Even in ancient times, people kept diaries to record important events and conduct personal psychotherapy. Alongside these writings, people documented their dreams. Dreams are a subjective perception of images, yet people try to interpret the images that they see.
Dream diaries, today often referred to as a dream journal for lucid dreaming, were invented to organize and interpret these images — something that, in today’s world, could resemble a lucid dream diary or a dream journal lucid dreaming enthusiasts frequently use. Such records allow you not just to note when you sleep and awaken. Their purpose is much deeper. Let’s consider why people keep dream diaries and what can be understood by analyzing the information recorded in them.
Why Keep a Dream Diary – Top 7 Reasons
People have different reasons for keeping a dream diary. Let’s look at the top seven most common reasons.
Reducing Stress and Overcoming Anxiety
Many people point out that a predominant number of dreams are far from cheerful; most often, dreams contain unsettling imagery. Some people run from pursuers, fall into an abyss, or end up trapped in a place they cannot escape. Among the most widespread anxiety-inducing dreams are those involving insurmountable fences or staircases.
According to Finnish psychologist and neuroscientist Antti Revonsuo, such dreams are connected to the activation of the amygdala — which is responsible for realizing our instincts — in the rapid eye movement phase of sleep. Based on this, the researcher proposed that in dreams, a person practices behaviors that they might perform in life-threatening situations. By replaying the scenario, a person acquires the skills needed to remove threats or identify harmless circumstances.
By maintaining a dream diary, one can reduce their stress levels. Moreover, by working through imagined situations at night, a person increases their psychological resilience. The records of their dreams make it clear that there’s nothing truly scary about them. Dream plots are fictional, just like the fears they provoke, which then become much easier to overcome.
Observing the Subconscious at Work
As Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung noted, dreams let us peer into the subconscious. A person can review their diary entries to analyze their emotional state and work on their emotions.
Each dream, in one way or another, reflects events from one’s real life. That’s why patterns in plots, places, and occurrences may emerge. By writing down the details of your dreams in a dream journal for lucid dreaming, you can identify patterns and try to understand the hints your subconscious is trying to give you. If you reread these entries after a while, you’ll track how your work on yourself and life events has evolved.
Memory Training
Dreams are fleeting, and we quickly forget them. The best way to remember a dream is to record it in a diary immediately after waking, while your memories are still fresh.
It may seem unlikely, but capturing this information engages a principle of deep memorization, even if your memory of the dream fades within minutes. When you reread what you’ve written, vivid and detailed images from the dream can reappear clearly in your mind, even if your record does not include extensive details. This makes keeping a dream journal lucid dreaming practitioners use an excellent exercise for improving your memory.
Becoming Immersed in Lucid Dreams
If a person understands they are dreaming, their dream is considered lucid. In such dreams, one can control their actions and direct the dream plot. It’s literally like stepping into a game where you play the main role. The subconscious determines the places and people you will encounter along the way. In these dreams, it’s easy to plan the next step and watch the events unfold.
More than 50% of people have had at least one such dream, but not everyone suspects that they can trigger them. This can be both fascinating and useful. Analytically processing information helps develop the areas of the brain responsible for logic and willpower.
By writing your dreams down in a diary, especially a dream journal for lucid dreaming, you can see lucid dreams more frequently. You can also track recurring settings, characters, and events that appear in your dreams, and some individuals can even “continue” previous dreams, as keeping a diary helps them pinpoint where the dream’s storyline was interrupted. If you want to resume a previous dream, you will need to focus on the images associated with that dream right before falling asleep.
Finding New Sources of Inspiration
Can you find inspiration in a dream? Yes, that’s exactly what Salvador Dalí did. Before going to sleep, he would hold a heavy object, such as a piece of silverware, in his hand. Once he drifted off, as his body relaxed, the object would slip from his grasp, and the clang of the falling object would wake him. Then, immediately after awakening, Dalí would grab a brush and transfer fragments of his dream onto the canvas, thus finding new sources of inspiration.
Edgar Allan Poe worked in a similar way. He composed his creations in his dreams and then put them down on paper later. John Lennon also drew inspiration from his dreams. For example, he wrote the song “#9 Dream” in his sleep.
Solving Important Problems
A dream diary helps not only with creativity but also with logical thinking, as confirmed by scientists at Boston’s Beth Israel Medical Center. In their experiment, they had volunteers spend an hour trying to find their way out of a complex virtual maze. Then, they split them into two groups. The first group slept for an hour and a half, while The others were distracted from the maze but stayed awake. After some time, both groups continued the trial. Those who did not sleep or didn’t dream had difficulties. However, those who dreamed about the maze solved it quickly; their abilities had improved tenfold.
According to psychiatrist Allan Hobson, dreams enhance some aspects of memory and foster procedural learning. Due to the brain activity that occurs during sleep, valuable survival skills are acquired through the synthesis and processing of memories.
When you’re struggling with a complex problem, it might “manifest” in a dream — and the solution may also manifest in the dream world. This is what happened to mechanic Elias Howe. In a dream, he made an important discovery that he later brought into reality when he invented the sewing machine.
Documenting Dreams as an Engaging Activity
Strictly speaking, you don’t need a specific reason to record your dreams — it is generally a good habit that develops your writing style and imagination. Maybe the simple notes in your dream diary will one day become the start of a bestselling book.
Keep in mind that people spend almost a third of their lives sleeping and that sleep is beneficial and necessary for health. But to avoid “sleeping away” your life, you can treat dreams as the foundation for a great film or book.
Tips for Keeping a Dream Diary
There are no strict rules for keeping a dream diary — the process is individual, and everyone writes their entries as they see fit. However, the following recommendations can make this activity more productive and comfortable:
- Keep a pen and notebook or a phone next to your bed so you can start recording your dreams right after you wake up. It’s important to write down even the most seemingly insignificant details, as they may form the basis of a full picture.
- Don’t skip days. It’s better to record dreams daily to track changes or important moments.
- There’s no need to write in beautifully structured sentences. To avoid forgetting the dream, you should jot down details as quickly as you can, even if they seem disjointed or random. The more emotions and impressions you can record, the more complete the image will be.
- Before recording information, it’s essential to be fully awake. Sometimes, the brain can trick you, and you might write something down while still “in” a dream (scientists call this phenomenon a false awakening). It might seem like you’ve woken up and recorded everything, but in reality, the notebook is empty, and the dream will forgotten because it was “noted” in your sleep.
- Record information immediately after waking. The brain can retain many details of a dream for only 5–10 minutes. If you try to recall them an hour or more later, you might fail.
- Go to sleep with the intention of remembering your dreams. Many claim they don’t have dreams, but this is a misguided belief: they simply don’t remember their dreams. That’s why it’s important to “train” your brain to capture images and replay them in the morning.
LucidMe Dream Diary
For fans of electronic diaries, there’s an app called LucidMe, which helps both experienced practitioners and beginners master lucid dreaming techniques.
This app differs drastically from simple sleep trackers. LucidMe is the first online dream diary, and it makes recording your dreams convenient since, unlike pen and paper, your phone is always at hand. Plus, you can review your dreams whenever you like — even in the dark of night.
At any moment, you can jump to the desired date and read the entry. The app also automatically generates statistics, including:
- The number of recorded dreams
- The number of phase states
- The average number of dreams and phase states viewed
These data make it easy to track your progress. You can also analyze and find commonalities to create a more complete picture of your dreams.
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