The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul …
The easiest approach is to simply begin recording your dreams as they occur and not overthink the process!
Benefits of Starting (and Keeping) a Dream Journal
Here are some of the main benefits of starting and keeping a dream journal:
- Increases your dream recall (or your capacity to remember dreams and reflect on them in detail)
- Relaxing and therapeutic
- Helps you to connect with deep unconscious wisdom
- Enhances your self-awareness and self-understanding
- Becomes a supportive resource you can turn to for guidance
- Sparks your creativity and improves your problem-solving skills
- Can lead to profound realizations and sudden epiphanies that may change the course of your life for the better
- Reconnects you with your Soul (or deep inner Self) and the messages it may have for you
I dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke. Now I wonder: Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?
– Zhuangzi
How to Start a Dream Journal
Here are some simple pointers:
1. Keep your journal next to your bed
For easy access, it’s best to keep your dream journal right next to your bed with a pen, and perhaps even a little torch (if you don’t have a lamp or don’t want to wake up your partner). I sometimes scrawl words in the dark into my dream journal when I’m too tired (or lazy!) to turn on a light.
2. Record your dreams quickly
Dreams are kind of like ice cubes on a hot pavement – they dissolve and disappear before you know it! So the sooner you record your dreams, the better.
Ideally, you’ll want to record your dreams right after you wake up. So that might mean that you scrawl down a few sentences or keywords at 2 am. If you prefer to draw a little picture of your dream, you can do that as well.
3. Detail, detail, detail
Here’s one crucial point I want you to remember: the silliest and most insignificant details are often the most critical when it comes to understanding the deeper meaning of your dreams. So record your dreams in as much detail as you can!
For example, I had a dream this morning of visiting a cabin on the side of a mountain with a group of mysterious people. Some random details that stuck out to me in the dream were how steep the mountain was and how at one point I was holding on really tight to some kind of ledge in the cabin.
Other examples of seemingly insignificant detail (which paradoxically hold a lot of value and meaning) may be the color of an object, a strange sound, the shape of a person’s mouth, the size of a certain animal, the feeling of walking into a certain area, some nonsensical words you say in a dream conversation, and so on.
4. Leave your dream journal, then revisit what you write later
After you’ve recorded as much detail as you can muster (whether in the form of words or images), put aside your dream journal for a few hours. Go about your daily business. Then return at the end of the day or week to what you wrote. Can you pick up on any new connections? Do any realizations burst into your mind?
Often, the best way to understand the meaning of your dreams is to give them space to simmer in your subconscious. When you return to them later, you’re more likely to have a greater perspective than before because you don’t have the same kind of tunnel vision attention as you had originally when first recording your dreams.
5. Don’t overthink, go with your intuitive understanding
There are so many books and blogs out there dedicated to dream symbolism. No two people will see the same dream symbol the same way.
For example, I might love snakes because my uncle bought me a harmless carpet snake when I was little for my 11th birthday. But someone else might hate and fear snakes because they were bitten by one when they were little.
Yes, some dream symbols are fairly universal (like the ocean representing our emotional state), but whatever appears in your dream is so nuanced and personal that the only one who can truly understand the meaning is you.
So don’t overthink your dream journaling and go in search of decrypting every single dream symbol based on others’ definitions – it’s just unhelpful and frankly disempowering to your dream work journey.
While there are some widely accepted interpretations for the different objects, people and occurrences in our dreams (which shouldn’t be completely discredited), our dreams are highly personal in nature meaning that only really we can understand their true meanings and messages.
Your life context; your experiences, your feelings, your beliefs, your values, your fears, your desires, your dreams, your perspectives will be uniquely different from others. Your dreams are finely tuned to you. And therefore, your answers will also be finely tuned to you.
If you want to know what is happening for each month, astrologically speaking, I make a Monthly Forecast, so you can navaigate yourself through the stars. You can always find this information in my group on Face book. Join The Lighthouse Group on Facebook. (Always under the Announcement tab.)
Check out some of my other Blogs, on Journaling, Journaling, Grounding & Shadow Work, Shadow Work, Shadow work: Steps to emotional Healing .
I also provide Protection DIY Kits, Spell Kits designed with the ultimate goal of clearing away negative energy, clearing and balancing the chakras of the body and offering a protection spell that lasts 4-6 months! Email me for more information.
Divine Direction by Mia is an online service dedicated to providing simple and profound guidance to those looking for clarity and direction on their life journey; and others who are interested in learning about the practical applications of Astrology.
