When I was in middle school, my best friend and I came across the discovery of lucid dreaming. We were so fascinated with the idea that you could control your dreams: flying through any magical world, conjuring up any element with your fingertips, meeting any person real or imaginary that you wished.
After several sleepovers staying up till midnight (that was pretty late for us 13 year olds) researching about lucid dreaming, we started our own dream journals. The journals were for us to record everything we could remember that happened in our dreams. And just as every internet article stated: our ability to recall more and more about our dreams increased every morning.
After several psychology classes and a remaining interest in dreams, I have learned throughout the years that recording dreams can have more benefits than you may realize. Though our 13 year old intentions were to lucid dream, meaning to control our dreams, dream recording can reveal a lot about yourself.
I'm not going to go into how to lucid dream, that would take up far too many pages, but I will point out that your dreams will become more realistic and intense. Dreams to me still hold a mystical aura about them that can inspire the following days. Nightmares may scare you, but continual people or things that show up in your dreams can reveal more about you too.
So next time you're at the store, add a spiral notebook to your list. Each morning, give yourself a minute to lay in your bed, slowly recalling everything you can remember, then begin to write. Keep it next to where you sleep. If you wake up in the middle of the night, jot down a quick reminder of the dream so you don't forget it the next morning. I heard some statistic that you forget 90% of your dreams within five minutes after you wake up. Whether that's entirely accurate or not, don't wait too long to record after you wake up.
And don't just write. Draw. Sketch out the people, the places, the objects. Use colored pencils to enhance what you were feeling. If you slept in a different place or for less or more hours than usual, jot that down too. Notice patterns and reoccuring themes.
My best friend's journal was the coolest thing an 8th grader could have. Hers was a spiral notebook with black lined paper inside that she wrote on with white and gold gel pens (remember how cool those were?). She doodled all over the tops and bottoms of pages, in between each dream and down the empty columns.
I noticed that many of my dreams took place in big open fields of grass or wide open bodies of water. These are both calming to me, and I noticed that I tend to be feeling good about my life when these dreams occur.
When I have nightmares, I often dream about world wars or riding insane roller coasters. Both of these make me feel like I am out of control and usually come into my dreams when my life feels like I need to make adjustments.
So get your dream journal today and start recording tomorrow morning. You never know what you might discover ;)
After several sleepovers staying up till midnight (that was pretty late for us 13 year olds) researching about lucid dreaming, we started our own dream journals. The journals were for us to record everything we could remember that happened in our dreams. And just as every internet article stated: our ability to recall more and more about our dreams increased every morning.
After several psychology classes and a remaining interest in dreams, I have learned throughout the years that recording dreams can have more benefits than you may realize. Though our 13 year old intentions were to lucid dream, meaning to control our dreams, dream recording can reveal a lot about yourself.
I'm not going to go into how to lucid dream, that would take up far too many pages, but I will point out that your dreams will become more realistic and intense. Dreams to me still hold a mystical aura about them that can inspire the following days. Nightmares may scare you, but continual people or things that show up in your dreams can reveal more about you too.
So next time you're at the store, add a spiral notebook to your list. Each morning, give yourself a minute to lay in your bed, slowly recalling everything you can remember, then begin to write. Keep it next to where you sleep. If you wake up in the middle of the night, jot down a quick reminder of the dream so you don't forget it the next morning. I heard some statistic that you forget 90% of your dreams within five minutes after you wake up. Whether that's entirely accurate or not, don't wait too long to record after you wake up.
And don't just write. Draw. Sketch out the people, the places, the objects. Use colored pencils to enhance what you were feeling. If you slept in a different place or for less or more hours than usual, jot that down too. Notice patterns and reoccuring themes.
My best friend's journal was the coolest thing an 8th grader could have. Hers was a spiral notebook with black lined paper inside that she wrote on with white and gold gel pens (remember how cool those were?). She doodled all over the tops and bottoms of pages, in between each dream and down the empty columns.
I noticed that many of my dreams took place in big open fields of grass or wide open bodies of water. These are both calming to me, and I noticed that I tend to be feeling good about my life when these dreams occur.
When I have nightmares, I often dream about world wars or riding insane roller coasters. Both of these make me feel like I am out of control and usually come into my dreams when my life feels like I need to make adjustments.
So get your dream journal today and start recording tomorrow morning. You never know what you might discover ;)
