Keeping and maintaining a Dream Journal to help with Lucid Dreaming

Personal diaries, notebooks, written histories and journals have long been deeply entrenched in the human culture. For a variety of reasons they can be deeply heeling, productive and informative. The diary of Anne Frank is a great example of the real world power of a journal. Transcending time, the writing is a personal reflection that has touched millions. The movie 'The Notebook' starring Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling is a more abstract but equally insightful look into the influences journals can make.

Journals allow us to release and retrieve thoughts through writing which creates the potential for innovation and advancement both within ourselves and the world around us. Like the struggling plight of a young Jewish girl or the love recollections of a Hollywood movie, building a dream journal can begin to inspire and touch us in ways in which we could have never imagined. In the realm of lucid dreaming the dream journal can be a resource that accounts for pieces of our success. Once we learn how to keep and use a dream journal our lucid dreaming should become enhanced and advanced.

Keeping a dream journal is a key to lucid dreaming and self awareness. Fortunately for us the task is not that difficult and when done with enthusiasm and delicate thought can be a very delightful experience. The first step to keeping a dream journal is to acquire a writing utensil and surface that is comfortable. Some people prefer the older school methods of pencil and notebook paper while others are going more new age and using bedside laptop computers for their dream journals.

Regardless of choice, a key here will be to keep the journal very close to your bed side. Dreams can slip away from our memories very quickly and our journal must be close by and taken advantage of immediately upon awakening if we desire maximum results. Step two is to try and take detailed notes in the present tense. Put yourself in exact moments of the dream and write and recount them accordingly. The more you can remember and actually feel the dream the better.

Step three for a good lucid dream journal to evolve is sketch inclusion. You’re not trying to draw world renowned art but simply associated pictures to thoughts as this greatly helps with visualization. Finally the last step is to make notes and connections in the journal from your real life to your dream life. Write down everything that is happening to you personally in reality that you think may have ties to your dream outcomes. Keeping an accessible, comfortable and reliable dream journal will be necessary if we expect to be able to use the tool properly to accomplish some of our loftier dream goals.

It is important to note the keeping a dream journal does not in any way guarantee lucid dreaming. It is how we use the journal that may encourage lucid dreaming to reveal itself too us. The journal of course should be used for tracking. Dates, times, tracked states of thought and locations all should be accounted for as we can use these later to identify critical lucid dreaming moments and then begin to discover and explore why they may have come about. Use the common dream journal themes and triggers to your advantage.

Over time your dream journal may become filled with the same recollections or particular movements. Lock on to these repetitive dream attributes and really try to become lucid when you find them in your sleeping state. Marking is another great advantage of the journal. Always highlight in your journal those times when you were lucidly dreaming and those times that felt more like regular dreams. By branding our lucid and non-lucid dreams we can often begin to find patterns in failure and achievement and then mold our dream opportunities accordingly. You will find the many uses of a dream journal will only help you along the lucid dreaming path.

Lucid dreaming is at times difficult and takes lots of practice, patience and concentration. Creating and maintaining a dream journal will help us extensively in our quest to dream lucidly. If you want to remember your dreams better and go deeper into their meaning and value, then a dream journal is a must.