Journaling, Practice Log, etc

[Sloppy Zhang]

So for a while I've been keeping a practice journal. It's mostly a dream journal, which I've used for lucid dreaming purposes. Started a couple years ago and everyone said to use one. Kept up the habit. Added some practice musings, reflections on subjects or new points I make, insights that I find of value, quotes from TTB (honestly!) and things like that. For lucid dreaming, I suppose it's been fairly helpful.

 

But recently it's gotten a bit of a drag to keep updated (dream entries, for example, take up to an hour and a half to write in the detail that a good entry would require, and I just don't have the time to do that, so I usually fall behind or just forget them).

 

This happened the other day- I was highly focused, and reflecting on a particular problem/issue. It was a big mental block. I didn't know where to go. Thought intensely about it for about 20 minutes. Then suddenly this thought, an idea, a resolution, popped into my head. It took me 2-3 seconds to appraise it and decide to try and apply it then and there. Then, the last thought I had, which happened a split second later was, "if this works, I can put it in my journal."

 

BAM.

 

Blank mind. Totally empty.

 

Then I was like, holy cow, this works, now I can write it in my journal..... wait, what did I do? What was I even thinking about? I honestly couldn't remember anything past a certain point. Like, I could remember my train of thoughts, the problems I was kicking around, and in general, about 18 of the last 20 minutes. But I just couldn't do it. I wracked my brain for probably 45 minutes trying to figure out what I did. A lot more physical and mental stress than I got from the first problem, before just giving up and saying "forget it".

 

It just seems like many insights go that way for me- I do something, then move on.

 

I've also gone back and reviewed some of my past entries.

 

The dreams are boring, and the problems seem trite. It's like..... I don't even care. The problems aren't even applicable. Totally different person.

 

I guess part of that is the point, to see how you've changed. But it's like, okay, I'm not the person I am now who I was.... okay, moving on.

 

Occasionally I wonder how maybe my insights could be helpful to other people. But 1) if I can't remember what they are, what good are they to someone else? 2) my problems, and solutions, are pretty unique to my particular experiences, so any parallels people draw would be in general concepts anyway.

 

So I'm thinking, bleh. I don't really feel like keeping this up. It just seems.... meh, like a poor construct. But when I put it down, I always pick it up again. And people complain about never keeping a dream journal. Here I am complaining about not being able to stop!

 

Thoughts?

[devoid]

Hi Sloppy Zhang,

 

I think you are asking an important question. I guess where you are coming from is that a number of authors encourage keeping journals / logs wishing they would have always been more disciplined about it. What always irritated me about that advice was that there was no obvious reason accompanying it and as far as I can tell they're mainly nice to have, but do take a fair portion of time and effort to produce.

 

Instead, I decided to ask myself following any 'revelations' like you describe them above to ask myself what I needed to learn from this and if there was anything important enough to really make a note of. Often, I am left with an idea or thought which I will try to include in my thoughts throughout the next day or so. When there is occasionally something which I decide is of grave importance I reaffirm it daily until it sticks. Sometimes, I simply acknowledge that I didn't get anything out of a given session other than feeling centered and better

[pilot]

keeping a dream journal indeed takes up (imo wastes) a lot of time, and for lucid dreaming purposes is not really necessary if you use direct lucid dream induction methods, if the lucid dreams have high lucidity, and if you wake right after they have been extended to their limit.

 

I imagine it is also possible to set your intention on remembering all the dreams you've had during the night in the morning while you prepare in the morning, and then once again later on in the day (which can be quite hard to do and a good exercise at that).

 

This should not take very long at all, and no effort (it's quite natural to visualize something in memory) in comparison to writing them down, and serves to reinforce them in memory, even long term if they were particularly intense. During the early part of the day one could also be open to allowing various random thoughts to see if they trigger dream memories, and again this would happen naturally on its own and can be fun when it happens.

 

Writing dreams down won't catch all the dreams at night anyways unless you deliberately wake up after each dream to do so, in which case you might not be getting full rest.

[Sloppy Zhang]

What always irritated me about that advice was that there was no obvious reason accompanying it and as far as I can tell they're mainly nice to have, but do take a fair portion of time and effort to produce.

 

Well as far as dream journals go, they help you learn to recognize patterns in your dreams, the idea being that, next time you're in a dream and you recognize a pattern, you become lucid.

 

keeping a dream journal indeed takes up (imo wastes) a lot of time, and for lucid dreaming purposes is not really necessary if you use direct lucid dream induction methods, if the lucid dreams have high lucidity, and if you wake right after they have been extended to their limit.

 

Yeah, except in the middle of the school semester/work days, I don't really have the luxury to do direct induction techniques. I gotta sleep when I gotta sleep, that's why I took up the practice of lucid techniques that occur while already asleep.

 

I imagine it is also possible to set your intention on remembering all the dreams you've had during the night in the morning while you prepare in the morning, and then once again later on in the day (which can be quite hard to do and a good exercise at that).

 

This should not take very long at all, and no effort (it's quite natural to visualize something in memory) in comparison to writing them down, and serves to reinforce them in memory, even long term if they were particularly intense. During the early part of the day one could also be open to allowing various random thoughts to see if they trigger dream memories, and again this would happen naturally on its own and can be fun when it happens.

 

Well what usually would happen is that I'd write my dream down as the day progressed. If I had a class/work early in the morning, I wouldn't even start on the dream entry until midway, or at the end, of the day. Sometimes I'd forget then remember, sometimes I'd forget completely, and sometimes I'd remember completely. Of course, with practice, your memory improves, I've found.

 

So the recollection isn't the problem- it's that writing in this journal became, literally, an all day occurrence, and if I was busy, I might not have even gotten halfway through by the time I had to go to sleep again! x.x

 

I dunno. It's just gotten to be a drag. There are some benefits to it. But.... I dunno.

Edited January 11, 2011 by Sloppy Zhang

[pilot]

Yeah, except in the middle of the school semester/work days, I don't really have the luxury to do direct induction techniques. I gotta sleep when I gotta sleep, that's why I took up the practice of lucid techniques that occur while already asleep.

 

writing in this journal became, literally, an all day occurrence, and if I was busy, I might not have even gotten halfway through by the time I had to go to sleep again! x.x

 

I dunno. It's just gotten to be a drag. There are some benefits to it. But.... I dunno.

 

I sure believe you when you say journal-ing can take a long time, and the main reason I stopped. Each method has its benefits and drawbacks; direct ones, if they work for you, can be fairly reliable, but at the expense of being rested. For that reason I use it very sparingly. The positive thing I believe is dreams and lucid dream skills should naturally deepen as we continue whatever personal discipline or sadhana we do, not as another thing to grasp or achieve, but as something mirroring the general change of our whole self.

[Mal]

I think the usefulness of a journal comes from the mindfulness and examination required to write one, more so that the "written result"

 

i.e. the difference between just thinking "that was a cool dream I should write that down" and the act of consciously recalling/remembering, writing down, and then reflecting on the dream. As devoid said

ask myself what I needed to learn from this and if there was anything important enough to really make a note of.

It sort of seems to make you more "involved" in the dream

 

I tend to use journals to work through stuff, I think it helps that I enjoy typing. Sometimes I type up pages of stuff only to feel .... resolved ? and just delete the entire thing. Other times I don't feel like writing much and am happy just to contemplate.

 

The journals rarely make any "sense" to me when I read them latter either I even have some old hand written dream journals that are just unreadable from when I use to write stuff at night by moonlight. I have bad handwriting and can't spell so eventually I got tired of trying to work out what I wrote and just started typing them

[Otis]

My solution to the problem was to use a digital voice recorder. That way, I could quickly get whatever it is down, without having to think too much about structure, presentation or handwriting. Downside, of course, is that I never get back to those old journals, but then, I never get back to my earlier written journals, either.

 

You could record the dream immediately, and then listen back to it, say, while driving to work. That way, the dream has been 1. recorded, and 2. listened to, so it's already more in your system (and if you really want to be able to find an entry again, you can probably star it, on your computer).

[Otis]

On a separate note: interesting about your mind going blank at that particular moment. My theory (if I may): when you switched from one process (the solving of your dilemma) over to a totally separate one ("I should record this"), you moved from one dominant brain structure to another, and hence: from one consciousness to another.

 

In my own head, I notice that such consciousness shifts are often correlated with small amnesias, as if the memory was tied to the structure (a version of 'state dependent memory'). A radical gear shift in my consciousness often requires some fishing around to recall what was happening a moment before.

[Sloppy Zhang]

On a separate note: interesting about your mind going blank at that particular moment. My theory (if I may): when you switched from one process (the solving of your dilemma) over to a totally separate one ("I should record this"), you moved from one dominant brain structure to another, and hence: from one consciousness to another.

 

In my own head, I notice that such consciousness shifts are often correlated with small amnesias, as if the memory was tied to the structure (a version of 'state dependent memory'). A radical gear shift in my consciousness often requires some fishing around to recall what was happening a moment before.

 

Well now, that's very interesting.

[thelerner]

Well now, that's very interesting.

 

It is. That's the kind of sensitivity that we need to be aware of and develop. Still, I find I don't fully 'know' my mind unless I put ink to paper. The act of writing makes me clearer on an issue.

 

Michael

 

Speaking of this, Robert Bruce has a program on Dream Work going on an open program going on, he has a intro to it in the bums, Introduction pages.

[Mal]

Was just reading How Analog Rituals Can Amp Your Productivity and recalled the time issue mentioned

But recently it's gotten a bit of a drag to keep updated

One consistent surprise is the role of monotonous rituals and what could be described as 'analog drudgery' among the especially productive

[NeiChuan]

 

In my own head, I notice that such consciousness shifts are often correlated with small amnesias, as if the memory was tied to the structure (a version of 'state dependent memory'). A radical gear shift in my consciousness often requires some fishing around to recall what was happening a moment before.

 

Hm I've thought the same.

 

Im pretty sure on it aswell..