Dream Journaling
| Once you believe dreams have something important to say to you, the next step is to begin recording the dreams you have. Following are a few simple guidelines to get you started with Dream Journaling..... |
| 1. Be ready - keep a notebook, pen and perhaps flashlight available by your bed so you can record dreams while they are still fresh. With every minute of time spent awake, the conscious begins to dominate and the small, soft voice of the dream begins to fade away. |
| 2. Write the dream down with no attempt to analyze it, edit it or get the spelling correct. The object is to get the information down before it fades - interpretation comes later!!! What you write becomes an aid to remembering the various aspects of the dream. You are not writing it down for any one but you, initially. |
| 3. Note the various characters, places, symbols, actions, impressions and emotions that you recall from the dream. The "feeling tone" of the dream is important. |
| 4. Record the date and place the dream occurred. If it will be a while until this dream is looked at in more detail, note any key things which are occurring in your life. We call this the "life context", and it is very helpful to know what was going on in our life at a given point when we interpret or go back over our dreams later. |
| 5. Sometimes it is helpful to give a short title to the dream after you've written it down. |
| 6. Don't worry about things being logical, or morally correct - the symbols and actions in a dream aren't subject to natural, scientific, or moral laws. They are symbols that mean something to you, and the task is to discover their meanings for you. Killing someone, being intimate with another, attraction to characters in the dream, committing crimes, etc., are symbols for events going on within you. Don't stress out over their literal meanings! |
| 7. Dreams are almost always directed to us - not someone else. We'll discuss more about interpreting dreams later, but since you undoubtedly will immediately jump in and try to interpret the dream, I want to let you know that dreams which involve people we know are almost never about them, but about characteristics within us that they symbolize for us. Many people who are prophetically gifted or very empathetic quickly jump to the conclusion that they have received some important insight into another person. Perhaps so, but don't assume it from the start. |
| 8. Continue to record your dreams. Sometimes, the meaning of dreams becomes clearer when there is a series of dreams. |
Revised: 10/05/05. |