How to Remember and Learn from Your Dreams

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The American Psychological Association defines dream as “a physiologically and psychologically conscious state that occurs during sleep and is often characterized by a rich array of endogenous sensory, motor, emotional, and other experiences.”

Dreams can often serve as a tool for increasing valuable self-awareness. If you would like to remember the details of your dreams as much as possible, and are keen on gaining insight and empowerment from your dreams, consider utilizing the following tips, excerpted from my book How to Interpret Your Dreams.

1. Keep a dream journal next to your bed. The journal should be large enough for both writing down and drawing the details of your dreams. Although an electronic journal (such as a phone, tablet, or laptop) is okay, it is recommended that you use a paper journal with a pen. Writing and drawing with paper is less confined by technology, and may encourage greater remembering.

2. The best time to remember the details of your dream is immediately after you awaken from one. Consider the following steps:

A. While you’re still in bed, and before you even open your eyes, review in your mind the dream you just had in detail.

B. The key to dream recall: We tend to remember details of our dreams in reverse, recalling the last scene first, then the one just before, and so on.

C. With your eyes still closed, remember as many scenes and details of your dream(s) as possible. Sometimes there are only a few things to recall from a dream, other times the images and actions are numerous. Either way is okay. Importantly, recall the various emotions you felt during the dream (happiness, excitement, uncertainty, challenged, fearful, neutral, etc.). For the purpose of dream interpretation, it is important to distinguish how you felt during the dream, as opposed to how you felt about the dream after you woke-up.

D. Right after you open your eyes, and before you even get out of bed, grab your dream journal and start writing and/or drawing the details of your dream(s). Again, if it feels natural, do this in the reverse sequence of the scenarios for best recollection.

E. Put down as many details as possible, including what you saw, heard, and how you emotionally felt. Don’t place judgements on these details (you can interpret them later). Simply record the dream scenarios like you’re a documentary reporter. Note the date the time of your dreams in your journal for future reference.

3. As you accumulate entries in your dream journal, note the ones that give you the strongest positive and/or negative emotions. These dream-state emotions can provide important clues to the possible workings of your subconscious, from which you may gain insight and important lessons during dream interpretation. Note also any recurring people, locations, or themes in your dreams, and whether there are any changes in these reoccurrences over time. For example, a person may for years have a recurring dream about being chased by a stranger, but through interpretation work, personal intention and development, the dreams eventually evolve from running away from the stranger, to flying away from the stranger, to dialoging with the individual, to finally becoming friends with this person. The evolution of this reoccurring dream theme may suggest significant development for the dreamer, both in a dream state and in real life.

For more tips on how to interpret your dreams, see references below.

© 2020 by Preston C. Ni. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright violation may subject the violator to legal prosecution.