The Tape Recorder Dream Journal

Some people prefer to keep a tape recorder next to their beds to log their dreams upon awakening. They feel this method allows them to capture the dream verbally, using the connection between body and mind through the vehicle of speech.

Supplies for this method are simple, all you need is a record function on either a hand-held tape recorder (which is preferred) or your stereo system, a blank tape and either an electrical outlet or some batteries. As long as you keep a selection of spare tapes and batteries you're golden. Keep them next to the bed, flick them on when you awaken and speak your dreams as you remember them. Usually this method works best if you start with the last thing you remember and work a backward spiral into your dream.

The benefit to this method is that with a tape recorder you don't have to try to write, so the need for any light source goes out the window. You can simply feel for the button, click record and start talking. However, if you have a spouse or bedmate this process is much more likely to awaken them than the flow of ink on paper, and just as likely to waken them as the click of keys on a keyboard. Also, there are the hazards of either recording over the previous night's dreams, or falling back asleep and leaving the recorder on only to have 90 minutes of snoring, coughing or other nighttime noises.

However, a tape recorder can be very effective, especially if you get a handheld one. You can then tuck it into your purse, pocket or briefcase during the day and add any thoughts you might have on the previous night's dream sequences. This way, it's all in one handy place at a touch of a button for you to listen to again later and mull over without the fuss of computer programs, or carrying a bulky notebook.

Still, to get optimal use of your tape recorded dream journal, you will still need to transcribe it. This act has the potential to reinforce memory of the dream more than the other two methods of the ink and paper journal, and the computer journal that I have discussed. Why? Because you will have first spoken the dream fragment, then listened to it, then transcribed it to some written format (whether it be by hand or computer) and then when you've completed all those steps you will see the same fragment and your related thoughts on the printed page. This method involves more of the physical senses than any other, simply because

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