Keeping a dream journal isn’t just important for analyzing and interpreting your dreams, it’s crucial. When someone asks me about what steps they should take to interpreting and understanding their dreams, my advice never changes: The first step is to invest in a Dream Journal like the one you see above. This particular dream journal is less than $7!

Why should you keep a dream journal?

Trying to “master” your dreams without a dream journal is like trying to cook without a cookbook.  It’s like trying to remember a month of appointments and special dates without writing them down.  Most of us are simply too busy and have far too many things going on not to benefit from putting them in writing.  The same is true of our dreams, we have them each and every night – if we don’t write them down, we’ll soon forget the details and often the dream, itself.

However, if we write down the most important things about each dream, including the dream symbols, colors, people, and emotions – we’ll have an accurate account of the dream.  Then, we can look back over the dreams we’ve been having and see a pattern develop.

You should write down a brief explanation of what’s going on in your life as well – either in a different color of ink from the ink you use for dream description – or in a place where you can tell definitely where the real world ends and the dream world begins!

The importance of recording what’s going on in your life (such as if you’re feeling happy, sad, lonely, guilty…) is this:  In the future, if you have a series of nightmares, you can look back in your dream journal and find a time when you had similar dreams.  You’ll probably see that what you’re feeling in your day to day life is similar to what you felt then.

Dreams are extremely fascinating and extremely insightful.  Having a Dream Journal will help you both enjoy and benefit from your dreams more than ever.