Do you have crazy dreams, dreams that relate to your life or feel you have no dreams at all? According to Kendra Cherry, an author and educational consultant:
“Adults and babies alike dream for around two hours per night—even if they don’t remember it upon waking. In fact, researchers have found that people usually have several dreams each night, each one typically lasting between five to 20 minutes.” So, even if you don’t remember dreaming, chances are you did.
I’ve been dream journaling for the past month and it has been so fun, interesting and a great way to activate my mind in the morning with something other than social media. The dreams I’ve documented have been pretty crazy. I’ve dreamt of just about anything you could think of: mythical monsters, extravaganzas, random person from high school I haven’t talked to for years and so much more. My whole life I’ve always been fascinated with dreams. I’ve always wondered if they confront our subconscious or reveal aspects of ourselves that we may not even know. With all of this in mind, I decided to start dream journaling. I figured that if I could log my dreams, I might be able to find certain patterns in my dreams that would reveal some emotions I didn’t even know I had.
There are multiple theories that venture the significance, or lack thereof, of dreams. My personal belief aligns with the theory that dreams help us cope with our emotional distress. With this belief in mind, dream journaling can be therapeutic— forcing us to examine our innermost thoughts. Before I started dream journaling, I was lucky to get one dream a night. As my dreams started to increase—to one or more that I could remember every night—I decided it was time to start documenting them.
As I began dream journaling, I noticed a few things:
- My dreams are very vivid.
- I have typically two or more dreams each night.
- When I begin writing my dreams, I’m able to recall details about them that I had initially forgotten.
- My dreams tend to be really obscure.
- A lot of my dreams incorporate people or things I’m struggling with emotionally.
The first dream I documented in my dream journal had minimal details. It was very hazy, and I couldn’t tell you much about it. All I remember is being knocked out and waking up with an entire sleeve of tattoos. I didn’t know where I was, who I was with, what the setting looked liked, etc. I can only remember what the tattoos looked liked on my skin.
The latest dream in my dream journal contained a plethora of details. I could tell you multiple people from my life were there, I could draw a detailed map of the setting (including colors), and I could remember exactly what happened and the emotions I was feeling. In this dream, I even talked to a friend about something that had been on my mind.
Dream journaling has allowed me to examine my subconscious in a conscious state. Aside from helping me examine myself, it also just makes for a fun write, read and share with friends. If you’re at all interested, I highly recommend it.