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Setting Up A Dream Journal
Something we were withholding made us weak, until we found it was ourselves.
- Robert Frost
Dreaming occurs when we are asleep and our mind shows black and white or colored pictures, moving or still, that relate to our life. When we dream we are organizing and archiving memories and experiences. Our thoughts are moving naturally betwen the conscious, subconscious and higher conscious minds, creating the dream.
Research has shown that dreams can have meaning. Our dreams are multilayered messages from within, stemming from our deeper unconscious. They can help us in our emotional, psychological, and spiritual evolution and growth. Philosophies about dreaming are many, but they have a common focus: we communicate with ourselves through our dreams. Our higher conscious mind and our subconscious mind bring data to the attention of our conscious self.
The first step towards interpreting your dreams is starting a dream journal. This is the best way to remember and record your dreams. Your unconscious mind uses dream signs and symbols. After at least ten nights of dreaming (not necessarily consecutive), you will notice these symbols recurring. This will give you ample material for learning your own dream language. As you analyze and study your dreams, you will discover their central themes. Here is a seven-step strategy for using your dream journal.
1. Give yourself a reminder as you are drifting off to sleep that you wish to remember your dreams. Keep reminding yourself about this. Eventually it will work, and your dreams will be vivid as you awake.
2. Upon waking, immediately begin recording your dream in your dream journal.
3. Date and title your dream when you begin recording it.
4. Write your dream in the present tense - this will help you return to the state and experience of the dream, and you will remember more details.
5. Make a note of the emotions you felt in the dream, and its overall tone. Were you fearful or courageous, happy or sad?
6. Jot down the significant events and feelings in your life at the moment - this will offer clues to what your dream was about.
7. Go back mentally through your dream. List each possible symbol and theme. Ask your conscious thinking mind what the symbols mean; then ask your subconscious mind what the message is.
