It can be worthwhile to think about your dreams during the day too. An expert lists the benefits of dream diaries and explains how to keep them.
Whether it’s crazy stuff about flying or that we’re currently in the middle of an oral math exam: our dreams have more or less to do with real life. They can be triggered by events or problems that are important to us in our waking state – and thus help us to process experiences of fear, stress, confusion and vulnerability, says US psychologist and dream researcher Kelly Bulkeley in an article for the specialist magazine Psychology Today.
During a crisis, you dream more vividly
According to him, we dream particularly vividly when we are faced with a crisis – this is “part of the psyche’s emergency system”. And it is precisely at such times that it is beneficial to pay attention to one’s dreams.
The expert emphasizes: “Although such dreams are disturbing at the moment, they can be useful because they activate a deeper store of memories, knowledge and experiences that help you cope with current challenges.” He recommends keeping a dream diary in order to understand and even use these deep emotional processes.
Writing down dreams helps you understand yourself
According to Bulkeley, dreams can also possibly have an inspirational function: In times of crisis, for example, certain dreams could shift the focus from threats to our capacities for creative change, adaptation and new growth: “These abilities can appear, for example, in a simple dream in which one discovers a new room in a house.”
If you write down your dreams, you can read them again and again, recognize patterns, compare them with your real experiences and perhaps understand yourself better. You can buy special dream diaries, but a notebook or notepad will also do the job.
Keeping a dream diary: How to do it
To get the most out of your dream diary, Bulkeley recommends simply placing a notepad and a pen or your phone with a voice recognition app next to your bed. It should be very easy to record your dream immediately after waking up.
Ideally, each entry includes the date, the place you slept, the time you fell asleep and woke up, and an assessment of sleep quality – good, fair, bad. This is useful because sleeping conditions can affect dreams. And “if you can’t remember any dreams that night, you’ve at least collected some useful information about your sleep.”
One more thing: If you write down your dreams first thing in the morning, you might end up scribbling. That’s why it’s a good idea to type your notes out neatly by hand or on the computer. After all, you want to be able to read them again to make the most of them.
Read more on Techzle\.com:
- Are dreams a warning sign of psychological problems?
- Lucid dreaming: Can it be learned?
- Dragon Dreaming: How the method works
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