Thread: How did you get in the habit

I seriously recommend using a voice recorder instead.

So much faster and little to no effort required.

Just whisper your dreams into it when you wake in the night, and write them out later.

Sorted ;p

For mid-night awakenings, I will just jot down a couple notes. If it was a remarkable dream, I will take the time to fully record it. In the morning, I start with the dream I just had, and start scribbling down everything I can remember, in the order I remember it. After I have recorded everything, I go back and try to remember the mid-night dreams using the key words and notes as reminders. I will then write down these dreams fully. I usually end up remembering and recording backwards, so the timelines of the dreams is all screwball.

I write on the right hand page of my journal only. Not front and back of each page. I use the opposite page of my journal to re-write the dream in a way that makes sense. Piece it back together in the order it happened in as opposed to the order I remembered it in. I will also use these opposite pages for notes and sketches. I will write interpretations of the dreams, clarifications, notes about when I was lucid/ non lucid, emotions, sketches, ect.

Doing this, I fill up a paper journal pretty fast. After I finish a journal, I will go through the whole thing and organize it, note it, categorize it, hilight it, ect. I have a pretty complicated system I've been using for about 10 years. I find that really seriously getting into the journaling keeps me motivated.

First off, you shouldn't have to record the whole dream in detail, unless you want to because it was a particularly remarkable dream. Just write enough so that if you read it a month or so later your mind will get enough info to recall the dream "footage" in full.

Also, something that I haven't seen mentioned on this site very often, you should name your dreams and write a response. The name doesn't have to be creative, and the response can be as simple as "I Liked It" or "I Didn't Like It" to the detailed emotional, psychological, even physical impact the dream had on you (I prefer the more detailed response).

How long does that take you Robot Butler!?

When I kept a dream journal I found all that was necessary was two minutes or so to jot down a few key words. Maybe just the location, emotions, some names, and things that stood out. Just the act of taking some time to think about the dream did more for me than the actual writing.

I find it helps not to write in regular prose at all. Rather make it illustrative, with arrows, and words placed in relation to each other on the page and stuff. That might help you remember things better. It makes the whole experience more personal and enjoyable. Deliberately writing things out in sequence and in detail is a task.

You can always go back and transcribe it better later, and you'd be surprised at how many bits and pieces will come back to you as you do so. Might take a bit of practice to work your way from writing in great detail to scribbling down key points, but it is worth it.

Originally Posted by jsmith65

How long does that take you Robot Butler!?

It really doesn't take as long as you may think. Probably a couple minutes when I wake up in the middle of the night. In the morning, I normally spend 10 minutes scribbling. Maybe 15 if if was a real productive night.

I spend a lot of time reviewing my journals. I base a lot of my artwork on dreams and I often incubate design problems to be solved. I look at it as part of my job. I keep old journals right alongside old sketchbooks and photo albums for reference material.

First off, you shouldn't have to record the whole dream in detail, unless you want to because it was a particularly remarkable dream. Just write enough so that if you read it a month or so later your mind will get enough info to recall the dream "footage" in full.

What he said - basically just work on your summarizing skills