Amazing Discovery After Keeping a Dream Diary

[1] I’ve been keeping it for half a year, and I made an amazing discovery that only those who keep a diary would understand.

• [2] I keep one too. Tell me!

[3] Oh, if you’re keeping one, then you’ll get it.

[4] I think everyone has had the experience of ‘I had a scary dream this morning.’

• [6] I keep one, but I haven’t really made any ‘discoveries’ per se…
• [7] Oh?

[10] Actually, that dream is often one you had a week ago.

• [13] >>10 What on earth are you talking about?

[14] What I mean is, you often mistakenly believe that a dream you had a week ago is one you just had this morning.

• [16] That’s true. I definitely have the same memory (dream) 5 or 6 times.

[19] >>16 And there’s this too! You know, sometimes there are dreams that feel like you’ve seen them many times, even though it should be the first time. This might be because you’re actually seeing the same dream repeatedly on the same day. Even if you think, ‘Ah, I’ve seen this before,’ you won’t find it written anywhere in your diary [from previous days].

[18] This is really strange, but at first, you just assume you saw it this morning. But when you look back at your diary, you realize it was actually something you dreamt a week ago.

[22] So, gradually, you start to get your dreams sorted out. Maybe it’s easier to understand if I say you stop misremembering your dreams?

• [20] Huh, interesting, but I don’t think that’s ever happened to me… probably.
• [23] I sometimes have dreams with the same setting/scene. It’s kind of interesting, like a sequel.
• [21] Yeah, I’ve definitely seen the same dream many times since I was young, and sometimes I see continuations of previous dreams too.

[24] >>21 About that, it’s not a continuation from a previous day, but a continuation within the same day. You didn’t actually see it before.

• [28] Seeing the same dream repeatedly only happened to me during childhood. >>24 Huh, that’s quite interesting.

[34] >>28 You should try it. There are a lot of really strange things. Also, something simpler I mentioned earlier, even if you keep a dream diary, you still make mistakes. For example, you have nightmare A on the 1st and write it down for that day. On the 5th, you remember nightmare A. You remember it, but you can’t recall when you had that dream. You remember when you check your diary, but the ‘when’ really slips your mind. By keeping a dream diary, you gradually get a more accurate sense of when you saw each dream.

[35] So, what I realized after half a year: You never actually re-dream something you saw on a previous day. There are days when I think, ‘Ah, I’ve had this dream many times before,’ but in six months, not once (according to my diary) have I actually seen the same dream on a different day.

[37] Or rather, it’s just not written in the diary. But since I have the memory of ‘having seen it on another day,’ I surely wouldn’t have forgotten to write it down. Yet, no matter which day I check, the record of the dream I thought I saw isn’t there.

• [25] Interesting…
• [26] Isn’t that just seeing a dream you’ve had before again?

[29] >>26 Not before, but today. When you see a dream you had earlier today again later in the same day, you mistakenly think, ‘I’ve seen this dream before.’

[27] Misinterpreting dreams like this is interesting, kind of like an ‘aha!’ moment, so you should try it. You’ll find that the dream you’re convinced you’ve seen before isn’t actually anywhere in your diary.

• [30] Isn’t that exactly déjà vu?
• [33] Hard to believe…
• [36] Have you started having lucid dreams or anything?

[42] >>36 Regarding lucid dreams, I think that’s exactly the key. When you have the same dream on the same day, if you can recognize, ‘This is the dream I had earlier today,’ couldn’t you then realize within the dream, ‘This is a dream’? I think that might be the gateway to lucid dreaming. Unfortunately, I’m still only at the stage where I might vaguely realize I’m dreaming while I’m in the dream.

• [38] From what I’m reading, that sounds like a flashback phenomenon. Be careful, it could interfere with your daily life.
• [39] The moment you think, ‘Is this a continuation of a dream I had before?’, the dream starts developing as if it were, so you end up convincing yourself, right?
• [40] There are places I’ve never visited in real life, but they appear many times in my dreams.

[44] >>40 You just think that; you likely just saw the same dream multiple times that day. You don’t actually see the same dream on different days. You know how some people say, ‘I have nightmares about being attacked almost every night’? That’s not really every night; it’s just that they saw that same nightmare multiple times on one particular day. If such a person kept a dream diary, they’d find the nightmare recorded only on one day, and different dreams on other days.

• [46] >>44 That’s probably just your own pattern, isn’t it?

[48] >>46 Does it depend on the person…? Well, maybe so. I see… Maybe it differs from person to person.

• [63] >>44 They aren’t the exact same dream. But the same ‘places’, like parks or schools, do reappear sometimes.

[67] >>63 Yeah, that happens often. Those recurring locations, I think they’re like memories etched into the brain. In my case, there are two places I dream about quite often. I’ve noted these in my dream diary, so I know I’ve seen them multiple times. And these places don’t exist in my real memories. Maybe they’re becoming clearer thanks to the dream diary, or maybe they’re just imaginary places gaining vividness through repeated dreaming, I’m not sure yet.

• [41] I learned to have lucid dreams through dream journaling, but I messed up somehow and it just ended up being useful for creating a tulpa.
• [45] >>41 You should probably avoid tulpas. Because it’s the act of creating another personality. (※ Editor’s note: Original text as is. Perhaps meant to say ‘A tulpa is like an imaginary friend’?) A tulpa is like an imaginary friend. Below is a quote from Pixiv Encyclopedia explaining what an imaginary friend is: ‘Literally translated, it means “imaginary friend.” As the name suggests, it’s a person who exists only within the individual’s imagination, with whom the individual might converse in their imagination, or sometimes even visually project and interact with, like playing games. Because it’s a friend created by oneself, it might behave conveniently for the person, or act as a manifestation of self-reflection, offering some form of advice. On the other hand, it can also manifest as self-loathing and harm the individual. It’s a phenomenon often seen in young children unfamiliar with the concept of human relationships, and it often disappears naturally as they learn about real-world interpersonal relationships.’
• [52] Tulpas just feel like a combination of depersonalization and multiple personality disorder to me.
• [68] With tulpas, you’re basically forcing a personality into your subconscious. That’s why you get the illusion they’re actually there, and it tends to drain your energy. Living spirits (ikiryou) are kind of like that, aren’t they?

• ‘Ikiryou’ is a concept in Japanese folk beliefs and the occult, referring to the strong thoughts (especially resentment or attachment) of a living person said to separate from their body and manifest as an independent spiritual entity.*

• [51] Sometimes when I’m traveling, I get the feeling, ‘Hey, I’ve been here in a dream before…’

[57] >>51 This is just my own interpretation, but I think you’re just convincing yourself you’ve been there before. Hundreds of millions of years of (human) history are etched into the brain. You or your ancestors might have seen similar scenery, or perhaps ancestors actually visited that very place. I think you’re mistaking that feeling for a dream memory. It’s unrelated to dreams. If you kept a dream diary, you’d probably find you never actually dreamt that.

• [59] >>57 That’s interesting. I’m going to try keeping one too, so can you tell me a good way to do it?

[65] >>59 Just jot things down in a notebook, even bullet points are fine; just record the date and the content. Don’t make it too complicated, or it’ll become a hassle. It’s good to use one page per day so you can add details later if you remember more. But, the one thing you absolutely must stick to is writing it down on the same day you remember it. Even if you remember ‘yesterday’s dream’ today, absolutely do not write it on the previous day’s page. Also, I heard the physical act of writing is good, so sometimes if I remember something while I’m out, I’ll type it into my phone memo and then transfer it to the notebook when I get home.

• [54] I don’t keep a dream diary, but I can have lucid dreams fairly often. Like when I’m tired or when I doze off again after waking up.
• [55] This might be off-topic, but… even in dreams that start suddenly without any context, don’t you feel like you recognize the ‘past’ of that world from the moment it begins? That’s really scary. Makes you think brainwashing could be done easily that way, huh.

[58] >>55 Keeping a dream diary helps sort that out. You’ve just forgotten – it’s either a dream you had in the past or one you had earlier that same day. Before I started keeping a dream diary, I usually only remembered the last dream I had. But once you start writing them down, you begin to recognize multiple dreams, and then you understand.

• [60] I just can’t seem to remember my dreams…
• [66] If you want to remember your dreams, try to recall them within 3 minutes of waking up; you won’t forget them then. If you think about something else during those 3 minutes, you’ll end up convincing yourself you ‘had a different dream.’ That’s just how it works.
• [69] >>66 Ah, yeah, that probably happens quite a bit. Memory is a fragile thing.

[70] >>66 This happens a lot too. When keeping a diary, you might unconsciously fill in the hazy parts, right? You shouldn’t do that.

• [71] Having to remember dream memories on top of real-world ones sounds tough. No wonder the brain edits them on its own.

[73] >>71 Real memories are obviously more accurate. Dreams are inherently vague, after all. But they gradually become clearer. If you recognize dreams as dreams without filling in the gaps, the dreams themselves start becoming clearer (you start having more dreams like that).

• [72] I kept one for a while to get ideas for novels.
• [75] I’ve been keeping one for about 10 years, but nothing special has happened.
• [76] I’ve been keeping a dream diary for about 10 years, ever since trying out-of-body experiences was popular on (the online forum) VIP, but I’ve never once had the same dream. Sometimes in a dream, I think, ‘Oh, this is a scenario I’ve dreamt before,’ but when I wake up, I have no memory of having seen that dream previously; it was just a setting created within that particular dream.

[78] >>76 Exactly. It really is like an ‘aha!’ moment, isn’t it? It’s surprising when you realize you were just assuming it.

[77] Also, maybe it’s just me, but I feel like my mind has gotten sharper. Perhaps I’m getting better at recalling things? Sorry for being vague. And regarding the common concern about ‘going crazy,’ I don’t think that’s likely. However, as someone mentioned earlier, if you use dreams in some ‘special’ way, maybe it could happen.

[80] Well, I think it’s worth trying as a form of recreation. Sometimes you just think you had a certain dream. You know how you suddenly think, ‘Oh, I dreamed this the other day’? But then you check your dream diary, and it’s nowhere to be found. Even dreams you’re absolutely convinced you had might not be recorded. Maybe it’s a ‘forgotten dream’ you couldn’t recall at the time but just remembered now, or perhaps you’re just misremembering having dreamt it at all.

• [81] I can’t do lucid dreaming, seems like it’d make me go crazy (or mess up my sleep) lol. Feels like my head would get all jumbled.

[82] >>81 I think it’s the opposite. You can have lucid dreams because you recognize ‘this is a dream.’ If anything, isn’t it that you can have them precisely because you can properly distinguish between reality and dreams?

• [83] This might be unrelated, but sometimes when I’m relaxing in the bath or trying to sleep, I get sudden flashbacks of old dreams. Since I practice astral projection and lucid dreaming, it’s usually a memory related to one of those, but sometimes it triggers associated memories of similar dream scenes.
• [84] Dreams are seen unconsciously. Lucid dreaming is when consciousness can intervene in the unconscious.

[85] >>83 Recognizing which memory that is might connect to the significance of recording them, maybe. >>84 I haven’t experienced lucid dreaming yet, but there’s one thing that scares me. It’s the feeling of fear. Isn’t the terror you feel in dreams on a level far beyond anything you experience in daily life?

[86] (Whoops, sent too soon) It’s about the feeling of fear. The terror in dreams, I think it’s a supreme level of fear, something you’d never feel in daily life. You just don’t experience fear that intense normally, right? I speculate that if you became fully aware of that fear during a lucid dream, your mind might just break.

• [88] >>86 I’ve had out-of-body experiences and stuff, and I can tell you for sure, you won’t die.
• [90] >>86 In a lucid dream, unless the dream setting itself is like a horror world, there’s hardly any fear. Because even if monsters attack, you can deal with them yourself, like defeating them or warping away. In a normal dream, you think it’s real, so if monsters appear, you feel like running is your only option, which is probably why it feels so terrifying.

[87] Is this just me, too? Feelings like joy or sadness aren’t that different in dreams compared to real life, but the level of fear I feel in dreams is just unbelievable. Even when the actual content of the dream is pretty mundane.

• [91] >>87 Not sure if this is an answer, but I seem to have a phobia of loud noises; I feel a fear intense enough to make me feel faint when I hear loud sounds through headphones. I think that sensation is similar to the fear in dreams. So, maybe it’s just that you don’t typically encounter such extreme fear in your daily life?
• [89] I actually like scary dreams; they have a sense of the extraordinary.
• [92] So, have you reached the point where you can move freely in your dreams? That’s the important part, right? I want to hang out with celebrities in my dreams!

[93] So you can become that free in lucid dreams, huh. True, if a monster appeared in everyday life, I might feel the same terror as in a dream, so I guess you can’t just say it’s ‘because it’s a dream.’ I’m still only at the stage where I can barely recognize ‘Is this a dream?’ – I haven’t even experienced moving around freely yet. If I manage to master lucid dreaming, my perspective on dreams might change again, so I’ll keep trying. Thanks for listening to my rambling!

• [94] First off, I don’t even really dream…
• [95] I have lucid dreams sometimes, but if something goes wrong and I start to panic, I usually wake myself up before I can even try to fix it with superpowers, haha.
• [96] In lucid dreams, you can do pretty much anything you can imagine, except interfere with the real world. The hardest part, I think, is staying in the dream world for a long time. Apparently, people who’ve really mastered it can experience months or even years in the dream world in a single night, which makes me super envious.

[97] Years… that’s incredible. If the brain’s perception of time isn’t constant, then the perceived length of a lifetime must vary from person to person, huh.

• [98] But isn’t the brain kind of weak? The heart keeps going until you die, but skip just one day of sleep and the brain is totally wiped out, right? In the wild, sleeping is basically a death sentence, so why is it designed this way?

[99] Conversely, sleep is something almost everyone experiences nearly every day. I think dreams should be valued more. Or maybe, couldn’t someone create a lucid dream training facility or something? If I mastered it, maybe I could make a killing with that idea.

• [101] If you read about Jungian dream analysis, it suggests dreams have patterns or series. Since they’re manifestations of the unconscious as images, seeing similar dreams might happen quite often.

[102] If dreams are manifestations of the unconscious as images, then since lucid dreams involve conscious imagery, what exactly are they? Maybe a type of hypnosis?

• [103] Even without lucid dreaming, just being able to experience years in a few hours is enviable. The difference in life experience would be immense.