Life Investigator

So now you know why you want to lucid dream, but you probably don’t know where to start. The answer is simple: with a pencil and pad next to your bed and every intention to write in it. Improving your dream recall is important to having lucid dreams and maintaining a dream journal is a great way to accomplish this. Even if you don’t go lucid for a while I guarantee you’ll still remember some awesome dreams after starting up a journal.

I admit it, when I first started exploring lucid dreams and everyone was recommending a dream journal I drastically undervalued its importance and tried to move on without it. I had no interest in keeping anything that could be called a diary. Before keeping a dream journal I’d be lucky if I vaguely remembered one dream a month; I remembered three solid dreams after just two nights of journaling. It makes a difference and it is definately worth the energy to maintain.

Keeping a Dream Journal

It’s simple. Just put a pencil and pad next to your bed (I recommend pencils over pens because you never know you may scribble down some notes in pen only to get up in the morning and find you only made scratch marks) Don’t move an inch after waking up. Instead, concentrate on remembering what you were just dreaming of. Hold on to any fragments or feelings you might have and try to remember the dreams backwards from what you remember.

You may start to gather details little by little. Reconstruct the dream as best you can and run through it a few times to be sure. Pick out a few key images and words and memorize them. After you get up even the most vivid and confident dream memories can fade quickly. Get up slowly and deliberately, continuing to focus on the dream. Start writing your notes down quickly, focusing on those key images and words first, then go back and continue to add detail.

If you really can’t remember anything after concentrating for a while, get up and write “I didn’t remember any dreams last night.” This step is important as it can keep track of your progress as well as add some accountability and consistency into the mix.

Generally, I write my notes on index cards that I rip up after copying them to a program like LockNote for safe keeping. This helps ensure you don’t leave anything out for fear of being ‘discovered,’ though most of my dreams have been funny or interesting enough that I’d be happy to share.

The Results

You’ll have a pretty weird collection of stories and false memories that can be fun to read through long after you’ve had the dream. More importantly, the mere act of wanting to remember your dreams so you can record them will improve your personal dream recall substantially. As someone who rarely remembered his dreams this can be exciting. Becoming a successful lucid dreamer also requires a decent dream recall; what’s the use of lucid dreaming if you don’t remember it happened?

Your dream journal can also function as a tool to analyze your dreams for personal dream signs, or reoccurring motifs in your dreams. These dream signs are vital to a technique known as ‘Dream Induced Lucid Dreaming’ which I’ll cover later. Until then focus on remembering those dreams!

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