I’m about to start dream journal volume 2, but my first one was pretty sloppy. How are your journals organized? What kind of things do you put in it? It kind of drives me crazy when things are not neat and tidy, so I guess I want to figure out the ‘format’ of it all so this one isn’t sloppy like the last.
I would guess that everybody has a different style. I always write the date before any entry. I have recently started giving each dream a title (for easy reference). I always write in the present tense (I think this helps with recall). I like to make mental bullet points before begining to write (this helps to structure the narrative and is especially helpfull when the dream is quite bizzare and disjointed). I try to pay attention to the theme of the dream and as much sensory information as possible (I didn’t realise how vivid smells and textures were in my dreams until I started keeping a diary. I guess I just wasn’t paying attention). I also like to add relevent symbols next to the date e.g. L = lucid dream. D = a dream involving a deceased person (this is an interest of mine) again this is for easy reference and i also find this a good way of organising dream signs. I try my best to write neatly so that I can actually read them afterwards (this is really difficult when frantically trying to write it down before it fades but this is where making mental bullet points also helps).
I hope some of this helps. Good luck.
Here’s how I go about it:
1.) Wake up
2.) “play through” the dream in my head 2-4 times. (AT LEAST 2 TIMES!!)
3.)Once I know I will be able to remember it, lie in bed for a bit, just relaxing. Often parts of my dream come to me when I do this.
4.)Write it out in this format:
Night of XX/XX/XX yadda yadda yadda yadda Blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
yadda yadda yadda... Blah blah blah#2 and #3 help A LOT!