Dream Journal

You will be asked to keep a dream journal for this class. You may either record your dreams in a thin spiral notebook, or if you wish, you may use this blog as your dream journal. In either case, here is what you should do:

Record in as much detail as possible the dreams you can remember from the night before, including the fuzzy, unclear, fragmented, and incoherent parts. Write down even the details that seem trivial or unimportant. Write each dream as a separate post, or on a separate page. Write down as many of the images, thoughts, dialogue, events, sounds, smells, etc. from your dreams as possible. It will be easier to do this if you record your dreams first thing in the morning (or even in the middle of the night if a dream wakes you). Do not edit yourself. Do not add anything. Do not try to smooth, connect, correct, or fill in the gaps. Do not try to interpret the dream. Just record what you remember as clearly and completely as possible.

In the comment section on your blog entry, or on the following page in your journal, you should include the following information: the date the dream occurred; the waking sources of any of the content of the dream including sights, sounds, events, people, etc.; any connections with events from the day before the dream; any childhood memories you associate with the dream; any disturbances in the night (either internal or external); any other times when you dreamed this same dream, one like it, or one you associate with it; any other associations you have with any elements of the dream, no matter how small or trivial they may seem. Write down these associations as soon after you record the dream as possible. Feel free to go back and add any associations or connections that occur to you later.

If you remember very few of your dreams during the semester, you may want to write down some older dreams that you remember well. If you do this, be sure to clearly note that these are older dreams. Try to record the occasion when you had the dream, and as much of the other information asked for above that you can remember.

Dreams can be very personal things, so if there are any entries in your journal you do not wish to share, don't post them to the blog, and simply fold over the page in your journal and mark it “Do Not Read.”

Good luck, and pleasant dreams...