Journal of Your Dreams: How and Why we Should Write, Analyze, and Interpret Our Dreams
We spend nearly one-third of our lives in bed, where our minds wonder and create their own version of reality. Whether dreams are good or bad, play from old memories or our deepest desires, a lot of individuals believe there is a deeper meaning than just being our imagination. For a while now, humans have embarked on studying the meaning of dreams. Today, artists, scientists, and numerous professions use their dreams to inspire their work. If you are curious to see what role dreams can play in your life, you may benefit from utilizing a dream journal.
What is a Dream Journal?
Surely, we are all familiar with diaries and journals individuals use to track their daily activities, emotions, and what is going on each day. A dream journal is similar in that they are used to record dreams and what people experience when they sleep. You can begin by writing down what happens in your dream, then work toward analyzing what it actually means. How did it make you feel? What do you think it signifies in your daily life? Writing a reflective diary about your dreams can help you better focus on what is important by realizing what is clouding your mind or consuming your sleep energy.
Why is Keeping a Dream Journal Important?
There are several ways individuals benefit from keeping track of their dreams in a dream journal online. Dream journals help individuals remember what their dreams are about. Not only does a journal make it easier to remember dreams later on, but it helps improve your memory in general. Paying attention to the details of your dream helps exercise your brain.
Additionally, having a dream journal app can help individuals better understand their thoughts and emotions and how dreams affect them. Without a doubt, dreams have the ability to affect how you think and feel. Having good dreams can set a great pace for the day by lifting your spirit and filling you with happiness and optimism. If you have a nightmare or a bad dream, the complete opposite may occur. You may feel sluggish, sad, or even full of anxiety. Logging your dreams enables you to better understand your emotions from day to day.
Dream journals can help individuals solve their problems more creatively. Authors often use their dreams to inspire stories they write. Albert Einstein himself used his dreams to develop theories and formulas. Even if you're not a writer or a mathematician, tracking your dreams can help you solve even some of the most basic day-to-day problems.
How to Get Started
In getting started writing a dream journal, it is best to dive right in. Don't wait, just start writing. Keep your journal at your bedside so you can wake up and begin writing immediately what you dreamed about. If you wait to write down what happened, you are more likely to forget some of the most important details.
When writing, it is important that you include as many details as possible. Where were you? Who were you with? What time of the day is it? What do you hear, see, smell, or feel? This may be difficult at first. Consider practicing by writing a dream journal example to note the different emotions.
If you have a problem expressing your dreams through words, consider drawing a picture. Some individuals find that expression through art is much easier because they can capture scenes from the dream directly. Additionally, you can add a caption to the drawings so you can look back and analyze them over time.
Look for patterns in your dreams and compare them to your walk of life. This is a basic part of dream interpretation that helps you see how your dreams influence your daily activities and how your activities influence your dreams. Finding patterns in the dreams will help you determine what you are thinking about subconsciously.
Check Out Other Dream Journals
If you are unsure how to get started, take the time to read other individual's online dream journals.
John Dubois was a software engineer between 1991 and 2007. He categorizes his dreams by date and theme.
Rob Vincent keeps a dream journal noting his general mood each day after having a dream. He goes in-depth in analyzing his dreams, which may help you develop detail oriented writing techniques.
To get started, check out Dr. Eric H. Chudler's template, which works exceptionally well for keeping information on dreams to influence sleep patterns.