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The Dream Journal: A New Year's Challenge

© Lauri Jean Crowe

A few of my recent articles have touched on the concept of a dream journal, or diary, and its importance the the dreaming process. I've decided to start this year with an article on why I view keeping a written narrative as integral to any serious study of dreams, and what keeping a journal may mean to the evolving spirit of the individual.

I also offer up a New Year's Challenge, rather than a resolution, to each of you -- look to your dreams and keep a living record of them as a chronicle of the coming year.

You might wonder: why bother keeping a dream journal? I mean, you sleep, you dream, you wake up and what difference does it make? So you had an interesting little venture into la-la land with some flying, or great sex, or maybe you dreamt of disaster. Now you're awake and have little use for the fantasies brought forth in the night. Right? Wrong. Don't cheat yourself. You're gifted with an additional existence in your dreams which may offer insight or inspiration to your waking actions.

Keeping a daily dream journal offers several benefits in the study of dreams as a mechanism of human consciousness. It offers a means of actualizing your full human potential through a continuum of consciousness which integrates both waking and dreaming realities.

• A dream journal helps you reveal patterns in your consciousness. Over time you may note the emergence of certain symbols which repeat themselves in your dreams. Perhaps one month there is a predominance of red, or purple, in your night imagery. Maybe you keep dreaming of a shadow man who has no face, but who leaves you with the feeling that you've known him intimately. Only through keeping a record of your dreams will you be able to note these occurences and then further explore the possibilities inherent within them.

• A dream journal gives order to your consciousness according to your individual will and perception. Dreams are fragmented imagery. The dream narrative takes place when we translate it in waking existence to a sort of sequential story, based on our memory of dream events. The act of daily writing in your journal can help you to better understand how you process images cognitively, how you remember events, and the symbolism which you are creating as a personal mythology.

• A dream journal, through revealing patterns, allows you a tool which will help you recognize, analyze, and strengthen your personal path in life. If you keep having recurring dreams about your boss nagging you, this could be a direct message from your deeper psyche to get a new job or make you aware of how deep your disatisfaction with a particular aspect of life is. It may also alert you to joys you might experience, or wishes that don't typically manifest in your waking life. Through recording your dreams, you can become aware of your strengths and weaknesses and use those revelations as catalysts for change and personal transformation.

The copyright of the article The Dream Journal: A New Year's Challenge in Dream Interpretation is owned by Lauri Jean Crowe. Permission to republish The Dream Journal: A New Year's Challenge in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.