I love the idea of writing a blog because it is perfectly suited to the intimacy of dream exploration. After all, it’s just you and me. This blog will explore dreams and soul because dreams are technology of the soul—a tool to use in your growth and a way for your soul to contact you. Both dreams and soul illuminate one another, which in turn illuminate our personalities and our lives.

So let’s get started by talking about writing your dreams down. The benefits go far beyond helping you remember the dream. Over time, it becomes your personal dream dictionary, where your own common dream symbols become clear and your patterns of dreaming (and behavior) are readily apparent.

In one sense, it’s a history of you, and while it’s not the whole story, without our dreams our personal “history” is flat and one-dimensional. Without a dream journal, your dreams and the wisdom and insights that come from them are lost as quickly as fog disappearing on a sunny morning.

At the International Association for the Study of Dreams’ annual conference earlier this year, there was a presentation on long-term dream journaling. I have been recording my dreams for 29 years, but some of the presenters made me look like a novice! Patricia Garfield, a well-known psychologist who has written many books on dreams, has been keeping a dream journal for more than 60 years. This must be a world record! But don’t let that amazing record intimidate you. All you have to do is begin.

For those of you who are rather clairvoyant dreamers, and for those who don’t think they are but would like to be, writing your dreams down is the only way you can look back and verify the dreams details, along with the time and date of the dream.

So put pen and pad, journal, notebook, or even laptop or digital recorder next to your bed, remind yourself that you want to remember your dreams, and go to sleep. When you wake up, whether in the morning or the middle of the night, just stay in the position you find yourself. Ask “where was I just now?” “What was I dreaming?” And little by little—and sometimes all at once—you will begin to recall the dream. Write down whatever you can remember, no matter how fragmented or short of details.

Like any skill, you will improve with practice.

So jump into the waters of your psyche and your soul. And let me know how you do!

Sweet dreams,

Patti

Patti Allen