Have you considered writing down your dreams (not just your goals or aspirations, but your ACTUAL DREAMS)?

A few months ago, I had a dream, and I could still vividly remember what it was. I was driving with Jodie Foster (obviously, it's a dream!) on the highway near a forest, then accidentally, we witnessed a crime, a mass murder by a gang but they were not aware we were there. The two of us were so scared that we sped up and drove past them, regretted that we didn’t stop at a nearby service station because the car ran out of petrol. We had no choice but to get out of that car. Of course, we didn’t want to be caught by the killers, so we quickly went and hid inside the house nearby. Then we heard noises from outside and we realized these were the men from the murder scene. We peeked through a peep-hole and saw that they were carrying the dead people and were dumping them just outside the house. All of a sudden, someone from outside peered through that same peep-hole and I got really scared so I screamed!!! I thought what a big silly mistake that was, because, after that, these men were pursuing us. I don’t recall anymore how that dream ended though.

Then a couple of nights ago, I had a dream and it was very weird because it felt like I experienced a "déjà vu" in my dream. In my dream, I was thinking that I was in the same situation and that it had already happened to me before.

Cambridge English Dictionary defines déjà vu as "the strange feeling that in some way you have already experienced what is happening now."

Anyway, the dream was: same setting, same place, same time, same scenario, same people, except this time, I was alone. In that dream, I felt like all these things had happened to me once before. The engine of the car stopped, too, and I thought it was stupid of me for not stopping at the service station. Again, I witnessed a crime. And I was in the same house. The only difference is, I was well aware of what’s going to happen next. So I knew I should not peek through the hole, and that I should be very, very quiet and let those men finish what they were doing before I should make a move. So I kept still, still frightened, but I was very careful so that no one would ever notice someone was inside the house. The men left the place (after dumping the dead bodies nearby) and that was when I felt relieved for the first time knowing that I was finally safe. Then, I woke up hyperventilating and realized it was just a dream.

I must have forgotten to pray before sleeping. Or, maybe, the suspense or thriller movie that I must have watched before going to bed had something to do with what went on in my brain during my sleep. Having said that, I just have to steer clear from these movies and I will not have these nightmares!

Talking about dreams, I remember this book which I read when I was in high school, it's called "Gate-crashing the Dream Party" by Alison Leonard. The book is about a girl who constantly writes her dream on her 'dream diary', which she values more than anything. She always reflects on both her dream world and reality using her dream diary. She runs away from home and still keeps her dreams in her diary wherever she goes. But then the dream diary goes missing, thanks to the boy who, like her, doesn’t have a place to live, so both of them keep on wandering from places to places. This boy has taken the dream diary and, if I am not mistaken, he throws it in a bin somewhere. The girl gets devastated when she finds out that her diary is lost, and is actually taken from her without her permission. Anyway, I can no longer recall how the story went and how it ended. That's the only part of the book that has remained in my memory.

Now, that book got me thinking, "Why not make a journal for all my dreams"? Some people actually strongly recommend this, that as soon as you wake up from sleep, you should write down your actual dreams on your notepad, or a paper at least, so that you will not forget your dream - sort of like a dream journal, a compilation of all your dreams during your deep slumber at night or day. They say that writing down your dreams may inspire you and may also serve as a clear analysis of a timeline for understanding your feelings at a moment in your life. By doing this as well, you will be able to write funny and interesting things to read later in life. Then when you read again what you wrote, you may find it hilarious how your brain came up with those dreams. Also, when you write down your dreams, you remember them and may be able to reference them later on to explain something that has happened in the "present real world." You may also effectively share your dreams with others (because the dreams were written down, so you won't miss a thing).

For practical use, writing down dreams as a habit helps yourself wake up in the morning. As you know, you can easily forget your dreams within seconds of waking up. So, when you write your dreams down, you are motivated to get up just to write down that "out-of-this-world experience", thereby forcing your sleepy brain to wake up, get up and start the day.