Ever find yourself interested in starting a dream diary, but not exactly sure how? Want to become an Oneironaut—a lucid dreamer?
This past weekend, I spoke about dream diaries and lucid dreaming as a way to try to trigger myself into a dream I could recall as it has been quite a while since I've been able to. Last night, I had an interesting dream that may have jump-started this for me. Let's explore it and learn more about dream worlds!
When Starting a Dream Diary
Don't move when you wake up, lay still and recall. Since your short-term memory is fresh, it will rapidly dissipate with any movement
You can rewrite it later, it's essential to get the memory on to paper before anything else
Write down anything you can remember, it may seem like not enough detail at first, but with practice, you'll be able to recall entire dreams
Emotions and feelings are just as important as the scenes, objects, and people in a dream. You need to write them down to boost your recall later
Dreams are not going to make sense, any detail that can be called upon is important
Time, location, narrative, who was there? Ask yourself some questions when you're stuck/unsure of a detail
The Dream Verbatim
Going late to high school. Catch wrong bus #608, goes through hilly house area and loops back. End up home, Chinatown—eat breakfast there. Sister is at home, I think eating Mc Donalds. Accept being late. Leis being put on beach. Budgeting $20 cheaper than watermelon leaf.
The Dream Analyzed
I haven't gone to high school in 11 years, I did have to catch the bus there. For some reason, the bus stop I was waiting at was on a single lane road—ocean on one side, mountain on the other. I distinctly remember the number of the route being #608, although we have three-digit bus route numbers out here, this one doesn't exist. (As a note, anything read in your dream needs to be written as these are hard to come by)
Alamy.com
Pedalgoa.com
I get on it, and am riding through the "hilly house area", that I have been to in other dreams. To describe it, a suburb area with many houses and trees, on a steep incline, with many winding roads and crossroads without stop lights. Similar to Tantalus Drive on Oahu, but instead of a single road with many driveways, the area is wider.
Metro.co.uk
lookintohawaii.com
I get off at a nonexistent bus stop (Bank of Hawaii Downtown) that I was told to go to which has no bank there but is a street or two up from the building I used to live in Chinatown six years ago. I am upstairs (12th floor) in our old apartment. Instead of transferring along the way to get to school a few minutes late, I go home to eat the breakfast I would have otherwise missed and accepted that I am going to miss a larger amount of my first class. My sister is sitting at a desk in the living room, eating out of a happy meal box. I don't recall myself eating.
apartmentfinder.com
Next thing I know, it is the middle of the day and I'm at a beach with a woman. I recall nothing else about her. The sand slopes downward into the shore, and there is a tree not too far behind where we are standing. It is not a palm tree. I am watching her place flower leis in rows, they looked like the dollar store ones in the shape and color (hot pink) but they were made out of real flowers. She made a remark that these were "$20 cheaper (each) than buying ones made with watermelon leaves" (which are not used in leis). Flower leis are synonymous with graduations, I have never attended mine.
pintrest.com
dreamstime.com
What Are My Emotions?
I've had my fair share of "End of the World" dreams, and this one gave off a similar vibe but more floaty—with a chaotic undertone. Although it became apparent that my dream was about me, I felt like the "me" experiencing the dream greatly differed to the me the dream was about.
There were two people I didn't know and one person that I did.
- The person that told me where to get off the bus
- The person placing out the leis (A teacher?)
- My sister (Who I haven't seen in 4 years)
About Dream Places
From my experience, there are two types of places that you can visit in dreams.
Places you have been to before that are warped versions. (You can get a de ja vu upon revisiting, that it looks different. Individual details can be exaggerated or completely changed)
Places that don't exist when you are awake
Fun things that are entertaining to note is that you can revist places that you have been to in your dreams before, and it's possible to map where they are in relation to other "real-life" places. When making a dream diary, drawing maps are also fun and can be used as a tool to experiment and play with later on.
brisbaneeyeclinic.com
Dream Triggers / Reality Checks
This is not as a hotly debated topic as I wish it would be. There are many things that are common that can signal a person that they are dreaming—triggers, that can help someone go lucid. Some of these are;
4, 6, or a perpetually changing number of fingers on your hand
The inability to read the rapidly changing text. You read a page, look back and the whole thing is different
You can fly (I cant—only jump high and far.)
What's interesting about this is that everyone has different dream triggers. When you write down enough entries, you will notice that there are specific and unique patterns to you, that can tip you off that you are dreaming.
This Dream's Triggers:
On the bus alone (now revised to include daytime) Before this dream, anytime that I found myself alone on the bus at night could only happen if I was dreaming. I used to work an overnight job where I had to take the bus home between 3-4am every night. I haven't done this since I was 16, there is no reason for me to do so—when I do, I'm 100% certain I'm dreaming.
On the bus, I rode past a place that only exists when I'm dreaming, that I have visited before.
If I could consciously catch a weird event while I am dreaming, the dream will either become vivid and has a chance at becoming a lucid dream. Recalling dreams may seem impossible at first, but by writing down anything you can remember, and talking about dreams when you are awake you can train yourself to recall your dreams better. There is no person that doesn't dream, it's just the matter of practicing the skill of recalling them.
Thank you for stopping by, and hopefully you've learned a little more about the strange properties of dreams and the worlds they reside in.
Would you like to start a dream diary too?
@shello this is impressive. You know when you are dreaming it's like you are watching a movie you acted. It's like you are the producer and you have the right to do and undo many actions in your dreams. I agree with all the points you gave but do you know it's not 100% efficient for occasional dreamers to remember all actions in their dream? Also I would love to ask this question. I was having a lovely dream and I woke up out of external disturbance from a friend of mine, I later slept back with the intention to continue my dream from where I stopped, I didn't come back. What can u say ah ds?
Hello @hardaeborla!
When exploring dreams, I'm not always an active participant in them. When I am, it can be intensely exhilarating! Although you can't recall every single nuance in a dream, you can get very close.
Oh! The reason why you can't revisit dreams. Let me answer your question with another question! Have you ever found it odd that in dreams you can't recall anything that happened before the current scene you are experiencing? It's like one scene happens and then the next with no correlation to what just happened.
This is why I think you cannot revisit the exact same scene upon waking. It's our brains that tie these things together in sequence after we wake up. Nothing happens in any particular order, so how do you find when to be if there's no method of locating it?
Hope this helps!
@shello
Very correct
Very nice guide! Obviously not everyone remembers their dreams every night vividly ( I might get 3-4 a week). How often would you get vivid dreams enough to record details?
Thank you @julesdan,
Truth be told we have somewhere between 3-5 dreams a night! It all boils down to whether we can remember them or not. This is my first dream in quite a while, and not a vivid one.
I remember at current maybe one a month. However, I had previously gotten to a point where I could remember one a day in immense detail daily. It would take me around 5 pages or so to record a single dream.
It's a goal that is obtainable, but it takes practice. This is why you always write your dreams down!
Cheers!
@shello
Super helpful! I have always tried to remember to look at my hands because I read that in a Castaneda book, but I never knew flying could be a trigger. I do that a lot. Also breathing under water? I'm always so excited when that happens.
Thank you mama! And LONG TIME NO SEE :D <3
Anything can be a trigger, and it took me a long time playing around until I realized it. I don't look at my hands in dreams because it's a trigger that doesn't work for me. Any dream where I jump high and far instantly become vivid. It doesn't even phase me when I breath underwater, but it should!
A good one is to try to think of the last thing you did, if you can't you're dreaming! Time doesn't work the with the same continuity while we're awake—a good thing to look out for.
I get excited when I explore some faraway lands (or what I would imagine they would be like) I was once in a car riding through what seemed like Antartica!
I know! The one thing I do like about busy is that the feed comes up first, and I can't help but scroll a bit. Otherwise I spend all my time checking on the people I'm in all these groups with.
Underwater breathing dreams are my absolute favorite. Most of the time I simply can't manage to think at all in dreams. It doesn't ever occur to me I'm dreaming. I sure don't want to end up in Antarctica.
Oh that's a good perk of using Busy that I didn't realize! I have too many groups I'm in, and I get all scared when I try to check them all! :00
The vast majority of my dreams I don't even know I'm alseep, but the few that I do make the entire advebture worthwhile! Lmaooo nobody wants to end up in Antartica! ♡
It's crazy. I'm only in 3 groups, but I'm already wondering if I need to back out of one. Several of them want consistent commenting in the channels or attendance at online meetings, and I'm just thinking really? I got kids and a life.
I really want to get this lucid dreaming thing going. It sounds like such marvelous fun.
Mhmm! I'm literally all over the place when it comes to participation (most of the time I'm hiding c:) I do participate when I am capable to. I don't interact at an everyday high-level engagement in any group. I would suggest that you take care of your personal life first and socialize second. You have the right idea.
I've been remembering a few more dreams lately, I recommend it! It's not like you lose any time out of your day life for playing with dreams c:
Yeah. I put a lot of value on a slow and mellow life and also on spending time with the kids. That has to be a priority. We really need money too though. I'm super ready to move.
I'm remembering more dreams lately too, so I think that is a start. I had one the other night where I just absolutely laid in to my mother in law. It was really fucking satisfying.
Many dream books are confusing because it seems relative and based on reference interpretations. Many books gave opposite or conflicting reasonings and definitions which led me to make up my own. Great post. I am a Steem Dreamer!
Joy
This is the exact reason that I think dream interpretation books are a bunch of BS. One dream sign could vastly differ person by person since everyone connects and understands differently.
It can be an adventure when we see our own reasons behind our nighttime experiences. I also follow this approach c:
Thank you so much @sweetjoy <3