Take Note
Some ideas about journaling your dreams
A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read – The Talmud
The basic requirement of dream solving is recording your dreams. It may shock you, but I wax and wane in my journaling practice. I push myself to be consistent but I’m human and sometimes dreams fall down the priority list. That means I just cut myself a lot of slack and focus on doing what I can, and I recommend this to anyone who’s tempted to abandon dream solving at first lapse.
Any dream recorded is precious insight. You can get a lot out of a dream just by noting the feeling you have as you wake from it. Not every dream record has to be a great novel, but attempting a regular practice helps when those big dreams come along (those that leave a feeling of great significance, according to Carl Gustav Jung). Whatever you remember of the night before has value when examined. A snippet or short dream note may also enhance your analysis as you look back on dreams during a period of your life.
Of course, the way we record dreams is as individual as we are. Plain pencil and paper, a paper dream journal, a digital journaling app or tape recorder, or a combination of these…whatever works for you is best.
There are many dream journal formats available in the market. You can browse them and pick one to try or use a blank journal. If you prefer tech, log dreams in an electronic device or a journaling app on a personal computer. You can even journal on plain paper and collect your pages in a binder. Binders and applications are especially useful when you want to organize related work together. For instance, you may want to go back and draw a dream you had in the past, and a binder or app allows you to insert the picture into the proper place. Those with blank journals who are familiar with bullet journaling can solve this issue by adding an index at the beginning of a journal to link related information.
I love perusing dream journals for new techniques and ways to work with dreams. So far, I haven’t found a journal that includes all the features I want and use. Here are some journal features and practices I like:
Write by hand. When you’re waking to document a dream, paper journals can be bedside (convenient!) and help you capture more content. Why? One, writing activates the right side of your brain which sees in pictures and helps keep us in optimal recall mode. Two, you can avoid moving to a computer or staring at a bright screen which may wake you quickly and let dream details slip through your dreamcatcher.
Note your waking life too! It’s valuable to reference things you’re going through in waking life at the time of your dream—these notes aid your interpretation, and they provide a full historic record you will appreciate when you look back and synthesize a specific period in your life.
Emotions matter. The tenor of your feelings and reactions within a dream guides you to a precise—even accurate—interpretation: a blasé attitude to a monster versus abject terror, for instance.
Tags and themes. Keep track of the key aspects of your dream, and if you use an app or online journal, use tags. This helps you group and locate related dreams and make general insights about your dream life. For instance, note themes (success, rejection, falling…), importance (rating 1 to 5), characters (mom, partner, boss…), locations (home, school, carnival…), primary emotion (grief, joy, fear…), dream type (recurring, nightmare, liminal/lucid, big, small…).
Get sketchy! A quick, stick-figure, image of a dream moment can truly help with recall and analysis later. These are helpful for working creatively with your dreams later.
Events first, interpretation later. Of course, you want to record your dream events—that’s the key. Get as much detail as you can about the actual dream events and perceptions that occurred within the dream. Then, once you have all the objective data you can remember, you can delve into discovering why the dream director in your subconscious has written, casted, and set this nighttime play just for you!
You are the expert at interpreting your dream. While you can look at websites and dream dictionaries for ideas about your dream symbols, don’t downplay this truth: your own thoughts and feelings about your dream symbols matter most! Your personal analysis is key to an interpretation that feels right and fits your unique life circumstances.
I hope my list of journaling ideas has inspired you to pick up a journal and get started…or get back to dream solving. What journal items have I missed? What have you experienced? Have recommendations to share? I’d love to hear from you.