Lately I've been (sort of) keeping a dream journal. I wake up a few times a night anyway, so if I can remember anything, I'll scribble a few short sentences down, in the dark, in a small notebook.
"Meatball earrings."
"Lunch with Fisk, so happy!"
"Feeding the vultures. Andrea..." (our vegan friend) "denied eating the hamburger, but she did."
"No Cokes allowed in workplace! Paintball war."
"Light blue cat. Didn't like me at first. Patience."
In the morning, I may spend an extra five or ten minutes in bed, trying to decipher the cryptic wandering phrases, often written one right on top of the other. Some mornings it's amazing: I start writing what I remember, and more details start coming back, and other dreams make a shy appearance at first and then reveal themselves more fully as I scribble dream-nonsense for pages and pages. Other mornings: nothing.
If I go over my notebooks periodically, it's exciting to see how easily I can freshen those dream memories right up. Many of them remain fairly vivid even many months later. I can still picture those big meatball earrings I was wearing last summer! Even if I can't remember if I've brushed my teeth this morning without checking to see if the bristles of my toothbrush are wet.
But why take precious morning time to do such a silly thing, which honestly is sometimes just frustrating? The fragments are so damn elusive, and so often just when they start to feel graspable... they slip completely away.
Are there some secret psychological benefits to be had from keeping a dream diary, and getting more acquainted with the insanity that takes place in your brain every night?
Scientific Benefits of Keeping a Dream Journal
Well, this was interesting. Everywhere I went on the web, it seemed people agreed it was a very useful thing to do. Some of the benefits cited were:
- Revealing Helpful Patterns and Connections
- Processing Emotions
- Stress Reduction
- Problem Solving
- Assisting in Psychotherapy
- Improving Self-Awareness
- Increased Creativity
- Reducing Nightmares
But when I went to find the studies that showed that these benefits were actually real, and not just wishful thinking?
Er... I couldn't find any. Not that I made a huge amount of effort. But I just kept finding the opinions of various people that dream journals would be good for this stuff.
My Research Assistant, Chatty McClanker, gave it a shot too, but she wasn't much help either.
The best she could come up with was the hardly shocking fact that logging your dreams helps you remember them better than waiting until someone asks you about them later.
Um, duh?
Why I Keep a Dream Journal Anyway, Research Be Damned:
1. Better Dream Recall, More Entertainment!
It does seem like the more effort I make to remember dreams, the more I can recall. And holy crap, the absolute weirdness that transpires nightly is fascinating. Even the dreams that are unpleasant are intriguing to think about, once back in the safety of my bedroom. Plus, futuristic cities, vast beautiful landscapes, the ability to fly, strange animals that transform themselves into even stranger animals, long-dead loved ones suddenly available for chats... It's cheaper than Netflix, anyway.
2. I'm Hoping for More Lucid Dreams
Ages ago I wrote a how-to post on lucid dreaming, and I made it sound fairly simple to learn how to become aware, during a dream, that you were dreaming. And from there, sometimes control the content of the dream.
I made it sound fairly easy because back then, I did all the recommended steps, and it worked! I loved having so many lucid dreams.
I'd love to get that back again, although I've had very little luck so far replicating my earlier success. Maybe it's a function of age? Anyway, one of the highly recommended practices for increasing lucid dreams? It's keeping a dream journal.
3. Exploring Altered States of Consciousness
No drugs required! There is a lot of stuff that goes on in our heads that is hard to put into handy boxes. We get used to ignoring anything that we can't easily describe: odd mixtures of visuals and feelings and impressions. Dream states, as well as the almost-but-not-quite-sleep states, are fascinating to observe, and in my mind, lead to a better understanding that there is more to "you" or "me" than the usual conscious, analytical, verbal, goal-oriented, bossy, daytime personality.
4. Time on Earth is Precious and Limited: You Get "More" if You Include Dream-Time
If I have a night where I can't remember any dreams, I feel a little cheated. Where did all those hours go? Were they just lost? Probably not, but if I do manage to remember my experiences during the night, I feel like I've gotten "bonus" conscious time. I've had more adventures and learned more things, even if they have absolutely no useful application in the real world.
5. It's fascinating to Notice Personal Recurring Themes, Worries, Settings and Experiences
In real life, I do not have any particular problem finding and using a public toilet. So why the fuck do I have SO MANY dreams about gross/defective/missing/not-private/bizarre public toilets?
There are apparently many of us who have this dream. And of course a lot of my other recurring dreams are also common: having to take an exam in a class I've never been to, realizing I'm at a public function and have somehow forgotten to put on clothing, trying to run or scream in the face of danger and finding myself paralyzed, noticing that my teeth are falling out, discovering the house I live in has a bunch of extra rooms I never realized were there... you know, the "normal" odd dreams that make no sense that so many of us have.
But what's interesting about keeping a dream journal is that you start to notice more personal patterns: people who keep showing up, places that don't actually exist but that you've been to many times before in your dreams, bizarre accomplishments that bear no relationship to your real life. (For example, I keep competing in nonexistent sporting events involving strange contraptions and doing really well, despite not being particularly athletic).
Most of this information is pretty useless, but it's intriguing nonetheless. For example, I'm having a ton of dreams lately about being in my childhood home, both my parents alive again, my sisters and I doing weird dream things together. Would I realize how often this was happening if I weren't actively digging around in the jumbled chest of dream remnants in the mornings? Probably not. Does it mean anything, psychologically? Probably not. But maybe?
Anyone else having any interesting dreams lately? Do you make any sort of effort to remember them?
I don't keep a dream journal, but my dreams in the past few decades have a theme: I'm at work, but the building keeps growing or it's a completely strange one, and there are more dogs boarding than ever, and everything is in the wrong place. Infinite variety, and always related to work stress. I am always aware that I'm dreaming. It's like I'm sitting in the back of my head watching. I rarely have what I would call nightmares--I'm never scared. My favorite nightmare recently was that all the cars on the Watterson Expressway were sinking into the pavement, and some people were getting out and running away and some people were trying to drive through it. I’ve never had one quite like that before. The stupidity was very annoying. I was just watching, not on the expressway.
ReplyDeleteThe interesting part of being a nudist is that when I (rarely) dream I'm nude in public NO ONE notices me.
Another anxiety dream I used to have was that my purse would just disappear in a public place. Not stolen or left behind; just evaporated. Since I stopped using a purse several years ago (my shoulder is very happy!) I've never had that dream.
I forgot you were a nudist Mary Anne! It occurs to me that might be a handy way to get rid of the naked-body shame so many of us don't even realize we have, but obviously do or we wouldn't be having anxiety dreams about it. And I think it's cool that you're often aware you're dreaming, I wish I could do that more. And the sinking pavement dream, I can just picture it! Dreams are so weird.
DeleteI used to lucid dream now and again, loved it but I seem to have lost the knack. Hadn't thought about it for a while, but I miss it. Maybe you're right about it being an age thing.
ReplyDeleteRight now my sleep is a mess, so when I do get there it's basically a coma with occasional textbook anxiety dreams. Hopefully I'll get a bit of stability back soon. 🤞
I do not, nor am I ever likely to, keep a dream journal. I envy those of you who are able to keep anything like that going for more than a couple of weeks. 😂
Ugh, insomnia is such a mind-fuck too, because at least for me, it's so hard to try to relax and let go enough to fall asleep, without relaxing the vigilance/mindfulness one needs to guard against getting caught in obsessive thoughts (worrying, planning, ranting). I keep feeling like I'm almost there, getting drifty, and then suddenly I realize I've just been composing a lengthy scathing diatribe in my head about the state of the world or the rude waiter at the restaurant, and I'm wide awake again. Hope you have sweet dreams soon and the anxiety dreams fade and stability returns!
DeleteI used to dream a lot. Both nightmarish and more pleasant ones. I recently realized that I haven't had any dreams that I can recall! My favorite dreams, in the past, were when my parents were with me. We talked and shared happy times. I was sad when I woke up and realized that they were still gone from this life.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of dreams are our brains working out problems, wishes, and addressing fears.
I too, keep paper and pen near me in bed. I write down things that I am thinking about when I wake up at 3am. This usually involves something I want to remember to do or buy at the grocery store. lol When I do write those down though, it frees my brain up so I can go back to sleep.
I miss dreaming.
Dang it, I forgot to say I am Walker Lady. lol
DeleteWhen I make the effort to write something down it wakes me up enough that I can’t go back to sleep right away. So I have quit trying.
DeleteInteresting, Walker Lady, that your dreams have gone missing! For me it's a bit cyclical, and the more I'm interested in chasing them down, the more bits and pieces start to surface. But maybe it means you're sleeping more soundly? And you know, that's a really good idea to use the notebook not just for dreams but for those "I don't want to forget" things that always seem to surface in the middle of the night.
DeleteAnd Mary Anne, that makes sense, same thing happens when I debate whether to get up to pee or not. But usually the internal debate about whether or not to scrawl notes/get up or not wakes me up enough that the actual notetaking/going to the bathroom doesn't make it any worse!
For the most part, I don't remember dreams and I don't particularly want to. Many terrifying ones years ago put me off doing so.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, I can see why you might not want to go poking around there then! Although I find that the more I explore, the more not-horrible dreams I remember. They tend to be a bit more shy than the nightmares and take a little more dredging up.
Deleteoops, forgot to sign in, that was me!
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