This reduces stress and teaches us to overcome anxiety.
Try to remember how many of your dreams have a clearly positive and joyful storyline. Most likely, there are fewer of them compared to anxious dreams. Quite often, we see ourselves being chased by something or someone, and we run away.
Or we find ourselves in a hopeless situation where something threatens our lives. Hello, stairs that cannot be descended or endless fences that cannot be climbed, no matter how much we try.
Scientist Antti Revonsuo noticed that a part of the brain called the amygdala, responsible for the fight-or-flight instinct, is most active during the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep phase.
He proposed the "threat simulation theory": according to his theory, in dreams, we rehearse our behavior in life-threatening situations.
Antti Revonsuo
1. Finnish psychologist and neuroscientist, philosopher of consciousness.
Dreams allow us to replay a frightening situation in safe conditions and develop relevant skills: coping with such threats if they pose a real danger to life, or recognizing circumstances that are not dangerous.
Journaling, in general, helps reduce stress levels and increase psychological resilience, and dream journals are no exception. By writing down your dreams, even the scary ones, you will start perceiving them calmly, like watching an exciting thriller, and you won't suffer from nightmares.
2. Journaling helps observe the subconscious mind.
Carl Gustav Jung called dreams a door to the subconscious. And a dream journal allows you to peek into that very subconscious and study your own emotions.
Carl Gustav Jung
Swiss psychiatrist and educator, founder of analytical psychology.
A dream is a small, well-hidden door that leads to the night of the cosmic unconsciousness, which was the soul before the emergence of consciousness.
Our dreams are based on events from real life. Very often, we dream of the same places or events repeatedly. In a dream journal, you can track emerging patterns and thereby guess what your subconscious is trying to tell you: what troubles you and what brings you joy.
And by rereading the entries after some time, for example, a year or two, you can correlate their content with specific events in your life.
3. Recording dreams improves your memory.
Dreams are fleeting; they are quickly forgotten. When you wake up, you still remember quite vividly what you dreamt, but after 1-2 minutes, all those thoughts simply evaporate from memory.
However, there is an interesting pattern. If you write down your dream immediately after waking up, in the future, when you reread the entry, you will vividly reproduce it in your mind, even if you missed many details in the text. You can consider it as a kind of memory exercise.
The dream journal will help you delve into lucid dreams.
Lucid dreams are those in which you realize that you are dreaming and can control your actions.
It's fascinating—you can explore places created by your subconscious and meet familiar people from the real world or various fantastical beings. It's a fun practice, highly recommended.
Half of the people in the world have experienced lucid dreams at least once in their lives, and they can be induced artificially. It's not only interesting, but also beneficial because it helps develop the areas of the brain responsible for logical thinking and willpower.
A dream journal will help you immerse yourself in lucid dreams. With its help, you can track the locations, events, and characters present in your dreams and even "re-watch" a dream you've had.
If you missed the most interesting parts because you were awakened in the morning, write down what you dreamt.
And when you fall asleep the next night, focus on the images from the previous dream—you may be able to see it again. It's not difficult, but it requires some practice.
5. It's a new source of inspiration.
When Salvador Dali went to sleep, he would hold a heavy object in his hand, often a silver bowl. And as soon as he fell asleep, it would slip from his hand, making a noise and waking up the artist. Why?
So that Dali could immediately sketch fragments of his dream upon waking and later use them as a source of inspiration.
Many stories and even poems by Edgar Allan Poe first appeared in his dreams before he transferred them onto paper.
John Lennon came up with his famous composition " #9 Dream" in a dream as well. And the phrase "Böwakawa poussé, poussé" from the song doesn't mean anything; it simply appeared in Lennon's dream.
Horror master H.P. Lovecraft kept a dream journal. For example, the terrifying, insane monster Azathoth also appeared in his dreams.
H.P. Lovecraft
American writer and journalist.
The leader of England challenges the leader of the enemies to a personal duel. They fight, and the enemy loses his helmet, revealing there is no head underneath.
The entire enemy army disappears into a mist, and the observer finds himself on that plain as an English knight on a horse. He looks at the castle and sees a strange gathering of bizarre clouds above the tall serrated walls.
Record your dreams as well. Perhaps one day you will write a novel that will send shivers down Stephen King's spine.
6. Journaling helps solve important tasks.
A dream journal not only reveals your creative potential but also stimulates logical thinking.
Researchers at the Beth Israel Medical Center in Boston conducted an experiment where participants had to navigate a complex virtual maze for an hour. Then, half of them took a nap for an hour and a half, while the others stayed awake.
A few hours later, the maze task resumed. Those who stayed awake or slept without dreams didn't show much progress in solving the task. However, those who dreamt about the maze demonstrated a tenfold improvement in their performance.
According to psychiatrist Allan Hobson, dreams contribute to memory consolidation and procedural learning. They help generalize and process our memories to enhance survival skills.
If you are pondering over an important task, it might even appear in your dreams. It's possible that you may find the solution in a dream.
For example, thanks to a dream he had, mechanic Elias Howe invented the sewing machine. Therefore, record your dreams so that the sudden ideas that enlighten you don't vanish without a trace.
7. It's simply fun and interesting.
Actually, do we need a reason to write down our dreams? They are interested in and of themselves, and putting them on paper is like creating a book with a unique plot that no one else, but you, can come up with.
People spend almost a third of their lives dreaming. While sleep itself is beneficial and necessary, sleeping just for the sake of it can be incredibly boring.
So, perceive dreams as another form of entertainment, like a good book or a movie.
Practical recommendations:
Keeping a dream journal is a quite personal activity. Everyone decides how they want to record their dreams. However, there are a few general recommendations that will help you get started.
Fall asleep with a firm intention to remember your dreams. People who claim they never dream are mistaken—they simply don't remember them. So, train yourself to recall everything that happened in your dream immediately upon waking up.
Record your dreams regularly. Ideally, every day. The more entries you make, the easier it will be for your brain to remember dreams.
Don't delay recording. We forget most of the dream details within about five minutes after waking up. So, place a notebook next to your bed to avoid running around looking for one. A smartphone or tablet will also work—they allow you to type even in the dark.
Don't overthink it. The more you try to give your thoughts an elegant form, the quicker you will forget your dream. Write without editing. The main thing is to capture the most important moments of the dream and your emotions.
Try waking up earlier than usual. Set an alarm two or three hours earlier than your usual waking time. This way, you can wake up when your brain is in the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep phase and vividly recall your dreams.
Write everything down and go back to sleep. You don't need to do this every day, but once a week on weekends—why not?
Make sure you're awake. Lastly, an interesting fact. Scientists have noticed a phenomenon called "false awakening," which is particularly common among dream journal enthusiasts. It goes like this: you see a fantastic, detailed dream, wake up, and write it down.
The next morning, you find that there is no entry in your journal, and you have completely forgotten the dream. This is because you made the entry... in your dream. Very Christopher Nolan-esque. So, before sitting down to write in your journal, make sure you're awake.
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