Dreams can be strange and seemingly undecipherable. Have you ever had whacky dreams that make you question how your brain even managed to muster them up? Well, the truth is that your dreams are talking to you. Rather, your subconscious is talking to you. If you give your dreams the attention they deserve, you might just learn some hidden ambitions, emotions, and or stresses you never acknowledged or knew existed. Having a dream journal is a fun way to identify areas of your life that may need some attention.

Why Should I Have a Dream Journal?

- You have access to information unavailable to you when you’re awake.

- Gain self-awareness. Learn more about yourself through your dreams. As you write dream journal entries, you will begin to see patterns emerging that may tell you about unnoticed desires or feelings towards people, subjects, or even objects.

- Inspiration. You may find some interesting, creative concepts and ideas popping up out of nowhere in your dreams that you can apply to your academic or personal works.

- Aid in self-healing. If you are experiencing some troubling situations, they are often reflected in your dreams. Recording them in your journal can help you confront those situations with a new perspective to aid in the healing process.

- It’s fun. Recalling and later reviewing your crazy, vivid, or inspiring dreams can be quite entertaining.

How Do I Keep a Dream Journal?

Here are some steps to take:

- Before going to bed, take some time to write about your day in your journal. Who did you see or talk to? Where did you go? What did you do?

- Keep something by your bedside to record your dream immediately after waking up. This could be a physical notebook or even a voice recorder from your smartphone.

- When you first wake up, lie still for a moment and try to remember as much as you can from the dreams. You may have to work backward, asking yourself what you saw last, and what happened before the scenes you remember.

- Grab your journal or recording device and make note of a few memorable keywords for each scene of the dream, such as, “waterfall, wolf, crying.” If you cannot come up with the words to describe your dream, use images. Sketch out what or who you saw.

- Reread your entries every day to start seeing the patterns that can hint at your subconscious thoughts and feelings.

Dreams are a bridge to your subconscious. Even the weirdest ones can involve some deep-seeded themes that your inner self is trying to communicate with you about. Keeping a dream journal is a great and fun way to become self-aware of your hidden ambitions, fears, and or feelings as well as find inspiration for your personal, academic, or work-related endeavors. Give it a try!

To learn more about dream journals, visit the articles: "Top 7 Reasons to Keep a Dream Journal," "Your Dream Journal," and "Why Remember Your Dreams?"