the purpose of dream journals?

Is it to read before bed during a WBTB method or are you never or hardly supposed to read them and only record them?

Dream journals have many uses. The “main” purpose behind dream journals is to help you remember your dreams. How many times have you woken up from a dream, only to forget most details within a few minutes? If you record your dreams soon after waking, you’ll be able to preserve more details. And in general, writing in a dream journal (or at least doing something to actively remember your dreams) increases your dream recall.

There are also many reasons to go back through and read your dream journal. A key part of lucid dreaming is identifying reoccurring themes and motifs in your dreams to help you become lucid, and obviously having all your dreams written down can help you identify them.

Personally, though, I like going back through old dreams I had just for fun sometimes. For me it’s like listening to a song you mentally associate with your younger self. All the memories suddenly come flooding back. It’s nostalgic. And even if I don’t remember the dreams, nothing makes for some good reading like the strange surrealism of my sleeping brain. :tongue:

to have better dream recall, this makes you more aware, and more chance of you becoming lucid.

I also have a dream dream journal. If I want to remember something in a lucid dream, I will write it down in the dream on my dream notebook. I know it’s not my ‘awake’ journal, but I also know that writing it down will massively aid recall because I’ll remember what I wrote. The dream tends to do everything possible to stop me from writing it down (the notebook suddenly has no empty pages or my writing goes terrible), but when it works, it really really works! :smile:

but can you actually get access to your dream dream journal whenever you are in a LD? because if it is always empty and all of your dream records are never saved in the long run, I see no point of keeping a dream dream journal. but that sounds like an awesome idea, regardless.

No. It is a one-off. The point is to write for that particular dream. It’s about that one experience. One word that you so want to remember,

i dont understand what you just typed

Sorry. Let me put it another way. I’m in a dream walking through a country mansion. It feels familiar somehow and I want to know what the house is called. I go outside and look up and see ‘Dubonny Hall’. This information I want bring back with me to waking life so I can look it up to see if it’s a real place. So I write Dubonny Hall over and over again in my dream dream journal. Then when I’m awake I’m more likely to remember the words because not only did I see them, I wrote them down more than once.

Does that help? :smile:

yes. that makes total sense. thanks.

[color=orange]Recording dreams in your DJ regularly tells your subconscious that dreams are important. When your subconscious deems dreams important it will make an effort to help you recall them and you will be able to recall more. Eventually you’ll experience dreams of better quality.

Edit: Heh cool this is post 1,000[/color]

the act of writing increases your recall and also your intent, which thereby increases the number of lucid dreams you have and therefore the number you also remember.

Look at it this way, whats the point in having a lucid dream or an AP and not being able to remember it when you wake up , or to only recall it with a few simple lines. Spend the time on this part of your journey and it will pay you dividends well into the future