This lesson tells you how to remember your dreams and how to use a dream journal to defeat writer's block.
Dream Journal
The most
important journal you can keep is a dream journal. If you don’t remember your
dreams, you will after you keep a journal. There are several tricks to
remembering your dreams if you don’t already. Some are obviously recommended.
One is not (you’ll have to guess which one that is)
Drink a full glass of water before bed.
In the middle of the night, you will likely wake in the middle of a dream
sequence from your physical need. This interruption will allow you to
remember the dream. Some people complain that all they dream about is
trying to find a toilet. Either way, you’ve remembered a dream!
Tell yourself you will remember your
dream. If you sleep for the recommended 6.5 hours or more, you have
five dreams every night. If you tell yourself and convince yourself that
you will remember your dream, you will remember at least one in the
morning.
Keep your mind focused before you fall
asleep. Try to keep one idea in your head. Think about a news story
you heard this morning. Think about your significant other. Dream about
future kids if you don’t have any. Think about what color you want to
paint your bedroom if you’re really desperate. Just try to keep it focused
and don’t stress. You might remember a dream about this subject when you
wake up.
Stress yourself out as hard as you can
when you’re awake. Really traumatize yourself. What would it be like
to have the light in your bathroom swing into your shower when you’re
occupying it? Did you leave the stove on? You have to be scared enough to
remember it in your sleep. If you’re not suffering heart palpations, you’re
not stressed enough.
Remember: When you wake up, never look out the window. Your
memories of the dream will fly right out the window.
No matter how tired you may be, you have to write the dream
down in your journal. The dream will quickly fade. The sands are seeping through
your fingers. Write write write! Don’t worry about complete sentences. Dialogue
is often the hardest to remember, so you might want to start with that.
Keep your journal near your bed with a working pen marking
the next blank page. In the moments you waste looking for the journal, you will
lose memories.
Your dreams can sometimes inspire you to write. Even the
characters your mind creates can be used. Many best-selling authors say that
their characters were created in their subconsciousness; their prime method of
communication is through dreams.
Take note of reoccurring themes. Is there a particular
dreamscape that you seem to return to often? Under what genre would you categorize
your dreams? Are you dreams gloomy, scary, light-hearted or adventurous? These
can be used to help spin a story.
NOTE: Do NOT stress yourself so you can remember your
dreams.
Very in depth lesson being taught. I have kept a journal beside my bed side. Many times my cat Harriet will wake me up in the middle of my dream and I'll record my reaction in the journal. Thanks for the lesson I learned a lot.
I enjoyed reading your lesson on this particular topic. I definitely need to try and do this. I am have never really tried it but I would like to remember at least one dream a night that I have.
Thank you, you have really helped me learn new ways to get back into writing like I used too.
Brilliant advice, in fact my book I'm currently writing is based on a nightmare that I had which I wrote down in a notebook by my bed before going back to sleep.
This is fantastic advice, dreams can be so vivid on many levels as to inspire writing. Sometime all you can remember from a dream is the mood and the emotions it inspired in you.
It is pretty much an accepted fact that once you start keeping a dream journal your mind will become better suited to holding on to details. It can be sad forgetting parts of dreams, it might be a piece or music or a person when that feeling you had within the dream was just so brilliant.
I love to dream and I hate when I forget them. One night I dreamed a name that I absolutly loved and had never heard before and when I woke up... I forgot it. I was so sad so now I'm going to try some of these tips to help me not forget ;)
I have a strange talent for remembering dreams. If you want to have a dream, don't go to bed when you are exhausted. I have at least one dream every night. Dreams are always creative, so they make great stories.
To remember a dream, possibly don't go to bed when you're exhausted. Go to bed when you're still well awake. Takes sometime to sleep, but thats how it works for me.
Writing is my air, my bread, my daily bed. If I do not write, I will wither.
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