Dream journal: how to keep one and remember more dreams

Everyone has woken up remembering a whole dream and, ten minutes later, had nothing left. A dream journal is just that: recording what you dreamed before it disappears. Over time, people who keep one tend to remember more, and start noticing places, people and feelings that come back.

Keep it next to the bed

A dream journal loses to any distance. If the notebook is in another room, the dream is gone by the time you get there. Notebook and pen on the nightstand, or your phone already open in the right place, so you don't fall into notifications before writing anything.

When you wake up, stay still for a moment

Before getting up or reaching for your phone, keep your eyes closed for a few seconds and pull up the last image that stayed. Often it brings the one before it along. Starting from the end of the dream is usually easier than trying to recall the beginning.

What to write down

• Where you were and who was there.
• What happened, in the order it comes back, even if it's a mess.
• How you felt in the dream and when you woke up.
• Odd details: a colour, a sentence, an object out of place.
• If you only remember a piece, write the piece. Three words count.

Why talking works better here

Half asleep, writing is hard: the handwriting comes out crooked, the sentence won't close, and the dream slips away while you look for the word. Talking is faster and doesn't require opening your eyes properly. A one minute voice note, still hoarse, keeps more of the dream than a paragraph written with effort.

Keep the dream apart from the interpretation

First record what happened, then, if you like, what you think it has to do with your life. Mixing the two in the moment makes the record drift to fit the explanation. And be wary of dream dictionaries: what a house or the sea means to you matters more than any ready-made list.

Re-read after a few weeks

One dream on its own is a curiosity. Twenty together show what repeats: a childhood place, a person who disappears and comes back, the same feeling of running late. It's worth noting what happened the day before too, because a lot of repetition has to do with what was going on while you were awake.

If you'd rather talk, what helps is a journal that takes the voice note with your eyes still half closed and gives the text back later, with the recording kept alongside.