How to start a dream journal

What is a dream journal?

A dream journal is quite simply a notebook or diary that you’ve dedicated specifically to recording your dreams. (A dream journal can also be a space where you record your conscious dreams, desires, or goals, but that’s not what we’re exploring in this guide.)

You can either choose to create your own dream journal with a simple blank notebook, or you can buy pre-formatted ones.

To start a dream journal, the easiest approach is to simply begin recording your dreams as they occur and not overthink the process!

Benefits of starting (and keeping) a dream journal

Dream journaling for me goes back to the early 2000s, and I’m often surprised by the dreams I recorded and the patterns that can reemerge throughout the years (like tornados before big upheavals, oceans when I’m feeling sensitive, and traveling to mysterious lands when I’m ready to evolve).

• Increases your dream recall (or your capacity to remember dreams and reflect on them in detail)
• Relaxing and therapeutic
• Helps you to connect with deep unconscious wisdom
• Enhances your self-awareness and self-understanding
• Becomes a supportive resource you can turn to for guidance
• Sparks your creativity and improves your problem-solving skills
• Can lead to profound realizations and sudden epiphanies that may change the course of your life for the better
• Reconnects you with your Soul (or deep inner Self) and the messages it may have for you

Dream journaling and spiritual awakening

I dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke. Now I wonder: Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?

– Zhuangzi

One of the most meaningful aspects of dream journaling is the fact that it supports us through deep inner transformations, such as the spiritual awakening process.

No matter whether you’re going through an awakening, existential crisis, or big shift of some kind, starting a dream journal can help you to integrate what’s happening and gain a profound degree of insight.

To me, our dreams are the most accurate oracles or mirrors of our deeper needs, desires, dreams, and fears because they exist outside of the domain of the ego self.

Not only that, but the Soul – that deep and wise part at the core of all humanity – has a mysterious way of speaking to and directing us through our dreams.

For example, I often find that my Soul speaks to me through repetitive dreams of a certain nature. One repetitive dream I have in periods where I am resisting change and transformation is a dream of always missing my flight. In these dreams, I’m packing my bags furiously, applying makeup, and then as I rush to the airport I realize I’ve missed my flight!

How to start a dream journal

So, what do you write in a dream journal? How do you even get started recording your dreams? Here are some simple pointers:

1. Keep your journal next to your bed

For easy access, it’s best to keep your dream journal right next to your bed with a pen, and perhaps even a little torch (if you don’t have a lamp or don’t want to wake up your partner). I sometimes scrawl words in the dark into my dream journal when I’m too tired (or lazy!) to turn on a light.

2. Record your dreams quickly

Dreams are kind of like ice cubes on a hot pavement – they dissolve and disappear before you know it! So the sooner you record your dreams, the better.

Ideally, you’ll want to record your dreams right after you wake up. So that might mean that you scrawl down a few sentences or keywords at 2 am. If you prefer to draw a little picture of your dream, you can do that as well.

3. Detail, detail, detail

Here’s one crucial point I want you to remember: the silliest and most insignificant details are often the most critical when it comes to understanding the deeper meaning of your dreams. So record your dreams in as much detail as you can!

For example, I had a dream this morning of visiting a cabin on the side of a mountain with a group of mysterious people. Some random details that stuck out to me in the dream were how steep the mountain was and how at one point I was holding on really tight to some kind of ledge in the cabin.

Other examples of seemingly insignificant detail (which paradoxically hold a lot of value and meaning) may be the color of an object, a strange sound, the shape of a person’s mouth, the size of a certain animal, the feeling of walking into a certain area, some nonsensical words you say in a dream conversation, and so on.

4. Leave your dream journal, then revisit what you write later

After you’ve recorded as much detail as you can muster (whether in the form of words or images), put aside your dream journal for a few hours. Go about your daily business. Then return at the end of the day or week to what you wrote. Can you pick up on any new connections? Do any realizations burst into your mind?

Often, the best way to understand the meaning of your dreams is to give them space to simmer in your subconscious. When you return to them later, you’re more likely to have a greater perspective than before because you don’t have the same kind of tunnel vision attention as you had originally when first recording your dreams.

5. Don’t overthink, go with your intuitive understanding

There are so many books and blogs out there dedicated to dream symbolism. But as I explore in my article on How to Authentically Understand the Meaning of Your Dreams, no two people will see the same dream symbol the same way.

For example, I might love snakes because my uncle bought me a harmless carpet snake when I was little for my 11th birthday. But someone else might hate and fear snakes because they were bitten by one when they were little.

Yes, some dream symbols are fairly universal (like the ocean representing our emotional state), but whatever appears in your dream is so nuanced and personal that the only one who can truly understand the meaning is you. 

So don’t overthink your dream journaling and go in search of decrypting every single dream symbol based on others’ definitions – it’s just unhelpful and frankly disempowering to your dream work journey.

Instead, learn how to trust your intuition. Whatever insight you have that first pops into your brain is usually the most accurate one as you’re not operating from the level of the mind, but the heart or instincts.

11 Dream journal prompts

The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.

– Sigmund Freud

To help you understand the meaning of your dreams, I’ll share a few prompts that you can explore below. By the way, don’t forget to check out my How to Practice Dream Work article if you want more guidance.

1. List some of the notable dream symbols, and what you think they might mean. (Don’t overthink!)
2. Have you had this kind of dream before? If so, when? And what was happening in your life?
3. What was the strangest person, being, object, or situation in your dream? Why did it feel strange or out of the ordinary?
4. What kind of emotions (if any) did you experience in your dream?
5. What kind of thoughts (if any) did you experience in your dream?
6. Was the dream set in the past, present, or some kind of future?
7. If you could use one keyword to define the dream, what would it be (and why)?
8. If you could use one image/symbol to define the dream, what would it be (and why)?
9. Did anything sudden or unexpected happen in your dream?
10. What patterns or symbols appeared in your dream that have shown up in previous dreams?
11. If one of the dream characters could speak to you, what would they say?

If you’d like more guidance on how to get into the habit of journaling itself, see my free How to Journal guide.

7 Beautiful dream Journals

There are many options when it comes to obtaining an actual dream journal.

Here are some of my favorite dream journals: 

*  NOTE: We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

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The Deliberate Dreamer’s Journal —  by Athena Laz

Decode Your Dream Signs and Symbols and Transform Your Life

This beautifully-designed journal filled with helpful tips on to how to recall, interpret, and record your dreams will serve as an excellent guide and companion on your dream journey.

Everyday Inspiration Journals – The Essential Dream Journal — by Editors Of Rock Point