How to remember your dreams 🌙
The dreaming world is way too fascinating to not remember.
Even if you don’t think you dream because you struggle to remember them, you still dream.
I myself go through periods of intense dreaming almost nightly, to weeks where most nights I feel like I didn’t dream at all.
But the dreaming world is waaaayyy too fascinating of a place to not remember.
So, today I’ve got some advice I’d like to share to help you dream more vividly,
and have fun adventures in dreamland you won’t want to wake up from,
and—most importantly—to help you actually remember them!
Here you go:
Set an Intention before bed 🪞
There are a number of ways you can do this — here are some ideas:
Write the affirmation “I will dream tonight and I will remember my dreams upon waking” in your dream journal
State that same affirmation aloud to your reflection in the bathroom mirror during your nighttime routine
Repeat the affirmation during a pre-sleep meditation
Drink mugwort tea ☕️
About an hour before bed, drink mugwort tea.
Now, I’m not going to pretend that mugwort tea is the most delicious beverage you’ll ever drink. Not even close. But! Mercifully, there are delicious sweeteners and flavor-maskers you can add to it. My favorite is honey. I also like to mix it with peppermint herb and/or chamomile. Just stay away from sugar, as that could make it difficult for you to sleep.
Btw, we have Dream Tea here at the shop. It’s one of our most popular tea blends we sell and my personal favorite tea blend we carry.
Or! You could make your own dream tea blend! Here’s a recipe We carry all of these herbs (except the butterfly pea, which is optional anyway) at Sojo.
Here’s a list of our herbs
So, why drink mugwort tea?
Drinking tea in the evening can help you relax your body and calm your mind before it’s time to sleep. Mugwort is an herb that is known to help you dream more vividly and improve your dream recall.
However! If you’re not feelin’ the tea, no worries. You can utilize mugwort in other ways.
Another option is to make a small dream pillow or sachet stuffed with mugwort and other soothing, aromatic herbs like lavender, eucalyptus, or rose. Keep this pillow/sachet next to you when you sleep to help you drift peacefully into dreamland.
Prioritize quality sleep 🛌
Quality sleep is soooooooo vital for happy dreaming and overall good health. It’s essential to set yourself up for a good nights rest. There are little things you can do throughout the day to help.
Here are some ideas:
First off, is your bed even comfy? Is it clean? When was the last time you washed your sheets?
Does it have plenty of room for you to fully stretch out? Or is it covered in laundry that needs to be folded or maybe a mess of papers, books, and notebooks from a procrastination induced cram sesh?(Don’t get too offended—I’m calling myself out here.)
Treat your sleep space like a sacred temple dedicated to restful Zzzzzz.
Is your daily to-do list stressing you out so much that you’re still thinking about it when you’re going to bed? It probably means you’ve put too much on it. (Me it’s me.)
Spread those tasks out over more days so you have less to get done in a day. Be realistic with yourself about what you have the capacity to accomplish within a day and don’t shame yourself for what you aren’t able to complete.
Pay attention to what you’re consuming throughout the day and how that affects your sleep. I know I can’t have caffeine after 3 pm or I’ll be tossing and turning all throughout the night and completely exhausted by morning.
These are just a few ideas of how you can set yourself up for better rest and sweeter dreams.
Limit Distractions before bed 🚫
Eliminate screens an hour or two before bed. (Ohhhh, don’t go rolling your eyes.)
Watching TV, scrolling through your phone, or doing stuff on your computer/laptop/tablet/whatever really does impact the quality of your sleep. The light from screens is known to affect your internal clock, thus throwing off your circadian rhythm. This makes it harder for you to wind down in the evening.
I know, I know, you’ve heard all of that already and you haven’t done anything about it. So, why would you now?
Just let me give you some ideas anyway of things you could be enriching both your waking and dreaming life with instead:
Rather than scrolling and binging shows, you could spend your last hour or two of the day reading a book.
You could do some gentle yoga or meditation. I love me some good restorative yoga after a long day.
If it’s a nice night out, especially while it’s still summer, you could enjoy a peaceful evening out in your yard or with a window open, sipping on a mug of Dream Tea, listening to crickets as you look up at the stars
Ahhh. Doesn’t that sound so peaceful? And don’t we all need more peaceful moments in our lives?
If you absolutely have to use your phone or laptop, at least make sure the brightness of your screen is turned down and switch your phone to night mode.
Keep a dream journal 📔
Ooooo, this one is my favorite.
Why? Because it’s fun to look back on my dreams later and read about all the fun adventures I went on.
Also, when I write my dreams down I can analyze them. Free therapy!
I won’t get into the nitty gritty details today of how wildly beneficial analyzing your dreams can be. We can dive deeper into that another time. Just know that I highly recommend and there are some good resources out there to help you get started (search for jungian dream analysis).
It’s also just really fun to pick out a dream journal. Having a beautiful journal that you love will encourage you to actually write in it and can make the practice more exciting. My favorite journals for recording dreams are ones that aren’t too small and have pages that lay flat.
Btw, speaking of journals that lay flat, we’ve recently gotten some gorgeous embossed journals in at Sojo. Here’s some pics that’ll give you heart eyes:
Keeping a dream journal is a really good way to let your subconscious know that dreaming is super important to you, so it’ll start working with you to help you remember them. Journaling daily about your dreams trains you mind to hold the memory of them for longer after you wake up.
You’ve probably noticed that it doesn’t take very long in the morning for the memory of your dream to start fading away. Here are some tricks to help you hold onto them long enough for you to record them:
Try not to wake too fast or abruptly in the morning. If you use an alarm, set it to a sound that will gently arouse you.
Have your journal next to you—under the pillow or on your nightstand—already open to the page that you will be writing on with a pen ready to grab.
Lastly,
Talk about your dreams 🗣️
Talk about them with your friends, family, coworkers, etc. This is just another way to tell your subconscious that dreams are important to you.
You can start by hitting reply to this email—I love to hear about people’s journeys in the dreaming world.
🌙💤💭,
Kayla