CHAPTER THIRTEEN

DOCUMENTING YOUR DREAMS

Now that you’re armed with strategies to enhance your dream recall, let’s explore the next important stage in working with your dreams: capturing and documenting them. For some people, remembering their dreams each night is rewarding enough. Just the process of recalling them and giving them voice satisfies a desire to acknowledge what the dream brought forth. Others like to collect and organize their dreams in a capsule, a dream journal in which they can take up residence, and from which they can be read and reread, worked through to yield the wealth of insights that they can offer.

For those who like to collect them in a cache, some like to write down their dreams directly into their journals as they’re remembering them. Others, though, find that they like to have an intermediate step, one in which they first capture their dream and then transcribe it into their journal afterward, finding this helps them be more methodical as they unpack their dream’s meaning. Regardless of whether you’re a one- or multi-step dream journaler, this chapter will provide you with tips and tidbits that will augment this process for you. Remember that when it comes to dreamwork, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Explore the techniques within this chapter, seeing which ones may serve you in your dreamwork practice.

Capturing Your Dreams

Using the dream-catching strategies discussed in the previous chapter, you’ll be able to tap into initial memories of your nighttime visions. As they coalesce in your mind, the next step is to glean and capture them, shuttling what you’ve recollected — whether an entire story line or just even an image or a feeling — out of your mind and into documented form. Writing down dreams is the standard approach, but numerous other strategies also can be helpful, depending upon the unique style through which you process information.

Regardless of which method you choose, it’s important to not judge or edit yourself when you’re trying to bring forth your dreams. Record everything that comes to you, whether or not it seems to make sense. Don’t worry about getting the sequence right when you first record your dreams; just document everything that you recall initially, knowing that you will string things together in a more formal way later on. Even if what you’re remembering doesn’t seem especially cogent, you may find that these threads of memory eventually will lead you down a path that connects you to other details that you didn’t initially access. This is one of the reasons that many people find it beneficial to record their dreams in two stages: (1) the initial capturing stage, when you first wake up; and (2) the subsequent phase when you document them, transferring your recollections to a journal and further organizing and working with them. Not feeling the pressure to get your dream first scribed in a certain systematic (or even tidy) way will give you more freedom and disengage the censoring you may be otherwise inclined to do. This allows you unencumbered connection to your dream memory while it’s still fresh in your mind.

Also, try not to interpret your dreams as you’re first trying to capture them, as this, too, can thwart your ability to remember precious insights. There will be lots of time to analyze and interpret them later. This first phase is the fact-finding stage and we want to mine and recover as much treasure as we can. Here are several approaches for initially capturing your dreams. Unless you have a tried-and-true method, consider experimenting with these, seeing which works better for you. Also, you don’t have to choose just one. You may find that a combination works for you, or that some fit better with certain styles of dreams or at different times in your life.

WRITING

Most people capture their dreams by jotting them down on paper. And while writing them immediately into a dream journal may be standard fare, as previously noted, some people find this approach to have a restrictive drawback; this may arise from numerous factors, including that their middle-of-the-night handwriting may not necessarily be all that legible and in a form that they want to have preserved forever in their journal. Additionally, feeling that they want their journal to be neat and orderly may have them place undue pressure on themselves when writing down their dream images, which could stifle the spontaneity of what is arising.

A great workaround? Instead of first writing in your journal, record your dreams on paper that you keep by your bedside. This can be a small pad, notebook, index cards, a loose sheet of paper — anything that has a shape and size that allows you to easily write. Record all that you can on this paper, and then later transcribe it into your dream journal.

Of course, you’ll need a good writing instrument. Have one that writes really easily, in which you take pleasure using. Make sure before you go to bed that it has ink in it, or if it’s a pencil, that it’s sharpened. After all, you want to avoid the commonplace frustration of having access to a bevy of dream memories ready to be transcribed, only to not be able to do so because of a dried-up pen or blunted pencil.

Given that you may awaken in the middle of the night and want to write your dreams, having a light source is also important. Best is a hands-free headlight, a pen that has a light attached, or a book light attached to your notebook. The light should be strong enough to see by, yet not too illuminative to be jarring or stimulating, to yourself or your bed partner.

Some people find that typing their dreams into the notes section of their phone or tablet works as a good method. Others, however, find that there’s more of a chance for spelling mistakes to occur, and that it ends up making the dream record less decipherable. Plus, if you end up spending time correcting typos or erroneous autocorrects along the way, you may find that it eats into the precious moments you initially have while your dreams are still fresh in your mind. In addition, if you’re logging dreams in the middle of the night, you want to avoid the melatonin-stymieing blue light from tech screens, as it can lead to subsequent sleep disruption. The other disadvantage to this approach is reflected in the benefit of handwriting: the process of putting pen to paper helps us to allocate things to memory better than does typing. All said, though, if you’ve found this system works for you, then continue to use it.

DRAWING

Sometimes it’s really hard to capture dreams in writing; after all, they are so visual. In these cases, give yourself the freedom to draw, as it’s a great way to fish out dream images and feelings. You can draw anything from the dream — you need not limit yourself to just diagramming an image. You may even find that scribbling lines on a paper helps you to capture a scene’s layout. Or, if you remember a certain color that casts a hue throughout the dream, you can use a colored pencil or marker to represent it.

Doodling is really helpful, too, as sometimes you may not be able to access images, but can readily tap into the feelings elicited by the dream and express them in uniquely formed lines and shapes. Since dreams are often not linear and don’t mirror the arrangement of space to which we’re accustomed, doodling them may give you more boundless freedom to connect to them.

A pictorial approach can also be used to express the sequence of events, drawing small scenes one after the other. You may find that sometimes just allowing yourself to draw a shape that feels related to your dream will trigger a greater memory of what occurred, whether at the moment or later on. Remember that what you draw need not be a work of art, or even something recognizable. Don’t judge yourself; just let yourself be free. Don’t worry about being a Picasso; whatever you can get on paper has exceptional value.

AUDIO RECORDING

Even if you’re a fast writer, sometimes you may find that the pace of your writing is slower than necessary to document all of the details that come forth when you remember a dream. A great workaround for this is to audio record your oneiric memories. You don’t even need to get a new device, as many phones come with a preinstalled voice-recording app. And if yours doesn’t, don’t worry: there are scores that can be purchased and downloaded, some even for free. It’s amazing how much more quickly most people can speak their dreams than write them. And since we know that time is key, because they dissipate so quickly, recording them may help you to access and preserve more of them.

There may be another benefit as well; after all, when we first awaken from slumber, and our muscles are regaining the coordination they lost during sleep, our handwriting may not be at its peak. Our voice, though, even if it’s muffled, is still pretty recognizable. Perhaps you’ve had that experience of feeling really excited that you remembered a dream and wrote it down, only to later feel so frustrated when you were unable to make heads or tails of it; audio recording it is a way to sidestep this possibility.

For privacy purposes, you likely won’t want to have your recorded dreams on your phone for too long, unless you regularly use a password to guard access. As such, you can even opt to send it right away to your computer, or upload it to cloud storage, and then erase it before you transcribe it in your journal. Don’t forget to give it a title that includes the date so that you can readily find it.

This approach may be tricky if you share a bed with someone and you awaken before they do. Not only, of course, will speaking out loud rouse them, but it may also infringe upon your privacy. As such, you may need to quickly steal away to the bathroom or another secluded spot to record your dreams. This approach may work fine in the morning, although it might not end up being the best strategy for middle-of-the-night recalls, given that shuffling out of bed could be jarring and impinge upon your ability to get back to sleep. If that’s the case for you, then you may want to opt instead for jotting or drawing your middle-of-the-night dream memories.

VIDEO RECORDING

Some people like to capture some of their dreams in video format. With this method, you get to not only record the audio but also some of the visual components of your oneiric visions. Video also allows you to reflect the emotions that the dream evoked through capturing your facial expressions or movements. Remember, you don’t have to keep the video for time immemorial; it’s just a tool for you to document the initial memories of your dreams. Once you transcribe the video into words, you can then delete it. No special equipment is needed for this method; just use the video feature on your smartphone’s camera.

DREAM JOURNALING APPS

Another way to document your dreams is to do so with an app, which you can use on either your phone or tablet. The features of apps range, but at their heart, they include a diary in which you can type your dream. Many also include the ability to add tags to further code them. There are also apps designed for lucid dreamers, which not only feature tips and techniques but also alarms and notification functions that can remind you to do reality checks (see chapter 9 for more on lucid dreaming). If you want to tap into a community of virtual dreamers, some apps feature a database of users’ dreams that you can search through to read and/or comment upon.

Say Your Dreams Aloud

Sometimes, saying a dream aloud helps you to better remember it. If you share a bed with someone, and it feels right, you can share your dream with each other when you wake up. Speaking your dream can help to make it conscious and commit it to memory. Plus, sharing dreams may be a sweet ritual to do with someone with whom you are intimate. This ritual is a nod to ones done in more traditional communities, wherein dreams would be listened to by the tribe or a trusted advisor.

Capture What You Can

There may be times when you remember an epic amount of your dream and have the time to write it down immediately. There may be other times, though, when you don’t have that luxury, either because you can’t access that much of your dream or you need to get out of bed pretty quickly. There may also be times when you need to further jog your memory a bit to be able to net even a whisper of what transpired. If you don’t have much time and/or you can’t initially remember that much, still, try to spend a couple of minutes to write down what you remember. Consider doing one of these exercises, which will help you to scribe some oneiric souvenirs.

Seven Words

Write down seven words that feel connected to your dream. These could be related to things that happened, symbols that appeared, or the tone that wove itself through. Aim for seven words, but if you can’t access that target, write as many as you can.

Connect to the Feeling

Jot down how you feel upon waking, what your mood is like. And if you can remember the feeling tone of your dream, note that as well.

Body Orientation

Scan your body and see whether your attention focuses in on any specific area. Consider whether your dream featured that part, or parts, of your body as a key image. Document any pertinent information.

The 4 Ws

Quickly jot the signature aspects of your dream, from a Who, Where, What, and When perspective.

Who: The main characters

Where: Description of the location or locations

What: A few notes about what transpired

When: Identify the time — whether in general as past, present, future — or more specifically, if you can, in which the dream took place.

Dream Documenting

Putting all your dreams in one place — a journal, for example — allows you to keep them organized so that you can return to them at a later time, reviewing and finding more meaning within them, whether in a single dream or across several of them. And even if you don’t return to your dreams regularly, or ever again, just knowing that they are recorded imbues them with reverence and a sense of validity. It encourages them to take on the feel of a documentary of your life, or part of your life.

And there is also the other benefit of this two-stage process, where you initially capture your dreams and then later transcribe them in a journal: it gives you another opportunity to remember possibly forgotten details. The process of transferring them from their initial state — whether written, drawn, voice recorded, or video recorded — gives you an additional chance to bring forth more possibly forgotten facets of the dream, allowing you to unearth more awareness as to what it revealed than you may have initially considered.

As you’ll see in the next chapter, it’s recommended to have a section within each journal entry where you write your unedited notes and recollections. You will use these initial memories that you captured in the steps just outlined to further detail and decipher your dreams. Here are some tips for documenting your dreams, transferring them from their originally captured form to your journal repository.

WHEN

Have this practice be one that has as much consistency as feels right. Consider blocking off some time each day to doing so. If that doesn’t work for you, you can allocate several days a week to transcribe your dream notes into your journal. If you do it each day, it can be just after you’ve captured them, or later on. You can do this step separate from the next one, in which you further work and decode the dream (discussed in chapter 14), or during the same time frame.

Allocate a period of time in which you have adequate ability to do this. Make sure you won’t have interruptions. Prepare some coffee or tea, play some music, and/or light candles. Do whatever feels right to make this a relaxing and enjoyable practice. This process can take as much or as little time as you want and have. Don’t feel pressured to consistently have it be a dedicated activity. Even just spending 5 minutes to initially document your dreams in your journal will be a significant step in the process.

WHERE

While you can do this activity anywhere, consider allocating a dedicated space to doing it, as this will make it more of a ritual. It can be at your desk, the kitchen table, a chair in the living room, a cushion by your dream altar, your bathtub, or any other place that feels nurturing to you. If you associate this spot with reflection work, once you arrive there, you will feel more attuned to slowing down, being inwardly quiet, and getting into a dreamier space. Have it be someplace where you can have privacy and quiet, whether it’s a room that has a door or a spot that you know won’t be used by anyone else in the family at a certain time. Keep your dreamwork supplies there; this, of course, includes your journal, but may also include items such as writing and drawing instruments (markers, colored pencils, pastels, and the like), as well as scrapbooking/collaging items (such as magazines, scissors, glue, etc.) if you want to have your journal feature multi-media representations of your dreams.

HOW

The first step is to transcribe or add your dream recollections to your journal in an unfiltered way. As previously noted, it’s always good to have a section in your journal that just features the raw material, the original capture, of your dream. (See dream journal design ideas in chapter 14.)

If you captured your dream in written words, transcribe them in your journal. If you captured your dream in pictures, you can do one of two things: redraw them in your journal or affix the originals with tape.

If you captured your dream in audio form, transcribe what you said into words. If you’re using a computer-based dream journal, you can even use transcription software to do so, although make sure to read it over afterward. This is important for two reasons: you don’t want there to be any misinterpretations, and you want the opportunity to reconnect with your dreams at this point.

If you captured your dream in video, transcribe the audio portion into words. If you’re using a paper dream journal, describe in words the movements you made or the facial expressions you used. If you’re using a digital dream journal, you may be able to import the video and integrate it as part of the entry record.

As you begin to transfer your notes, you may find that you can remember more of the dream. One image may lead to another, or you may see how some of the things you recall string together with others.

Next Steps

After you’ve transcribed your initial recollections in your dream journal, you can begin to survey your dreams to further access the layers of wisdom that they have afforded you. One of the key steps in decoding your dreams — understanding individual ones as well as groups of them — is to identify the different components that they include, as well as attributes that they have. This is something that you can easily do by organizing the pages of your dream journal in a certain way, and something that we’ll explore in the next chapter.

To Sleep, or to Record a Dream?

Given that most of us have four to five periods of vivid dream potential through a night’s sleep, there are numerous opportunities to capture our dreams. Some dreamers may have no qualms about grabbing their journal in the middle of the night should they arise mid-sleep to write down the whispers of their oneiric visions. And lucid dreamers who practice the Wake Back to Bed method (see here) may even intentionally set their alarm clocks to wake them up in the early morning hours; this way, they can not only record a dream, but also stay awake and practice techniques that may foster their lucidity. And yet, there may be times that you arise from a dream and would rather turn over to go back to sleep than turn on the light and write in your journal. There’s no right or wrong; do what feels aligned with your dream inquiry quest, as well as the ways in which you know you need to tap into your rest.

More Documenting Tips

As you’re documenting your dreams, you have yet another opportunity to remember more of them. Here are some additional dream-mining activities to consider:

▪ If you remember a movement that occurred in your dream, act it out. This proprioceptive experience may help trigger other dream memories.

▪ If a line from a song appeared in your dream, listen to the entire song to see whether it jogs your memory of your dream or gives you more context as to why it was included.

▪ If you use the tarot as a tool for divining insights, pick a card while intentioning that it will help you connect to something in your dream you may not have yet remembered. Survey the card and look at its entire gestalt, as well as the individual images, design dynamics, the name of the card, and even its number. It’s easiest to do this exercise using only the twenty-two Major Arcana cards.