Do You Keep a Dream Diary?

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LiebeUndLicht
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Do You Keep a Dream Diary?

Post by LiebeUndLicht »

Just wondering, because I have dreams that I remember almost every night and it's hard for me to write them all down (especially in detail) because I would probably have 1000 pages in 6 months! So basically I was just wondering if anyone here kept a dream journal. I tried to (and I still do write down the really weird ones in my Book of Shadows) but it was just too much for every single dream I had. Any tips that might be useful? Anyway, I'm just rambling on now, Blessed Be! ~Liebe
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BabyBear
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Re: Do You Keep a Dream Diary?

Post by BabyBear »

I have never been able to keep a dream journal.. mainly cus i end up stopping after awhile cus either im getting long detailed dreams that take up two three pages of writing and then another half a page to a page of notes on what i think everything means or i got periods of times dreaming about unless things that i dont feel i need to record ie i play a video game before bed and end up dreaming about playing the game or figuring out what i need to get past where im stuck that kinda thing. So i would keep one for a week or two and then just forget about it or just give up. I even tried doing it online cus it was way faster that way and thats the longest i managed to keep up with one (two/three weeks).

however I have gone through a very spiritual awakening this year (this being my year of growth and crossroads as i have dubbed it lol) and It keep popping up in readings and advice earlier this year (im counting the time from Samhain to Samhain cus thats how i see my spiritual year) and I had ignored it mainly (granted thats when i tried the online BoS) then i ended up randomly feeling the major eager to keep one again one morning and before i knew it i woke up and was writing down this dream knowing for some reason it was important. That was July 24,2014 and Ive been keeping one ever since.

Turns out that a lot of my abilities come out in my dreams mainly precognition and communication with my goddess, guides, dragons and even spirits. And it wasnt till i felt this urge to write one that i actually was able to stick with it. Granted i still have these jumps in when i write one down like in October i was on vacation a lot so i only have two entrees and on occasion i only write down brief list of words or phrases that i feel i need to remember from a dream as oppose to the whole dream but i do keep up with it, in fact i find im more so inclined to wake up and be like "I need to write this down now" where as before I would have forgotten to or drag my feet about it cus i saw it as a chore more then anything and by the time i got around to it i would only remember pieces of it and not the whole thing.


SO as for tips to keeping one all i can say is you have to wont to keep one, you cant look at it as its going to take a lot of work and time to keep one
also since you do have long dreams like i do it might be best to keep an online one so it dosnt take up so much space, in fact you dont have to keep one online you could simple type it out and keep it as a document on a flash drive maybe printing it off and keeping it in a binder, in fact im planing on doing this myself:
keep two 3 inch binders with 6 dividers in each (one for each of the months keeping the first half of the year in one and the other half in the other) Then just keep your printed off dream pages for that month placed in the designated binder section and just add next years behind that year, that way they are in chronological order, easy to read and well organized. You could essentially get years worth of dream journals in two binders and since you typed it out its easier to read and takes up less space. you could just type them all up in one big document labeled with the month and year for each month and not worries about printing it off till you have the time.

anyway sorry for the ramble and hope that anything i said helps cus trust me i get it its my dreams could be movies heck even book series at this point so i get its a lot of work

anyway love and light
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Siona
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Re: Do You Keep a Dream Diary?

Post by Siona »

I did keep one for a while. I kept one in a paper journal at first, but didn't really like it... What I found most helpful was I used an online journaling service where I could still have private entries, but also was able to tag things so I could note recurring themes, or how often certain topics showed up, that sort of thing. (I also backed it up into a word document on the computer, just in case.) Wouldn't work as well for someone who doesn't hop online first thing in the morning, but since I do it was a lot more convenient than paper. However, I don't do much dream work, so most of my dreams were just, well, regular old dreams, you know? Eventually I just started only keeping records of dreams that seemed to be important, have a lot of symbolism, or anything that was recurring.

If you always have really long dreams, you might try writing down only the main themes, highlights, anything that stands out, instead of all the details. So that for a week or so and see if it's enough for what you're looking for.
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Re: Do You Keep a Dream Diary?

Post by Firebird »

Ha, ha Liebe! I know exactly what you mean...I think I have about a 1000 pages my self. I, unfortunatly have fallen away from dream journaling for now, because it was hurting my wrist. One thing I found out though, is when I stoped, the dream recall was much harder. I had used journaling to help with remembering, and it worked well.
I would say, maybe just stick with the major points or symbols. Whatever stands out the most, like a boat was flying or I was swimming in peanut butter. The main highlights in notations should help you to recall more of the dream detail if you need to. Also note any major events or out of the ordinary happenings that occurred the day before the dream, and write that in too..
hope that helps,
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Re: Do You Keep a Dream Diary?

Post by Kassandra »

.

BabyBear wrote:since you do have long dreams like i do it might be best to keep an online one so it doesnt take up so much space
Here's a place: http://everythingunderthemoon.net/forum/forum150.html :wink:

Siona wrote:I just started only keeping records of dreams that seemed to be important, have a lot of symbolism, or anything that was recurring...you might try writing down only the main themes, highlights, anything that stands out, instead of all the details.
Good advice. Yes, I found that "bullet-pointing" the salient aspects of a dream is more than enough to work with for processing and contemplation later. Writing out a long, detailed narrative is just too time-consuming (both to write, and to read), and makes me not want to even start writing about a dream in the first place. So, I trained myself to bullet-point them.

Another tip I found useful for various reasons: always give every dream a short, descriptive title of some sort.



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Re: Do You Keep a Dream Diary?

Post by AdastraJunction »

I keep both a written dream journal, for the bits and bobs that I only slightly remember then I keep a voice recorder to keep the more detailed dreams I remember which I log on my computer.
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AnaisStar
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Re: Do You Keep a Dream Diary?

Post by AnaisStar »

I've always wanted to but never do. LOL. I dont usually remember my dreams and I seldom wake up in the middle of the night.

The one thing that I really want to start doing is what Im calling a "waking dream journal". Anytime I have some insight, intuition, premonition etc I want to write them down (dates, thoughts, etc) and then see how they turn out and record the outcomes.
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LiebeUndLicht
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Re: Do You Keep a Dream Diary?

Post by LiebeUndLicht »

Thanks, I will try your tips everyone! I'm too tired to write a long reply haha but yeah thanks!
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Re: Do You Keep a Dream Diary?

Post by Eliphas Blackthorn »

No I stopped keeping a dream journal. I was doing it religiously for awhile but I began to realize that I was remembering my dreams more easily after doing it for awhile and most of them were horrific, vivid and dark. I am not a dark person at all but my dreams were. Some of it was so vivid I wondered if these were scenes from a past life.

I have no idea but I remember the last one I had was some kind of mob hit and there was a meeting between some gangsters and one non gangster that was affiliated with them but only on a small level. The head guy had a long coat of some kind hanging over him without having his arms in the sleeves and when the non gangster entered the room they greeted each other with a hug and at the last second the mobster held out a knife as they leaned into each other and it slid into the victim like he was made of butter and he let out such a terrible scream from both the pain and the betrayal that haunted me for days.

I stopped with the dream journals after that.
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Re: Do You Keep a Dream Diary?

Post by Echo_of_shadows »

I've got a journal here on the forum, but I don't add to it regularly. I tend to forget between the time I wake up and the time I get on the computer. :roll:
My advice is to write or type in more than one color. Use one for the actual dreams, and another for notes. Then maybe a third color to differentiate between notes if you add more notes at a later date. For example, let's say you have an idea about why you dreamed of a particular thing, but then maybe two weeks later you realized that it could've have been something else. The two colors would help distinguish one set of notes from another. :)
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Re: Do You Keep a Dream Diary?

Post by Yex »

I keep an online dream blog (just for my own purposes), which I posted a link to in the dream journals section. Similarly to what Siona said, I've at various times in my life tried to keep handwritten dream journals, and always ended up not following through with them, but I've had much better success with it on the computer. I think part of it is that when I'm still half asleep and recording my dreams, the process of physically writing down the dream becomes tiresome, and I often go back to sleep and then forget what I was going to write. For me, typing it seems more natural in that state (although I still occasionally look at what I wrote later in the day, when I'm more awake, and see an incoherent mess of letters that are indecipherable :tongueout: ).

This has become something of a cliche, and before I started keeping dream journals I didn't take this very seriously, but the practice of writing down your dreams increases dream recall dramatically. I used to hardly ever remember dreams, but now it's more unusual to have a night where I don't remember a dream than one where I do. I've tried many things to alter dreams, but one with the biggest effect has been keeping a regular log. (Well, that and when I stopped smoking cannabis. Cannabis is poison to dream recall).
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Re: Do You Keep a Dream Diary?

Post by smogie_michele »

I keep a post-it note stuck to my window by my bed. I jot a few notes down if I wake up from a crazy dream in the middle of the night. It helps jog my memory when I want to recall them.
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Re: Do You Keep a Dream Diary?

Post by Lyra_86 »

No, but I probably should....
I always tend to have the more vivid dreams early in the morning before my alarm. I usually wake up at least once during the night (Fridays & Saturdays don't count because drunk people shouting is not my body's choice to wake up :S) but any dreams I get from before the first wake up are hard to remember.... it's when I don't want the alarm to go off & interrupt me that suddenly the good dreams happen. In fact, currently, the only step I've taken to writing down my dreams is one was actually a really good idea for a fantasy story - so that's being written & fleshed out ;)
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LiebeUndLicht
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Re: Do You Keep a Dream Diary?

Post by LiebeUndLicht »

Lyra_86 wrote:No, but I probably should....
I always tend to have the more vivid dreams early in the morning before my alarm. I usually wake up at least once during the night (Fridays & Saturdays don't count because drunk people shouting is not my body's choice to wake up :S) but any dreams I get from before the first wake up are hard to remember.... it's when I don't want the alarm to go off & interrupt me that suddenly the good dreams happen. In fact, currently, the only step I've taken to writing down my dreams is one was actually a really good idea for a fantasy story - so that's being written & fleshed out ;)
Oh my god same here. I always wake up in the night, it's really annoying... In fact I also am a creative person always writing music and stories and stuff and I do that with my dreams too haha *virtual high five*.
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