Dream diary

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A dream diary is a series of written records of remembered dreams , usually provided with calendar data, which cover a longer period of time. The recording is made regularly and promptly. The practice of keeping dream diaries did not become a mass phenomenon until the 20th century. Dream diaries are usually written privately to make dreams easier to remember and interpret. But they are also an important tool in empirical psychological and psychiatric dream research and are used to support psychotherapies. Since they can increase the memory of one's own dreams, they have recently been recommended as tools for developing waking dream skills. In the 20th century the dream diary also appeared as an independent literary genre.

Record form

Depending on the experience in keeping a dream diary, the form of recording from memory fragments to formulated experience reports varies. Not only the dream plot and details of the dream landscape are considered important, but the moods during the dream should also be recorded.

As a reminder of the dream, it is advisable to lie still for the time being after waking up and go through the dream again in your head, as many forget some details after moving. Afterwards, according to some experienced lucid dreamers, since the memory of a dream after awakening is often very fleeting, especially with inexperienced dreamers, one should just write down key words immediately after awakening or use a tape or an MP3 player with a recording function. By recording this abstract, a later reconstruction of the dream is simplified. Using an MP3 player or a dictation machine in the dark has the advantage of not having to wake up completely to record the dream.

The date and the content of the dream are important components, which are often supplemented by self-interpreted symbols or other notes. The priority lies on the points, which are considered important by the dreaming person.

See also

literature

  • Manfred Engel : Dream notes in poets' diaries (Bräker, Keller, Schnitzler). In: Bernard Dieterle, Manfred Engel (eds.): Writing the Dream / Écrire le rêve (= Cultural Dream Studies 1). Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2017, pp. 211–238.
  • Ann Faraday: Your dreams. Key to Self-Knowledge . ISBN 3596233062
  • Christoph Gassmann: Remembering and interpreting dreams . Düsseldorf 2004, ISBN 3-491-69807-3
  • Hans-Walter Schmidt-Hannisa: Between science and literature. To the genealogy of the dream log . In: Michael Niehaus / ders. (Ed.): The protocol. A type of text and its cultural functions . Frankfurt a. M. 2005, pp. 135-164.
  • Swami Sivananda Radha: Practice of Dream Yoga . Freiburg im Breisgau 1996