One of the first things LaBerge directs the student of oneironautics in Chapter 2 of his book, Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, is to start a dream journal.
The purpose of this is to become more adept at dream recall and more familiar with the composition of your dream states. He mentions that knowing and recognizing “dreamsigns” will be of use when you learn the lucid dream inducing techniques in later chapters (which I plan to discuss in this blog in the days and weeks ahead).
Years ago, I read a book on astral projection by John Magnus and used his method of journaling my dreams with a great deal of success. One thing that stuck with me was that he suggested when first waking up, don’t open your eyes or move your body. (LaBerge mentions not moving your body but doesn’t specifically mention not opening your eyes. Although this can be deduced since eye lids are parts of the body, it was of significant help to me not to have any visual stimulation while trying to recall the dream). So, without moving or looking at anything, think about what you were just dreaming, and reconstruct as much as you can. It helps to work backward. Once you piece together everything you can recall, then open your eyes, grab your pen and paper, and jot it down.
This blog will suffice as my dream journal, a resource page for my blog readers, as well as my exploration of the various materials I personally interact with, including books, the Internet, videos, etc. If you are interested in starting a dream journal, you can click here, or if you are interested in reading an online dream journal, click here or here. (I found these by doing a Google search).
One final thing to discuss. “Dreamsigns” are those strange happenings in dreams that should signal you to the fact that you are indeed dreaming. In your journal, it is a good idea, according to LaBerge, to underline those signs, and categorize them.
Once you have collected several dreams, re-read each dream journal entry, and write in the margins beside each underlined dreamsign one of 4 words: inner, action, form, context. These are the 4 ways in which dreamsigns will appear.
Inner (Inner awareness) – when you have a thought that is not consistent with waking life. Example: “When I found the door locked, I ‘wished’ it open.”
Action – when you experience yourself, someone else, or an object performing an action that is not consistent with waking life. Example: “I’m riding home on a unicycle.”
Form – when you, someone else, an object, or the setting takes a form that is not consistent with waking life. Example: “I see a tiny purple kitten.”
Context – when the place, role, time, or situation is just not consistent with waking life. Example: “My bed was in the street.”
At the end of each dream, tally the number of times each dreamsign occurs within each category. Keep a running tally of the total number in each category for your entire journal. When you have enough dreamsigns catalogued, start paying attention to the category with the most “hits”. (Read my dream journal for examples in this blog). This will be your focus in dreams to come as you begin using induction techniques to go lucid.
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