Dream journal tips: Writing down your dreams

How to write down your dreams after you wake up so you have the information you need to interpret them, with free dream journal pdf.

How should I write down my dreams?

What information do I record in my dream journal?

What information will I need when I try to interpret my dreams?

This article contains 10 practical dream journal tips for writing down dreams, plus a free downloadable dream journal template for recording dreams from God, and infographic.

I approach dream interpretation from a biblical perspective. My belief is that our dreams can come from God, and understanding them is best understood within the context of an ongoing relationship with Him.

If you have just come across this post and are new to dream interpretation, you might find it helpful to see my free ultimate guide to Interpreting dreams from God.

Writing down dreams

Having interpreted my own dreams for many years, I have discovered that certain details are essential to the interpretation process: If we don’t record them when we first wake up from a dream it makes it much harder to interpret the dream correctly later. 

Dreams can be about events that are a few months (or even years) in the future – so writing down this information at the time of dreaming is vitally important.

I have previously written some general tips for remembering and writing down dreams and ways of recording them.

This article focuses specifically on dream journal tips – and the information we need to record in our journal after waking up from a dream.

You can download your dream journal template (which goes with this article) for FREE at the links below:

Dream journal tips

Included here are 10 dream journal tips for writing down your dreams after you wake up.

These have been developed from many years of experience of interpreting dreams within the context of a relationship with God.

Although most of the headings would be useful for anyone writing down dreams, some of them specifically relate to interpreting dreams from God, because I have found that dreams often relate to what God is doing in our lives at the time.

The details I normally record on waking are as follows:

1. Key dream details to aid memory
2. Date and time of dreaming
3. Day of dreaming
4. Background colour of the dream
5. Main feeling and atmosphere of the dream
6. The dream
7. Current events in your life
8. What you talked to God about recently
9. Give your dream a title
10. Initial ideas about the dream meaning

I recommend writing down your dreams in the order listed, which is the same order as in the free dream journal template.

You will notice that the first space on the dream journal template/pdf is for the title of the dream. However, don’t worry about that initially; this is something to come back to later – once all the other details are recorded.

How to write down your dreams

Below you will find an explanation of what each journal heading means – and why it is important to write down that information after you wake up (or soon afterwards).

Follow the steps outlined below:

1. Key dream details to aid memory

Dreams vanish from our memory very quickly.

Therefore, it is helpful to record any significant details first, particularly ones that are difficult to remember. Some of the details that are easily forgotten are things like:

• Numbers and times
• Names of people and places
• Specific words, messages, or instructions.

Although things very quickly disappear from the memory, they can be key to the interpretation of the dream! It is very frustrating to find you have forgotten such a key piece of information.

So, note these things down first. Then you can relax and focus on recording the rest of the dream details.

2. Date and time of dreaming

A dream may relate to things that are happening around the time of dreaming – and we will need to know those things when we revisit the dream.

Therefore, the date of dreaming is vitally important – as it fixes the dream firmly in the context of life events, seasons, and things we have been doing.

Sometimes the specific time of waking is also important.

• Did you wake up in the middle of the night? If so, the dream might be a particularly significant one and the time could be relevant!
• Did you wake up from the dream at a notable time such as 1:11, 2:00, or 03:03?

If so, God might be using those numbers to say something. Record the time just in case. You will never remember those details later.

3. Day of dreaming

The day of the week could be relevant to the dream – or help when looking back at the dream later. For example, we might have regular events on certain days. So, it is worth writing it down just in case it is important.

If using the free dream journal template, you can quickly circle the day of the week.

In addition, make a note of anything else significant about that day.

For example, it could be something like the day you attend a wedding, have an important meeting, start a job, have a trip out somewhere, or be a national event.

4. Background colour of the dream

I am increasingly realising how significant background colour is in dreams. It can give us a clue as to the source of a dream and can completely change the interpretation of a dream.

Therefore, is very important to write it down, and make a note if it changes through different parts of the dream and in different scenes.

For example:

• Bright, vivid and colourful dreams are a very good indication that the dream is showing us God’s perspective or is about heavenly things.
• Dreams set in normal daylight are also usually showing God’s perspective. If we don’t really remember much colour but it just seemed normal, it is probably normal daylight.
• Muted, hazy or muddled dreams can be showing us things going on in our own subconscious mind, will, and emotions – and giving us God’s insight into them.
• Black and white dreams are likely to be showing us the plans of the enemy. If that’s the case, they are usually very noticeably black and white; sometimes they feel monochrome.
• Dark dreams can also be showing us enemy activity. By dark, I mean dark in feeling and atmosphere, not just a dream set at nighttime.
• Dreams set at night can still be from God. Night can represent difficult times, or times when God seems far away. Notice whether everything felt clear and normal, just set at nighttime, or rather whether it was dark and oppressive.

If you are using the free dream journal template, you can just circle the appropriate option. Otherwise, remember to note it down.

5. Main feeling and atmosphere of the dream

Write down anything else notable about the atmosphere and feeling of the dream, and how you felt when you woke up.

As we have seen, this can help identify the source of the dream.

But, also, it can help work out what area of life the dream is about, because sometimes we can identify something happening in our life where the same emotions are displayed, and thus match up the dream to that situation.

6. The full dream

Now is the time to write out the full dream!

Take notice of certain details like:

• Colours
• Numbers
• Whether things are on the right- or left-hand side
• What things are made of (e.g. wood, metal)
• Whether you liked things in the dream and how you felt about them
• Whether it was the same as in real life or looked different to how it should

Sometimes it helps to draw out parts of the dream.

If you are using the free dream journal template, you may need to continue over the page.

If a dream is very long, I usually break it into smaller scenes and record each one as a separate entry.

Sometimes I have a specific thought in my mind as I wake up, or a song going round in my head. I usually include those at the end of the dream.

7. Current events in your life

After you have written the dream down you can relax: There is no longer a time pressure to write down the dream before you forget it!

Now you can turn your attention to the real-life context of the dream.

The biggest challenge of dream interpretation is identifying what area of life it is about, so we need to record anything that might help with this.

This means thinking about what is going on in your life at the time of dreaming and noting it down. It might be relevant, or it might not; but it is virtually impossible to remember those things, particularly the smaller day-to-day things, after time has gone by.

There could be big things happening, like getting ready to start a new job or move house. But there could be other things: Maybe you are feeling pressured about something or have just had a disagreement with someone.

Write down anything that seems important to you or is playing on your mind.

8. What you talked to God about recently

I find dreams are best interpreted in the context of an ongoing relationship with God.

If that is your experience and/or desire, then you will need to write down anything relevant to that relationship at the time of dreaming.

I sometimes ask God a question before I go to bed, and God often answers me! If you did that the night before then make sure to record it. Oftentimes I have gone back to a dream a while later – and discovered it was the answer to my question that I had on the night of dreaming!

Think about things like:

• What you asked God before you went to bed
• What you have been praying about recently
• Things God has been speaking to you about recently
• Significant events taking place in your spiritual life

9. Give your dream a title

Once all the other details are recorded, we can give the dream a title.

This could be straight away, or the first time we come back to look at the dream.

When giving your dream a title, I would recommend sticking to the content of the dream and not trying to include an interpretation.

When I first started interpreting dreams, I used to title the dream according to what I thought it meant. The trouble was, I would find out later that I had got the meaning wrong and have to keep changing the title!

Rather, choose something that will help you remember the details of the dream itself. When you read the title, you want the dream to come back into your memory!

I try to include key words that are unique to that particular dream. For example, you might call a dream ‘Going on holiday’, but that is very vague, and you might have lots of dreams entitled that. Include some more details to make it specific.

To illustrate this, here are some examples of titles from my dream journal:

• Yellow boats dangling over Niagara Falls
• Taking a group to London at Rosh Hashanah
• Packing up the car after a blue boat trip
• Josh should get asparagus to feed the tortoise
• Visiting our daughter in flat 599

Each one of those titles brings back a memory of the dream itself.

10. Initial ideas about the dream meaning

If you like, and have time, you can also have a go at interpreting the dream. Sometimes you get inspiration on waking, and it is worth recording your thoughts.

Personally, I find I am nearly always wrong at first! I only understand when I come back to the dream a while later with a more objective mindset. Often there is more information, or keys, that need to happen in my life before I understand the dream.

The exception to this is if I have a specific phrase going round in my head on waking, or a song on my mind. I do find that those are usually from God, and I make sure to write them down.

So, write any ideas down, but hold them lightly and be prepared to rethink them later.

Infographic: Dream journal tips

Here is a summary of the key things to record in your dream journal: