Remembering Dreams - Why should you bother remembering your dreams?

1. Your dreaming mind has access to information that is not readily available to you when you are awake. Your dreams may reveal your secret desires and subconscious feelings. 2. In remembering your dreams, you will have an increased knowledge about yourself, bring about self-awareness and self-healing. Dreams are an extension of how you perceive yourself. They can be a source of inspiration, wisdom, and joy.

3. Learning to recall your dreams may help you become a more assertive person. In remembering your dreams, you are expressing and confronting your feelings.

4. Remembering your dreams can help you come to terms with stressful aspects of your lives.

Recalling Your Dreams

Remembering your dreams will require some effort on your part. But what your dreams can offer and tell you about yourself will be well worth it. Here are some tips in helping your dream recall:

1. Before going to bed, keep a clear mind. Tell yourself that "I will remember my dream when I wake up". This is actually a proven and effective way to help dream recall. Having too many thoughts on your mind can distract you from remembering your dream in the morning.

2. Have a regular bedtime and wake up time. Make this your routine. Going to bed and waking up at a regular time every day aids in dream recollection.

3. Avoid alcohol consumption and taking medication before going to bed. These things may hinder you from remembering your dream.

4. Keep a pencil/notebook or tape recorder next to your bed so that it will be within reach as soon as you wake up. You want to make recording your dreams as easy a task as possible. Having a small lamp by your bedside is also a good idea should you wake up in the middle of the night and want to record your dream immediately.

5. Upon waking from a dream, lie in bed for awhile keeping your eyes closed. Wake up slowly and stay relaxed. Hold on to the feelings you have and let your mind wander to the images of what you have just dreamt. Were you frustrated, terrified, or happy? 6. Record your dream immediately. Make it a habit that this is the first thing you do. Talking about your dreams to friends or participating in forums and chats also help you remember.

Your Dream Journal

1. Select a notebook specifically to record your dreams in. A nice fancy journal or a blank bounded book may encourage you to use it. However a plain spiral notebook or paper pad will suffice. Keep it by your bedside where it is easily accessible. Dream details fade quickly after awakening so it is essential to record the dream immediately.

2. Keep a consistent dream format. Date your dreams. It doesn't matter if you use last night's date or the next morning as long you keep it consistent.

3. Write in the PRESENT tense as if the dream is still occurring before your eyes. This helps to recall your dreams by putting you back into the moment of your dream.

4. Write down every possible details of you dream. Location, colors, sounds, objects, characters, and your emotions are all important aspects of your dream. You may want to ask yourself the following questions.

What are the significant images or symbols in your dream?

Where was the dream located?

How did the dream make you feel?

How does your dream parallel a situation or experience in your waking life?

5. Grammar, spelling and punctuation are not important when recording your dreams. Just get the dream down on paper before it slips away and record everything that you remember even if it may only be fragments. As you start writing, more and more pieces of the dreams will come to you. Because we are not able to write faster than what we are thinking, it may be a good idea to record your dreams on tape first. However it will still be a good idea to go back and record the dream on paper.

6. When something is hard to describe in words, draw a quick sketch of the imagery. Color pencils or crayons may help depict your picture more clearly.

7. After you have recorded your dream, make a little footnote on any major concerns or issues that is going on in your waking life. As your journaling grows, you will hopefully see a correlation and pattern between your dream and reality.

8. Lastly, put a title on it.

9. Highlight keywords and symbols that stand out.