Read Online A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming by Dylan Tuccillo, Jared Zeizel, Thomas Peisel - Free Book Online
minutes of waking up. Within ten
minutes, 90 percent is lost. This is why it’s important not only to
write down your dreams but also to do so as soon as you wake up.
Funny enough, writing down your dreams is also the single
most effective way to recall them. By recording them, you’re
essentially saying, “Hey subconscious! Dreams are important. I’m
writing them down because I want to remember them!” It may
sound counterintuitive, but this is an extremely common occur-
rence—just by keeping a dream journal, you will naturally begin
to remember longer, more vivid dreams. And all you have to do is
pick up a pen.
= 72 <
= 73 <
A DREAMING SAINT
Le Marquis Saint-Denys was a French sinologist in the nineteenth century and one of the most recognized oneironauts. He started recording his dreams at age thirteen, eventually accumulating more than 1,946 in total. Saint-Denys believed that anyone could achieve lucidity in their dreams and developed techniques for inducing them. After six months of practicing his own exercises, he was achieving lucidity two nights a week. Keeping a dream journal and familiarizing yourself with your dreams, he believed, was one of his most useful techniques.
How to Keep a Dream Journal
If you don’t already have one, you’ll want to get a nice-looking
journal that you can write your dreams in. It will contain the
workings of your inner world, so show it a little respect. Don’t use
some small pad of paper; you’ll make a mess of it.
If you’re like us, you’ve kept a dream journal on and off
throughout your life, but you’re busy, and when the alarm clock
rings in the morning, writing down your dreams could mean that
you’d be late for work or school. What’s the point of scribbling
down these events? Recording your dreams can seem frivolous and
impractical, but this feeling couldn’t be further from the truth.
Personally, as we became lucid dreamers, we had to embrace
our dream journals with open arms. Our journals allowed us
to remember more dreams, reveal what’s going on in our inner
worlds, and most important, trigger lucid dreams. The value of
keeping a dream journal far exceeds the effort put into keeping
= 74 <
one. If dreams are messages from our subconscious, then they have
important information to deliver. Ignore these messages and watch
dreams disappear from your life completely. Like a needy lover,
they want your attention, and if you cut them off they’ll respond
with the silent treatment.
The following tips may seem like common sense, but they’re
important nonetheless.
b Keep It Next to Your Bed
Keep your journal and a pen close to your bed in the same
consistent spot, so that when the morning comes, you don’t
have to go on a memory-fading treasure hunt.
b Date and Time
Before going to bed, write down the date and your bedtime.
Not only will you be able to track your sleeping patterns, but
subconsciously you’ll also be preparing your journal for a new
entry in the morning.
b Write Keywords
Don’t worry about writing a novel, you’re not getting paid for
this. Come morning, you might not want to write down every
detail. Feel free to jot down the important moments as bullet
points and expand upon them later when you’re not a zombie.
= 75 <
b Write in the Present Tense
When expanding on your dreams, write in the present tense as
if you’re currently experiencing it. For example:
The polar bear is staring me straight in the eye—
he bends down and hands me a cupcake.
Writing and thinking in the present will put your mind back
into the dream and allow you to recall more detail.
b Title Your Dreams
After you write your dreams down, go back and give them a
title. Pick something that sums up the essence of the trip such
as “Midnight Snack with Polar Bear” or “The Joyful Parade.”
This practice will help later on when you
minutes, 90 percent is lost. This is why it’s important not only to
write down your dreams but also to do so as soon as you wake up.
Funny enough, writing down your dreams is also the single
most effective way to recall them. By recording them, you’re
essentially saying, “Hey subconscious! Dreams are important. I’m
writing them down because I want to remember them!” It may
sound counterintuitive, but this is an extremely common occur-
rence—just by keeping a dream journal, you will naturally begin
to remember longer, more vivid dreams. And all you have to do is
pick up a pen.
= 72 <
= 73 <
A DREAMING SAINT
Le Marquis Saint-Denys was a French sinologist in the nineteenth century and one of the most recognized oneironauts. He started recording his dreams at age thirteen, eventually accumulating more than 1,946 in total. Saint-Denys believed that anyone could achieve lucidity in their dreams and developed techniques for inducing them. After six months of practicing his own exercises, he was achieving lucidity two nights a week. Keeping a dream journal and familiarizing yourself with your dreams, he believed, was one of his most useful techniques.
How to Keep a Dream Journal
If you don’t already have one, you’ll want to get a nice-looking
journal that you can write your dreams in. It will contain the
workings of your inner world, so show it a little respect. Don’t use
some small pad of paper; you’ll make a mess of it.
If you’re like us, you’ve kept a dream journal on and off
throughout your life, but you’re busy, and when the alarm clock
rings in the morning, writing down your dreams could mean that
you’d be late for work or school. What’s the point of scribbling
down these events? Recording your dreams can seem frivolous and
impractical, but this feeling couldn’t be further from the truth.
Personally, as we became lucid dreamers, we had to embrace
our dream journals with open arms. Our journals allowed us
to remember more dreams, reveal what’s going on in our inner
worlds, and most important, trigger lucid dreams. The value of
keeping a dream journal far exceeds the effort put into keeping
= 74 <
one. If dreams are messages from our subconscious, then they have
important information to deliver. Ignore these messages and watch
dreams disappear from your life completely. Like a needy lover,
they want your attention, and if you cut them off they’ll respond
with the silent treatment.
The following tips may seem like common sense, but they’re
important nonetheless.
b Keep It Next to Your Bed
Keep your journal and a pen close to your bed in the same
consistent spot, so that when the morning comes, you don’t
have to go on a memory-fading treasure hunt.
b Date and Time
Before going to bed, write down the date and your bedtime.
Not only will you be able to track your sleeping patterns, but
subconsciously you’ll also be preparing your journal for a new
entry in the morning.
b Write Keywords
Don’t worry about writing a novel, you’re not getting paid for
this. Come morning, you might not want to write down every
detail. Feel free to jot down the important moments as bullet
points and expand upon them later when you’re not a zombie.
= 75 <
b Write in the Present Tense
When expanding on your dreams, write in the present tense as
if you’re currently experiencing it. For example:
The polar bear is staring me straight in the eye—
he bends down and hands me a cupcake.
Writing and thinking in the present will put your mind back
into the dream and allow you to recall more detail.
b Title Your Dreams
After you write your dreams down, go back and give them a
title. Pick something that sums up the essence of the trip such
as “Midnight Snack with Polar Bear” or “The Joyful Parade.”
This practice will help later on when you
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