How long do you have to write in a Dream Journal?

Heyy, just wondering how long do you have to write in a DJ for? I have wrote quite a lot and up to now it takes around 1 hour to read all of the entries, my DR is okay; when I get back into lucid dreaming it will be very good again. But my question is this: is there any point in continuing to write in a DJ if you have good recall?

Do you guys still write in your DJ? How often/why?
I ask because I seriously can’t find the time to do it any more and unless it is absolutely necessary to keep it up then I might stop for good. (Unless I have a LD of course)

Thanks for any response.

AFAIK it is important because it reminds your brain that dreams, and recalling them, are important. It’s also good for motivation to read cool dreams you’ve had, for me anyway. I’m sure there are other reasons, but these are just the most obvious ones to me.

I think if you stopped, your recall would gradually get worse, but everyone’s different. I vote for sticking with it if you want to continue having LDs! :smile:

I can say for sure there is definitely still a point. I have a definite drop in DR whenever I don’t use my DJ (like the last few months, for example). You’ll probably be fine for a week or so if you just want to take a break, but I wouldn’t push it too far if you want to maintain that level of recall. If you don’t want to do spend forever writing out your dreams, just write a few key notes from each one, or particular words or visuals that stuck out to you. That will save you a ton of time and still help with DR.

I’m impressed by your dream recall if you can write about them for that long. Envyous even. I was interested in reading your dream journal, but I can’t find it? Do you keep it online or personal? not that it matters either way, I was just interested :razz:.

My view is that if you find yourself spending too much time, then it’s like Rhewin said. Just write enough so that your brain understands that recall is important. You have excellent dream recall, but use it or lose it, as they say… Keep your recall at work. Don’t fall out of the habit and lose what you have. It may be a lot of work getting it back.

I think that it all depends on yourself. For me, if I stop for a few days I start to get 0 recall and have to start again. I stopped keeping up with my DJ over the school year and now I’m starting again because it’s Summer and I’m not that busy. However this time I hope to keep recording in my DJ and get more into lucid dreaming even when I get back to school after Summer. It’s all different for each person.

If I don’t write in a DJ, my recall plummets and I stop being able to lucid dream.

If I get terribly bored of writing a description of my dream (usually in the middle of the night), I make bullet points on paper before going back to sleep… Just enough to be able to write a coherent narrative when I’m fully awake (if I want to).

As the others have said, it is dependent on the individual. While others lose recall fairly quickly if they stop writing in their DJs, my recall lasts for awhile if I keep recalling in my head when I wake up. But unless I start writing my dreams out again it only lasts for a few weeks and then I spiral down into a dry spell (which unfortunately is happening right now :confused: come back lucid dreams!)
So the point is, you can take a break from writing if you absolutely have to.
But ultimately, you still need to do it as it not only ensures you remember your dreams but it can also act as a little reminder of your goal to lucid dream.

Once you start getting regular LDs you can just write them down and won’t have to bother writing your Non Lucid’s.

I just started keeping a DJ, and now I can recall 2 dreams a night. Before, I couldn’t even remember half my dream after I woke up! Plus, it’s fun reading your dreams. I’d say to continue, unless you absolutely have no time.

Thanks for all the replies, they helped a lot in making my decision; obviously in keeping my DJ maintained. I have decided to do it when I wake up for a WBTB method or any variation of this, therefore I can entertain myself for a few minutes whilst I get my brain on the topic of LD. Also I have used the suggestion that many have said: only write down bullet points instead of whole paragraphs, which would save a vast amount of time.

I greatly appreciate all the help; I hope anyone who may view this in the future for their own purpose will be able to make their own decision on what is the right thing to do, based off the information provided… thanks to everyone who posted.

  • Bean Head :happy:

Sorry I keep them on a manually handwritten book, next to my bed. I prefer using this as opposed to an electronic device as it adds a certain ‘feel’ to it. Also it is more convenient as it allows me to record my dreams almost instantly, whereas on a laptop I would be waiting for ‘x’ amount of time before I could write down my dreams.
Lastly I’m sorry in case my message was misleading about the hour long to read them. I was referring to when I read over my ENTIRE DJ, it takes me over an hour to read. Mainly because I have logged a lot of dreams in there, in a pretty small period of time.
Thanks for responding anyway, thought it was only fair to express that each individual dream DOESN’T take me an hour to record. (I sorta wish :tongue:)

  • Bean Head :happy:

I think one of the purposes of a DJ, besides increasing your dream recall, is identifying dream signs. There is no need for you to write that much if you don’t want to, just an overview of the dream and maybe the important details will do. If you are still not content with the results, how about recording your dreams with an audio recorder or just thinking about the dream during the day so you won’t forget it?

If you have the motivation to, try to write them as long as possible.
If you’re like me and have some days you just can’t be damned to write, then just write down the main elements and the synopsis of the dream.

And yes, you must always write in them lest your recall deteriorate.

I write sporadically in my DJ and part of the reason for that is that I don’t always want to spend the time doing it… I usually take 30min to write out all the details of my dream. I can’t figure out how to choose what are the “highlights” and thus shorten my writing time.
One of the things that helps me DR is when I write things out… I am a bit concerned about not remembering something if I don’t write it ALL out.

I use a desktop app and notce that DR is very much corelated to how much time I spend recording my dreams. I tend to have very detailed DR once I get into it a bit where dreams can take up several hundred words in their description but I think detail is important because to further increase DR, at least that´s what it´s lke for me.

Are you just recording your dreams or try map them too?

I guess you can do what ever you want with your notes, right?