Mind Performance Hacks

Hack #29. Keep a Dream Journal

Record your dreams to see and hear a rich, creative world.

Dreams can be amazing things and can offer incredible creative riches in the form of beautiful images, plotlines for fiction, even ideas for new inventions. If you want a connection to the activities of the dream world, this is the easiest way to do it.

In Action

Keeping a dream journal is very simple. Just place a piece of paper next to your bed. When you wake up, write down key words about any dreams you had. If you had no dreams, write down "no dreams last night" on the paper—first thing, right out of bed.

That's really all there is to it, and it always works. If you're getting a lot of "no dreams last night," however, when you wake up, don't immediately leap to write "no dreams last night." In fact, don't move at all.

Instead, as soon as you realize that you are awake, start searching your mind for dreams. If you can find some leftover fragment of a dream, hold on tight to it. Mentally probe it; you should be able to get some more details. If you're lucky, the whole dream will recur to you at once.

In your mind, start taking notes. (Don't move! Don't get out of bed!) Find keywords to describe what you are experiencing, and memorize them; you don't want to forget. And you can forget: if you get up too quickly, you'll forget everything, except the sensation of having looked through a nondescript dream.

Keep exploring your memory of the dream, and keep taking mental notes. When you are confident ...