18 how to organize your recorded dreams using digital assistance for quick analysis

Why You Need To Read This Book
People around the world desperately wish they could remember their
dreams with clarity, consistency and in a way that will profoundly change
their lives. Yet so few will ever develop the skills needed to recall their
dreams and participate in one of the world’s most prominent languages:
the language of dreaming. They will never experience the nuances and
layers of possibility and personal transformation that come from expert
dream recall, the kind of expertise only you can develop by following a
few simple techniques.
Even with the best intentions and the best of books on the subject of
dream recall, students of dreaming rarely learn enough to engage in
expressive conversations with their dreams and form an important
relationship with the inner aspects of themselves that normally appear
only at night, but can be encouraged to reveal themselves during the day
so that the division between sleeping and dreaming is interestingly erased.
Being able to recall your dreams will create amazing new insights about
your unconscious intentions, your true desires and the clues you need in
order to effectively achieve them.
Why is dream recall such a struggle? Many would-be dreamers blame a
lack of time. They don’t sleep enough for effective dreaming. The amount
of sleep our minds and bodies receive certainly has an effect, but when
correctly trained in dream recall, no matter how short a period of time you
have for sleep, you will notice yourself slipping into dreaming even
before you’ve fallen “unconscious.” Don’t believe the REM myth that
dreaming begins at some special hour after deep sleep has already been
achieved. Science now knows better and the notion that dreaming only
occurs during REM was never true in the first place. In fact, defined
correctly, you are dreaming right now, but have not yet learned to see and
experience it. The dream recall technique described in this book will help
you achieve this experience.

Some claim that dream recall is too hard. The nature of the exercises in
most books requires that you draw a symbol on your hand and engage in
daily “reality checking.” Indeed, these are tedious methods. However,


such techniques are mentioned in this book only in passing. The truth is
that you don’t need to artificially create “triggers” in order to better
remember your dreams or eventually achieve the goal of “going lucid.”
There are better ways, more enlightening and elucidating ways, and I want
to teach them to you in this book.
But the biggest excuse heard around the world is the saddest excuse of all:
most people claim that they have a bad memory.
I sympathize with this. I used to love claiming that I have a poor memory.
In fact, the first time I studied a foreign language, I silently swore in
English so vehemently about my “bad memory” that I would have been
kicked out of class had I spoken my frustration out loud.
I remained irritated with what I perceived to be my poor memory until I
decided to do something about it. I studied memorization and ultimately
wrote several thousand published pages about Ars Memorativa, or the Art
of Memory. I have helped thousands of people memorize thousands of
pieces of information ranging from foreign language vocabulary to names,
facts and figures and the order of randomized playing cards. These are all
easily learned skills based on universal principles that you can completely
understand and start using in under an hour.
However, this is the first time that I am revealing my dream memory
techniques, procedures I discovered while engaging in the same research
and experimentation phases of my life that led to the birth of the Magnetic
Memory Method. These techniques are based on a mixture of research
into dream recall, lucid dreaming and the scientific study of dreaming.
But this book is not filled with theory, statistics or explanations of brain

biology. It is composed of simple, effective, elegant and fun strategies that
you can put to use immediately.
Within a month of finalizing my Magnetic Memory strategy for dream
recall, I could easily recall the dreams I had experienced during the past
30 days by the dozens. Within three months, I found myself drawing
amazing connections between complex dreams, simple dreams and my
every day fantasies (a.k.a. daydreams). My mind was bursting with the


plots of hundreds of novels and movies, more than any single person
could write in a lifetime. More importantly, the insight into my own
decisions and elevated self-awareness created new opportunities for me
along with greater satisfaction in life.
It pleases me immensely to help people remember their dreams better,
especially when people regularly describe to me how easily they are able
to adopt my techniques and see massive improvement in their lives. These
achievements are thrilling to me, thrilling for the people who use my
techniques and they will thrill you too.
This edition of How to Remember Your Dreams is for you. Whether you
are an adult, teenager or even someone interested in doing dream work
with students, patients or other professionals, I have designed this book so
that as soon as you understand the system, you can wake up the following
morning and permanently install any dream that you wish into your long
term memory for easy and accurate recall. To this end, I have written this
book primarily for those dreamers who have the burning desire to explore
their inner minds without frustration or hindrance within minutes, if not
seconds, of waking up.
Three obstacles stand between you and remembering the vast quantities of
dreams that you’ll need to achieve what essentially amounts to 21st
century elucidation and enlightenment.

The Belief That You Don’t Need A Dedicated Memorization Strategy
For Remembering Your Dreams
Although a high level of desire is always important when it comes to any
form of learning new skills, it is rarely enough. Motivation must be
accompanied by method if real gains are to be made.
I’ve spent many years crafting systems for myself and many years more
teaching others how to lay the railway tracks in simple steps so that they
can then follow the journey they’ve created each and every time they want
to practice based on clear and simple procedures.
Instead of resting on desire and well-intentioned wishes, this book offers
you a dedicated dream memorization strategy, one that will have you


memorizing three to six dreams per night within a few short weeks – or
even days – of practice.
The Belief That Memorization Strategies Won’t Work For You
People often tell me that the memory techniques I teach will not work for
them. But I always confidently respond by saying that not only will these
techniques work – these techniques will literally blow them away when
they see how quickly their memory abilities develop. Try out the
techniques taught in this book for yourself and you will marvel at the
progress you’ll make. Guaranteed.
The Belief That Memorization Strategies Are Too Much Work
You will need between 1-2 hours to set up the full system taught in this
book and another 2-3 hours to really get the hang of the method and pick
up speed. The steps are easy, fun and you can start memorizing your
dreams even before you’ve finished reading this short book. The best part
is that this system will serve you for life and can be extended to
memorizing just about any information you could ever want.
I have a suggestion for you before you turn the page and start your

journey toward advanced dream memorization skills. Believe in the power
of your mind. When I started learning memory techniques and working on
my dreams, I constantly told myself that it was too difficult and that my
brain was ill equipped for such procedures. I acted as if I had been born
with a poor memory by virtue of birth.
Don’t be like this. The ability to remember my dreams with near-100%
accuracy opened the world’s doors for me, healed me in uncountable ways
and changed how I view reality so that I am more a positive, productive
and contributing member of society and I’m confident that becoming an
effective dream memorizer will do the same for you. But please note that
I’m not talking about anything woo-woo or “New Agey” or “NLP-ish” or
anything to be skeptical about (not that there aren’t good things to be
learned from those fields who are so often unfairly targeted by critics).
This book offers tried and true methods, many of which are based on
scientifically demonstrated principles known to increase the happiness of


individuals who practice certain techniques and procedures to which I’ve
added several subtleties and twists.
Moreover, when we consider the importance of advanced spiritual and
mental health, it is that much more critical that we do not belittle
ourselves. Your mind is as powerful as mine, and by developing a positive
mental attitude, learning my system and putting in a small amount of
effort will be easy, fun and demonstrate to you the powerful abilities of
your own mind every single day for the rest of your life.
Dreams remain essential to the human experience. This means that those
with an advanced ability to engage with them can experience greater
pleasure when traveling throughout their days than they have ever
“dreamed” possible. When it comes right down to it, isn’t pleasure what
life is all about?

With an advanced dream “fluency,” you’ll have conversations with
fantastic people you will swear could actually exist, eliminate nightmares
and visit wondrous locations. You’ll become more creative, improve your
memory and experience a boost in self-awareness. And you’ll discover
untapped inner resources of creativity, joy and wonder and as you become
a more authentic individual as a result.
You will love adapting this dream system to your individual learning style
and enjoy massive success as a result. Give me 2-5 hours of your time as
you teach yourself how to use this system and I will give you the
techniques and abilities you’ll need to remember every dream you have
for as long as you want to practice.


How to Remember Your Dreams …
Using the Magnetic Memory Method
By
Anthony Metivier, PhD

For Dreamers Everywhere


WAIT!
I have created FREE Memory Palace Magnetic Memory Worksheets and
other resources that will help you implement the procedures taught in this
book. In order to download them, go to:
/>As a reader of this book, you’ll also have the chance to subscribe to the
*daily* Magnetic Memory Newsletter – while it’s still free. Subscribe
now and get the only information that will keep your memory magnetic
for years to come. When you subscribe, you’ll also get a free 45-minute
interview I conducted with world memory expert Harry Lorayne!

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter One: Night Writing & The Main Principles of Dream Recall
Chapter Two: How to Use Your Dreams to Become More Visually
Creative
Chapter Three: The Art of Dream Memorization
Chapter Four: How to build a Network of Memory Palaces for
Storing Dreams in Your Mind
Chapter Five: Day Journaling And Other Day Time Activities To
Boost Dream Recall
Chapter Six: How to Sleep In And Still Remember & Memorize Your
Dreams
Chapter Seven: What To Do If You Simply Cannot Remember Your
Dreams Or Backslide On Your Night Writing
Chapter Eight: The Triggers of Lucid Dreaming
Chapter Nine: Dream Recall, Meditation And Relaxation
Conclusion
About the Author


Introduction
Because the full story of my adventures with memory techniques centers
so heavily on developing strategies for learning and memorizing foreign
language vocabulary, poetry and randomized decks of cards, I will refer
interested readers to those books in the Magnetic Memory Series.
The most important point, as I noted in the prologue, is that many people
feel that memorization techniques don’t and won’t work for them and this

is not an attitude I accept – particularly because I used to share it. I used to
love telling people about my poor memory. When we do this, we
essentially train the people around us to treat us as if we have weak minds,
which reinforces our beliefs about our inefficient recall skills. It is a
negative cycle. I broke free from negative self-identification by learning
memory skills, and the fact of the matter is that when learned and used in
the correct manner, these memory techniques will change your life.
And learning how to remember my dreams was a huge part of my learning
process, an aspect that I haven’t discussed with the Magnetic Memory
Family until now.
Dreams, Drugs And A Literary Trip To Mexico
I’ve always been interested in dreams, especially because I had no choice.
As a young child, nightmares plagued me. Part of the reason – a reason I
was conscious of at the time, involved the number of surgeries I had to
undergo following a ruptured eardrum. For eight years straight, I visited
the hospital and underwent surgery under general anesthetic in order to
have a tube placed in my ear. The smell of the gas exuding from the mask
and the spinning sensation that quickly followed as I slipped into
unconsciousness became the theme of many dreams and it got so bad that
I would actually chant to myself while falling asleep that I wasn’t going to
dream that night.
Of course, it never worked. In fact, looking back, my resistance against
having bad dreams probably stimulated my mind to produce even worse
nightmares than if I had simply done my best to get to sleep without fear.


Since developing and using the techniques in this book, I can count
exactly three dreams that could be classified as nightmares – only in this
case, they were far more interesting than terrifying. And although they
were not lucid, I believe that the frightening aspects were heavily

diminished by my experiments and experiences with Magnetic dream
recall.
As I grew older and the need for surgeries ceased, the constant nightmares
calmed and I fell into the exciting life of a teenager experimenting with
music, literature, alcohol, marijuana and LSD (at least, my friends and I
thought it was LSD – it could have been rat poison for all we knew!) At
age fourteen, I experienced a bad trip – worse than any nightmare I could
ever imagine – and wound up taking some counseling as a result. (I’ve
written out the experience in the form of a short story, so if you’re
interested in reading it, send a note to and
I’ll see if I can dig it up for you).
In a slightly odd move, the counselor asked me if I had ever read Carlos
Castaneda’s Don Juan: A Yaqui Way Of Knowledge. Until that time,
Dungeons and Dragons-esque novels had been my bread and butter, so the
idea of non-fiction books that people write about themselves in order to
help others experience transformation was utterly foreign to me.
Nonetheless, the counselor took the book from his shelf and placed it in
my hands. There was a black bird on the cover and some figures standing
in the desert on the cover – the book itself seemed like something from a
dream.
For those unfamiliar with this book, in very brief terms it covers the
adventures of Carlos Castaneda, a young graduate student who heads to
Mexico as part of his research on psychotropic plants. There he meets
Don Juan, a shaman figure who helps him explore different natural
substances known to create hallucinations and visions. Many have
claimed that Castaneda made up all or many of the events in the book, but
this is irrelevant to the influence it had on my thinking at the time – and
still does.

Although I am a scientist at heart, as well as by my own graduate training,
lessons about the nature of reality and perspective do not fly over my head
and every few years I re-read Don Juan: A Yaqui Way Of Knowledge, if
only to experience again the wonder it brought to me and an interest in
exploring my dreams. Although dreaming is not an overly large part of the
book, it did broach the topic of lucid dreaming, not to mention the idea
that drugs can be used to artificially stimulate dreaming and the idea that a
dreamer could awaken within the dream and consciously interact with the
dream sent me exploring.
It would not be until university that I kept my first dream journal. I used
my computer’s word processor to record the first dream I ever
“transcribed.” Although all the files from that computer have since been
lost, it had to do with a woman who lived in a mountain. More than live
there, she was also somehow the mountain itself, or some integral part of
it. Words cannot exactly convey the idea, but the depth of memory I have
of that feeling of duality can most certainly be attributed to my attempt
that morning to verbalize it.
In the dream, there was a long, iron trail leading to the mountain and all of
the sand surrounding this trail was toxic and burned everything it touched.
The woman/mountain was producing all of reality and calling me to
approach the mountain. However, no matter how hard I struggled to reach
the mountain by using the iron trail, I would always wind up writhing in
pain on the poisonous sand. The dream repeated again and again, and in
each repetition, I tried to avoid falling directly onto the sand by tossing
various objects ahead of my body.
Many books talk about the power of dream journaling to stimulate, not
only how well we remember our dreams, but to strengthen the intensity
and depth of our dreams.
And from that first written dream onward, I could feel the truth of these
claims about memory and intensity and have been hooked on what could

be called “dream hacking” ever since.
Dreaming In The Big Apple


As a young doctoral student, I found myself living, researching and
writing in Manhattan where people can experience psychoanalysis styles
of every stripe if you’re willing to brave the oddities of self-revelation and
overcome the quite possibly healthy, natural resistance to explaining your
darkest secrets and fantasies to a stranger who hardly speaks.
But I didn’t seek out psychoanalysis on purpose. I needed a doctor to
prescribe medication for manic depression and also wanted to experiment
with different forms of medication because Lithium had been making me
fat for years and seemed responsible for an unpleasant sluggishness of
mind.
The doctor I found – literally by closing my eyes and running my finger
down a list of doctors who could serve my needs until I felt compelled to
stop – turned out to be a dream specialist. As the author of over forty
books, many on dreaming, he was also one of high renown. This fact
became a curious aspect of the therapeutic process and taught me a great
deal about the power of dream interpretation.
But in this book I won’t be giving you the traditional list of symbols and
possible meanings. I’ll be teaching you a much more powerful method of
dream interpretation based on what I learned in these sessions. The
process is easy to implement and will change how you interact with the
world. This is the most reliable, practical and impacting method of dream
interpretation I’ve encountered and I believe that the same will be true for
you too.
Lucid Dreaming Auf Deutsch
I next moved to Berlin, Germany and later Saarbrücken where I held a
research and teaching grant and worked on the role of paintings in novels

and movies. This was a very dream-like topic in the dream-like
circumstances of very a ample scholarship funding (thank you Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft!).
Following my dream therapy experiences in New York, I made Germany
my laboratory for implementing the strategies I had learned and for
developing better dream recall. Although the doctor had asked me not to


record my dreams during the period of time I spent in his sessions, I knew
that keeping a written dream journal would be essential to the process and
so I purchased a large notebook. In fact, it was more like a ledger, the kind
of notebook that is far taller than it is wide and has extra material on each
corner of the covers to protect them from damage.
My instincts told me that each entry would need to be dated, so that first
night I wrote out the date for the following day and went to sleep
brimming with excitement. Writing out the date in this way signals to your
unconscious mind your intention to write down your dreams. There are
two other ways to record your dreams in addition to using a journal, but I
ultimately still favor using a ledger for reasons I will discuss in depth.
It was also in Germany, in this case Berlin, that I began to develop what is
now called the Magnetic Memory Method. Although it was primarily
devised as a means of easily learning, memorizing and recalling foreign
language vocabulary, I quickly realized that it could also be used, not just
as part of enhancing dream recall, but also for memorizing the dreams.
Thus, I will teach you the basis of the Magnetic Memory Method in this
book so that you can use it to explore the memorization of dreams in
addition to the morning recall strategies taught in this book and show you
how advanced dreaming skills can be used to improve your memory
overall, as well as your creativity.
Coincidence, Déjà Vu & General Repetition

Last night, I rehearsed for the second time with two musicians. It seems
like we’re starting a band together, but one can never tell where things
will go. But although I already felt quite “in tune” with these people,
especially the drummer, last night during a break the drummer revealed to
me that he is a fellow dreamer. Although he doesn't use the memorization
or interpretation techniques discussed in this book, he recognizes the
central importance of writing dreams down.
Moreover, he confirmed my own experience by explaining that he
eventually was able to record between six to ten dreams per night, that he
experienced lucidity and the feeling of starting to dream even before sleep
sets in.


I do not believe in hocus-pocus. I favor the power, beauty and usefulness
of random chance in life and am primarily scientific in my approach to all
things. Nonetheless, over the years during which I’ve experimented with
dreaming, the feeling of coincidence has increased and to find a fellow
dreamer while I am finally working on a book on this topic – at this
moment in my life – does not fail to make me ponder the deeper
significance of dreaming.
I do believe that the unconscious mind directs conscious behavior and
science backs this up (a great book called You Are Not So Smart has
several chapters that discusses such research and there are dozens of
books that repeat the same reportage on very interesting experiments). Did
my unconscious seek out a fellow dreamer? If so, how could it possibly
have known? Ultimately, the answer – but not the question – is irrelevant.
The point is that these feelings of coincidence increase as a part of
practicing dream recall and the more they happen, the more that life feels
like a dream.
The same is true of Déjà vu. We’ve all experienced the feeling that we’ve

done something before, but it is relatively rare. During my periods of
intense dream recall and interpretation, however, the instances of Déjà vu
increased remarkably. The use of this extraordinary feeling, which at its
highest levels can create absolute joy, involves becoming more aware of
the patterns of life, the circularity of things and the paradoxical lack of
originality in all things while all things are at the same time completely
new.
In principle, repetition is always different because the act of recognizing
repetition stamps the second, third or umpteenth time around the same
event with the mark of originality, even though it is otherwise the same. It
is the feeling that nothing like this has ever happened before even though
it has happened before and may possibly be happening right now again
and again outside of your awareness.
This is not word play. Stephen Hawking has suggested that the definition
of our reality is that it is not every other possible reality. To take it a step
further, one might say that our reality is only possible because it cannot be


other than it is. Messing around with your dreams will give you
experiences of Déjà vu that will increase your thinking about this and
create states of awe about the nature of the universe that I do not believe
can be achieved otherwise, save through by the fleeting nature of drugs.
Dreams are not only healthier, but even long after your discontinue the
use of the techniques discussed in this book, the effects will remain and
you will be changed forever.
I hope you will use the ideas and strategies in this book to experience a
boost in dream recall and all of its benefits and positive side effects. My
hope is that you will experience something akin to enlightenment, merely
by engaging with time normally “lost” during the hours that you sleep.
But now that lost time is ready to be found, so let’s get started.

Chapter One: Night Writing & The Main Principles of Dream Recall
Recording your dreams in writing is essential to developing recall. I'm not
going to overburden this book with scientific reasons behind why writing
creates this effect, but I will point you to some science that supports
writing as an enlightening activity and there's basic wisdom in the idea
that using the hand builds the mind and produces states of increased
happiness. The research is presented in Richard Wiseman's 59 Seconds, an
interesting book that cuts through a lot of the junk in the self-help world
by showing you scientifically validated techniques that you can use in
under a minute in order to improve your life.
In general, there are many examples of how writing has been linked to
increased creativity and the development of memory. Leonardo da Vinci,
amongst many others, experimented with mirror writing exercises and
learning to write both forwards and backwards using both hands has been
central to my mental development. You begin to think quite differently
about the shape, form and flow of words and unique forms of expression
come to mind. If you're a musician or magician you can train to shuffle or
run scales with your non-dominant hand and experience new ideas and
forms of expression in these arts as well.
Stephen King has talked extensively about training the mind through daily
writing patterns, and although he doesn't talk specifically about either
dreaming or memory in On Memory, memory is deeply involved in
composing novels and writing is in a very true sense dreaming with your
eyes wide open.
Moreover, regular morning writing, especially when combined with
writing the date out the night before you go to sleep will train you to
expect that you will write down your dreams and you'll eventually find
yourself dreaming about writing down your dreams.

I talked in the introduction about how this book will not ask you to draw
symbols on your hands or engage in reality checking exercises and this
exercise is the reason why. Although reality checking is a process like
writing, it has to be done at random or perhaps according to reminders
that pop up on your phone. Having a symbol on your hand is a constant
thing that your mind will soon dismiss and exclude from perception, like a
button on a wrist cuff.
The reason why writing your dreams regularly works for assisting better
recall is simple: you're practicing recall by writing. You're increasing your
ability to recall in detail and developing a style while at the same time
creating an image of yourself engaged in the activity.
You don't need to draw a symbol on your hand when you make yourself as
the writer of your dreams a symbol. And by writing in bed, you make your
entire sleeping arrangement symbolic of the activity. When practiced
rhythmically, you build a feedback loop, compounding the effect night
after night and morning after morning.
Speaking of rhythm, I do not think it makes a great deal of difference how
late in the day you go to sleep. The difference comes from maintaining the
morning activity of writing as many dreams as you can remember, and for
at least some period of time, allowing yourself to awaken during the night
to record your dreams.
In my personal experience, you will soon begin to see the theme of
writing down your dreams appear in the dreams themselves. This will
typically occur at the end of each dream.
Write this down each and every time it happens. Do not fear repetition.
All wealth in dream recall comes from repetition and dedication to the act
of repetition.
When writing your dreams, focus on writing the most recent dream first.

With practice you'll find yourself writing down five to six or more dreams,
but I feel that it's important to begin with the most recent dream first and
work backwards. You can jot out important details that come to mind in
the margins if you're worried that you'll forget them, but with practice this


becomes less and less likely because regularly practiced dream recall
improves your memory overall, especially when used in conjunction with
other aspects of the Magnetic Memory Method.
It is also recommended to carry a notebook with you throughout the day.
You can use the notebook to capture any new dream details that occur to
you (this will begin to happen very often) and add them to your dream
journal later.
During your initial pass through the recording of your dreams upon
wakening, write your dreams in a linear, narrative manner as much as
possible. Although different details you've missed on your first pass may
demand your attention as you're writing, it's difficult to edit handwriting,
so simply include these details at the end or connect back to the previous
paragraphs using arrows.
Here's another tip that I've used to great effect:
Divide each page into two columns. Use the left column to record your
dream narrative and the right column to jot notes for details that you recall
but did not include as you're writing out one of the next dreams down the
line. The left column can be much wider than the right. Personal
experimentation will tell you what works best.
Writing can also be enhanced by sketching. Sometimes you'll have dream
experiences that can only be expressed by drawing or there will be strange
shapes that words will never be able to describe. Don't worry if you
"can't" draw. Just move the pen or pencil across the page. Your mind will
help your muscles and bones produce the perfect image for the moment

and for helping you achieve your goals of extensive and enlightening
dream recall.
As mentioned, I advocate using a pen and paper. It's not because I'm old
fashioned, but because the technique works. The only problem is that the
more you record your dreams, the more you'll awaken at night and want to
write in your dream journal.
There are two solutions for this, one primitive and one advanced. One
helps you write in the dark. The other requires light.


I shared a bed with someone during my most intense years of dream
journaling. When I started waking up several times a night to record my
dreams, I would get up from the bed, gather my dream journal and go to
the washroom where I could turn on the light without disturbing my
partner and write.
When the awareness of dreaming prompted me to awake sometimes five
or six times a night, going to the washroom started to prove onerous. I had
once read a book about the life of writer and painter Wyndham Lewis
(check him out sometime). Having lost his sight in his later years, but still
hell bent on writing, he found a way to rig his journals so that strings
indicated to his hands where they needed to stop and proceed to the next
line.
The book was not entirely clear on how Lewis did this, but I took the idea
and put staples through ribbons that indicated to me where the lines were
so that when I reached the end of the line, I could feel where the next one
began.
Ultimately, this technique proved very useful because one tends to write
on top of one's own words when lacking some form of guidance in the
dark. However, it takes some practice, and in my experience, proved
problematic for any sketching. The extent to which drawings and

diagrams will form a part of your dream practice will vary, but keep in
mind that for the purposes of night writing, you may encounter difficulties
with creating visual representations.
When I first began my dream recording efforts, I was not terribly
concerned about legibility. However, when I later went past dream recall
and began working towards lucid dream experiences, being able to
understand the writing became essential. We'll discuss this dimension of
dream writing in the next chapter.
Before concluding, here are two more solutions you might consider. In the
age of tablets and smart phones, apps have become a central aspect of
daily - and nightly - life. It's now possible to read and write in bed using
"digital ink" on "visible paper" without overtly disturbing our sleeping
partners. (I say "overtly" because the introduction of light could subtly


disturb their sleep and it is our duty as ethical night dreamers to monitor
any reactions and alter our activities in order to protect their sleep).
The first app I have found useful for my iPhone is called Plain Text. It is a
simple text editor that you can link to your Dropbox account so that your
writing is instantly saved every few seconds the program is running and
your device is online. You can leave the program open, enter the date for
the following morning at the top of the page, darken your screen and start
writing the instant you awake.
Similarly, Dream Tracker is a writing application, one designed
specifically for recording your dreams. Its benefits are that the date is
already applied to your writing and you can apply type (lucid, vivid,
normal, blurry), mood (happy, sad, strange, anxious, nightmare) and you
can add keyword tags of your choice to your dreams.
The tragic downfall of this otherwise fantastic app is that there appears to
be no way to email yourself your dreams or sync them to Dropbox or

some other remote data cloud. You can, however, copy and paste the
writing into Text Editor, a minor inconvenience that makes the tagging
function still useful, though in order to transfer the tags, you'd need to
note which ones you made and retype them manually. This is not such a
big deal because the more time you spend on dream-related activities, the
deeper your dream recall will become.
Ultimately, there is a better way to tag your dreams (discussed later), and
it is ultimately not a good practice to have connectable wireless devices
with you in bed. This is because the temptation to check email is too great.
Even without dream recall, looking to see what work-related demands and
marketing messages (including ones from me) are lurking in your inbox
will deeply erode your mornings. Unless you do not have a wireless
connection in your house, avoid having smart phones and connectable
tablets related to your dream recall practice.
In sum, dream recall is simple to stimulate and deepen within a very short
period of time. Here are three sets of action steps you can take to get
started immediately.


Action steps you can take today:
1. Buy a dream journal. If you decide to create a night writing guidance
device, take care that the journal you choose makes this possible. A hard
cover journal with A4 sized paper will work best. Buy a second, smaller
notebook to carry with you throughout the day to capture any new details
that arise. I recommend that this second notebook be unlined so that you
can also use it for ernest sketching as part of developing your visual
creativity (discussed in the next chapter).
Depending on who you are as a person, you can either shop at a dollar
store for your dream journal or buy a luxury journal with creamy paper, a
leather cover, etc. This is a private decision, though if you want to invite

general affluence into your life along with intense, detailed and accurate
dream recall, you should not skimp on your dream journals, especially
since you're going to want to hold onto them for the years of your life and
possibly bequeath them to a family member, a library archive of all your
writings or to a dream society for cherishing and analysis.
You will also want to have a notebook with you in order to implement my
day journaling technique. You'll learn about this life-changing activity in
an upcoming chapter. Again, consider whether you want to have a
notebook that is merely functional, or one that will signal to your
conscious and unconscious mind your deep devotion to dream recall.
2. Buy a pen or pencil that you deliberately intend to use solely for
recording your dreams. Avoid the temptation to use it for anything else even if this means having another pen on your nightside table (the same
goes for your dream journal). Exclusivity is essential and the more you
preserve it for this task and this task alone, the more your mind
appreciates your dream tools and the more powerful they become as you
deepen your dream practice over time.
Once again, put some thought into the kind of pen you choose. Is it
merely a functional pen that you use for "dream writing from the
trenches," or does it need a bit of luxury to signal to yourself the care and
importance you place on your dreams? I've heard of someone who
purchased a $1000 pen from a store in the Yorkville area of Toronto,


though I myself have used a pen given to me by my aunt and uncle upon
earning my PhD. This assigns importance to the instrument and the effects
of this symbolism will yield dividends when it comes to dream recall.
The caveat to spending a lot money on expensive dream journals and a
pen you use exclusively for that task is that feeling that you need to do so
may cause you to balk and not get started. Thus, my advice is that if you
cannot afford to place a premium on dream tools right now, simply get

started with a 99 cent writing pad and a Bic pen. Once you've tasted
results, you'll want to deepen them by associating the respect of luxury
with your dreaming.
In the rare case that these notes about acquiring expensive dream writing
implements have offended you, please consider the negative effects of
poor pride in all areas of your life and ask your dreams for guidance in
this area. We will pick up this thread again in a future chapter.
3. Get some other books on dream recall, dream science or dreaming in
general and put them in a place where you will regularly see them. It
doesn't matter if you agree with their contents or not or if you learned
anything from them. So long as they have the word "dream" in the title an
are genuinely about dreaming, they will do. Having such books on your
Kindle or Kobo will also help, but they will in no way have the same
potential effects that physical books you constantly bump into hold.
It is best to have these books in several locations: by your bed, on the
coffee table, on a bookshelf, on top of your fridge, in the bathroom, on
your desk at work, in the glove compartment of your car, in your
backpack, etc. The more you run into books about dreaming throughout
the day, the more you will be stimulated to repeat your conscious intention
to recall your dreams.
Please note that this activity is different than drawing a mark on your hand
in the hopes that you'll recognize you are dreaming in the unlikely event
that you see the mark again in a dream. You will most certainly see books
about dreaming in your dreams and this is far superior to a mark on your
hand for stimulating lucidity because you'll actually see the word "dream"
in your dream. You'll also start either seeing yourself writing down your


dreams or feel the urge to write as part of your dream. Thus, repetitive
writing is the most powerful method for both stimulating dream recall and

lucidity.
Action steps you can take tonight:
1. Deliberately decide to record your dreams by consciously telling
yourself that this is your intention. It's as simple as mentally declaring, "I
will record my dreams." Get in the habit of saying this at least once before
going to sleep. You can compound the effect by saying it several times
throughout the day.
I also recommend that you deliberately decide that you will record your
dreams for at least a year. I've never done this myself, but some people
find that writing out a contract with themselves helps ensure their success.
I would predict that after two or three nights, if not sooner, you'll already
feel the impact on dream recall by simply following these steps. That will
likely be all the impetus you'll need to keep going.
2. Record the date for the following morning at the top of the page. If you
will be planning to write in the dark, it is best to always start on a fresh
page so that you're sure you know where to start writing.
3. Leave the dream journal lying open so that it is ready to be written in.
4. Practice some form of relaxation as you settle into sleep. I recommend
pendulum breathing combined with progressive muscle relaxation. I've
included a chapter on these two practices further on in the book.
As your dream recall deepens, you'll find that you notice yourself slipping
into a dream even before you fall asleep. Although you may not be able to
exercise any conscious control over these dreams, it is an amazing feeling
and an excellent sign that lucid dreaming is nigh.
Action steps you can take tomorrow morning (or whenever you
awaken with a dream-ripe mind ready for the harvest):
1. Write your dreams in a linear format.


2. Don't worry about any details or sequences you missed. Jot out notes so

you can add fuller descriptions later.
3. Stay in bed or at least in the bedroom for a while in order to see if any
more dreams come to you. Conversely, you can take your dream journal
with you, but take care to return it immediately upon finishing any
additional writing. Far better is to use your supplementary notebook for
recording additional dream sequences and fragments that come to you.
These can be compiled later.
Although some people who have written about dreams recommend that
you record simple impressions, I recommend writing out your dreams as
if they were a story. Simply write them out as if you were telling them to a
friend. The details and sequences you need to add later are essentially "oh,
and I forgot to tell you" additions. The only difference is that you will tell
the story in the present tense, as if it is happening as you are writing it.
This "immersion writing" will further stimulate dream recall.
If you are a writer of either fiction or non-fiction, writing in narrative
prose is essential. This will give practice in vignette composition and
you'll discover unusual secrets about plot and transitions. Some of the
prose renditions you write may become the basis for short stories and
novels.
Even if you never use the material of your dreams in your writing (we
cover this in depth further on), you'll find yourself experiencing a deeper
connection with your unconscious mind and its capacity for producing
narratives. You are essentially conditioning yourself to dream while you
are awake and record the results in real-time.