Why I Started a Dream Journal

Waking up from a dream can be one of the most confusing times at the start of our day. From my own experience, my dreams have always been bizarre, random, and super vivid. The problem with dreams is that we tend to instantly forget them within a matter of seconds after we wake up. Over spring break, I finally had some free time and encouraged myself to begin a dream journal to log each dream that I (hopefully) was able to remember. 

Out of the many empty journals that were laying around my room, I grabbed one and officially labeled it as my dream log notebook. By logging each dream that I had into my small journal, I noticed that my memory of remembering what happened in them actually has improved. I may not remember exactly every detail or occurrence that happened, but the smallest details have honestly been enough for satisfying my curiosity on the mystery of dreams. Sometimes dreams help reveal hidden emotions or feelings from our subconscious that aid in helping us in reality.

For example, whenever I notice that I start to have a reoccurring dream, I know that it indeed means something important or there’s something that is going to come to light soon. 

One of the most surprising things that I took note of from a dream of mine was the way it unveiled creative activity. As a writer, I’m always looking for different inspirations or ideas, and one day I woke up from a dream in which I had actually written a poem in the dream. To my surprise, I vividly remembered almost the entirety of the poem and immediately typed it as fast as I could into my notes app before I forgot it. I’ve been in shock ever since!

I think what I found the most intriguing about keeping a dream journal is the entertainment I get when I look back at what I wrote for the past few nights. It’s quite funny at times because some entries have random words or confusing ramblings, or they either have super detailed descriptions or scenarios and it makes me want to figure out or interpret my own personal meanings from them. There are usually very common dreams or symbols that people see in their dreams that I end up searching for online, but I’ve tried to attach my own personal meanings to certain things just so that these meanings or interpretations line up with my own life. 

Even if I don’t end up receiving a message or a meaning, I think it’s just overall really fun to see what kind of random images or scenes that our mind can create while we dream, which is why I encourage people to try and start a dream log of their own. 

• Dreams
• journaling
• psychology