There are probably as many ways to work with your dreams as there are dreamworkers. The basic starting point for any method is recording the dream in a dream journal. I’m curious as to how you record your dreams.
Are you new to dreamwork and just beginning to explore your dreams since you saw the movie, Inception? Or have you been doing it for some time now?
Do you have a specific format or layout you use? Do you use a particular method to work with your dreams (Ullman, Gongloff, Delaney?) so you record very specific aspects of the dream separate or aside from the dream report itself — characters, actions, settings, etc?
We’re usually limited to the size of the journal we use. What would your ideal format look like? How big would it be?
Do you personalize your journal? If so, how?
How long does it take you to fill up a journal — one month, six months, a year?
Do you use the same method(s) to work with your dreams – or are you always looking for something new?
I really want to know, as I am fleshing out an idea for a new book — please either reply to this post — or send an email directly to me. Your input is appreciated.
Happy Dreaming!
Bobbie Ann
HI Bobbie Ann,
I’ve never used a paper journal. I type faster than I write, so I keep my daily dream journal online in a private password-protected journal. I back it up frequently so I have it on my hard drive, too. I don’t follow any specific format–I just record everything I remember.
I’ve been doing this sporadically since high school, and daily for the past 5 years.
I guess it’s personalized by the template I chose. I assign the dreams tags, too, so I can search them.
Thank you, KMG, I appreciate the response.
Hey, Bobblie! I want to purchase an autographed copy of your book. I tried to request above, but kept getting an error message. Let me know what you require to fill my order. Look forward to finally getting to read it!
Warmly, Brenda
Thank you, Brenda! I sent you an email!
Hi, Bobbie,
My favorite kind of dream journal is unlined, so that I can write as big or small as I like. Occasionally I do sketches, but I am not an artist so I can never do justice to the dream scenes and it seems easier to describe in words than draw. I find if it is too nice a journal, like with handmade paper and a beautiful cover, I don’t like to write in it because I tend to scribble my dreams and in the dark the handwriting is not very good … and I don’t like to mess up such a beautiful book! So a medium-grade journal works best for dreams, and I keep the really nice ones for poetry, scripture, “thoughts of the day,” prayers, and such.
Ideal size for me is 8 1/2 by 11 or a little larger, but not too heavy since I travel a lot and want it to be portable. I like to use a nice pen.
Sometimes I use regular composition books … right now I found some on sale for 25 cents each because it’s before school … so I bought several and plan to cut out some nice photos or artwork from old calendars to paste on the cover to make it special.
I fill up a journal in a few months. I’ve been recording dreams since 1977 or 1978, and in the beginning I recorded several dreams a night. Then after some years, I became more lax. When I joined IASD and was preparing to attend my first conference in Montreal in 2008, I figured I’d better get on the stick, and when I decided to record my dreams in a more disciplined fashion, I soon went back to remembering and recording a lot. Since then, I’ve stayed disciplined, putting a journal by my bed every night, even when traveling, and so I fill up a journal every 2 or 3 months.
I interpret dreams in the “Universal Language of Mind” that I’ve learned through the School of Metaphysics. That means that for every thing in the physical world there is a universal function, and for us as souls there is a corresponding inner function. The symbol is universal and the interpretation or meaning or application is personal.
So, for example, universally a house (whether with 4 walls or a tepee or an igloo or hut) serves as a dwelling place for us in the physical world. The corresponding “dwelling place” for us as souls is the mind. Therefore, a house in a dream symbolizes the mind. The dreamer is the only one who can determine what “state of mind” a house represents in his or her dream, depending upon the action, whose house it is, what’s happening in the house, etc.
I also look at dreams as being in many layers …. in other words, a dream can be precognitive or telepathic or a group dream, and even in those cases, the dream can be interpreted symbolically as well. So it’s a kind of “2 for the price of 1″ dream when that happens!
I’d love to tell you more, and I’d love to read this new book you’re working on, and learn about how other people keep dream journals!
Thank you for educating people about dreams!
Love, Laurel