Dream Journaling

Dream journaling is one of the most effective ways of increasing dream recall and inducing lucid dreams, but how you do it and what you record is totally up to you!

Some like to be thorough and scientific in their journals, some are quick and sparse, and others dive into the symbolism and psychological significance of their dreams, using it as a launchpad for broader journaling.

Each morning, write down as much as you can remember about your dream(s). If you can’t remember anything, then write what you feel (mood, emotions).

To help you put together a Dream Journal habit, here are some things you can record:

What was the dream about?

• Storylines: What happened in the dream?

• Locations: Where did it take place? Was it day or night? Familiar or unfamiliar?

• Characters: What role did others play? Did they remind you of someone?

• Conflicts: What were the points of anger or discord for you?

• Emotional Tones: What was the underlying mood or emotional quality? 

Deeper Analysis

- Dream Signs: Make note of the people, places, themes, and symbols that recur often in your dreams. Knowing what your dream signs are will help you recognize them while dreaming. This is the basis for DILDs.

- Parallels to waking life: How are the storylines, emotions, and conflicts from your dream, manifesting in waking life? What is only showing up at night?

- Insights: Did you learn something about yourself, a situation, an obstacle? Did new questions arise? Did you see the world through another perspective?

Technical Analysis

• Bedtime / Waketime: When did you go to sleep and wake up?

• Specific Intentions: What intentions did you set for dream work tonight?

• Induction technique(s) used: Did you use any dream induction methods?

• Level of lucidity: How lucid or unaware were you in this dream?

• What worked/didn’t work? Insights into how your dream practice is going

Talking About Your Dreams

For those who may not have the habit energy to write and journal, you can simply talk about your dreams. If you sleep with a partner, when you wake up, tell them your dreams in detail. Begin a sharing habit as soon as you awake to share with each other your dreams in as much detail as you can. This is especially useful if practicing with children.

And if you don't have someone to talk to that is okay too. You can get a specific stuffed animal that you have very great closeness to and as soon as you wake up, either during the night or in the morning, you take them, you keep them by your bed. You cuddle them in your sleep and you tell them all your dreams out loud in words.

Or you can get a pretty crystal that means something to you. You put it by your bed, you wake up, you say it out loud to the crystal. Crystals hold energy really well. So, as you speak to the crystal it helps you to imprint and remember your dreams.

Or you can get a statue or image of your yidam, a Buddha, or important Bodhisattva and place it next to your bed. Talk to it. Tell it your dreams. Make a friend of it. Some statues talk back. You may even find it talking to you and meeting you in your dreams. You keep it by the bed. As soon as you wake up, you talk to it out loud.

In some traditions, they even use a decorated ritual dream stick. Feel free to have fun with this, using any item and decorating in whatever way is meaningful to you.