dreams.

6) What also helps is if you write in the date of the dream occurrence. Even if you don't have a dream(s), it's still a good idea to write it down.

7) Arranging your dream journal the way you want is a good thing. There is no right or wrong way to prepare a dream journal.

8) You can help yourself by making the different subjects between dreams and interpretation a little easier to spot by using a column method. If you draw a column down the middle of each journal page, this allows you to write down the dream on one side of the page, and then to write the possible interpretations down on the other side of the page.

9) Use your usual method for falling asleep and dreaming. You might find it helps to remind yourself that you expect to be writing up your dreams in the morning, so that you have a focus in your subconscious on the importance of remembering your dreams.

10) It's a good idea to use a beeping or ringing alarm rather than a radio or music alarm. The talking or singing might distract you from remembering the contents of your dream. If you're fine with waking up without an alarm, that's even better and a lot more peaceful.

11) Upon awakening, begin recording your dreams. If you can, hold off on visiting the bathroom until the dreams are recorded because any interruption between waking and recording can lose the dream, or its principle points and edginess. With more experience and practice, you may find this isn't such a problem and recall becomes easier but for the beginner, the fewer distractions the better.

12) Record everything that you can remember. At first it can be difficult to work out what to write down and to distinguish thoughts that may be creeping into your awoken mind from memories about your dreams. Include characters, symbols, colors, textures, feelings, actions (such as flying or swimming), interactions with other beings, shapes, and anything else that the dream raised.

13) Think of some adjectives to describe the most vivid and pressing images and feelings that the dream brings about in you. For example, if you dreamed about a house on fire, you might write: "terrifying, exciting, and red-hot burning house", with your feelings being "afraid, panicking, curious".

14): Some dream journal writers like to draw images or use different colors to express different emotions or themes in a dream. (Colors themselves can be an important part of dream interpretation.)

15) Write freely. Don't try to form a narrative as you are jotting down the contents of your dream. Just focus on getting down all the information you can recall as quickly as possible before the details of your dream fade from memory. You can deal with forming a narrative, and interpreting your dream, later.

16)Learn when to stop. The dream journal isn't a marathon and few people have all morning to lie around writing in a journal. The best approach is to go with the dream or two that really seems most powerful or enduring for you. After the first dream or two, it's likely you'll be getting hazier in your recollection anyway, and it's best to write down the most vivid recollections above all because they're likely to be the ones with the most resonance and meaning for you.

17) Name each dream. It's a good habit to get into naming your dreams. In reducing each dream to a title, try to capture the main feeling or theme behind it. It's an easy way for you to find the dream again for future reference and it's also a neat way of summarizing your general reaction to the dream.

18) Review your progress. Initially, it might be difficult to remember enough of a dream to write more than a few lines. Persevere because with practice, it becomes easier to remember more and more elements of the dream until it becomes a habit. Therefore it's important to persist with writing in your dream journal every morning even if you think you had a bland or uneventful dream. Sometimes those dreams are telling in themselves and sometimes in writing them down, you realize that they weren't so pointless after all.

💜 📝Happy Journaling! 📝💜