Why keep a dream journal?

A journal can help you remember what your dreams are about, and improve your memory in general! You may better understand your emotions and thoughts, including how your dreams affect them.

It can help you control your dreams with lucid dreaming. One of the most often talked about benefits of keeping a dream journal is that it can help you move from merely experiencing your dreams to controlling them. This is known as "lucid dreaming," a state in which you are not only aware that you are dreaming, but can also manipulate what happens in a dream. But that can be limited (at least to some extent). With lucid dreaming you can learn how to give bad dreams good endings, or even learn to avoid having nightmares.

Another possible benefit is that your dreams can help you solve problems creatively. Dreams aren't always held back by everyday standards. You can use this to your advantage when you dream about a subject or problem in an unusual way, and then writing down the outcome in a dream diary. It might just inspire you to find a new way to create something or solve a problem. It is usually a way that you wouldn't have normally thought about.

Techniques for Dream Journaling

- Pick your journal carefully, and make sure it speaks to you. ...

- Keep the journal and your dedicated pen by the bed. ...

- Record your dreams in the morning. ...

- Pay attention to what happens, as well as any remembered emotions and thoughts you had in the dream. ...

- Give the dream a title.