Dream Journaling Lets Your Unconscious Speak

It’s not a coincidence that dreams are a common theme in worldwide culture and history, appearing frequently in literature and religious texts. Paul McCartney heard the melody of “Yesterday,” the most covered song in history, in a dream. Freud said that dreams are unfulfilled and repressed wishes. Many people say that they come up with solutions to a problem once they “sleep on it,” and this phenomenon has even been researched.  

Paying attention to your dreams is an opportunity to gain insight into your waking life, because they contain bits of real events and emotions that our minds and bodies are processing. These experiences often keep appearing in our dreams until we bring them to the surface and examine them in the light of day. One of the best ways to do this is through regular dream journaling.

Keeping a dream journal is one of the best ways to check in with yourself first thing every morning. Even if you don’t remember your dreams,  you still have them several times per night. With practice, you’ll be able to remember more and more detail. It’s up to you to sort out the fact from the fiction, to extract the nuggets of truth from your mind’s fantastic storytelling.

Here’s how to get started with dream journaling:

1. Choose where to write down your dreams. You may use the same journal as you normally do, or you can use a special journal just for your dreams.
   
   
2. Each night before you fall asleep, tell yourself that you’ll remember your dreams. 
   
   
3. Each morning, set your alarm for ten minutes ahead of the time you normally wake up. Before you do anything else, jot down what you remember of your dreams. It can be in narrative or bulleted form, and it doesn’t need to make sense.
   
   
4. Spend a few minutes writing down a few sentences of reflection about your dreams: strong feelings, new ideas, and unexpected events. What do they mean to you? There’s no right answer, just your own interpretation.
   
   

Every week or so, take a few minutes to track your progress. What issues has dream journaling helped you face? What new insights have you gained through examining what emerges from your unconscious? What actions have you taken as a result?

Look closely at your dreams for clues about yourself. You might be surprised at where they lead you!