How to Use a Dream Journal for Goal Setting?
Dream Journaling​
April 23, 2023
Updated:
March 18, 2024

How to Use a Dream Journal for Goal Setting?

Dream journaling can be a very powerful tool for your personal growth. This article is about how you can use dream journaling for goal setting. Let’s see how-

Dreams are very common and fascinating aspects of human life. Every time we sleep, we dream of something we may or may not remember. While some consider dreams mere fantasies, others like to interpret them and derive meaning. Dreams reflect our subconscious mind, and we can understand our psyche by analyzing them. That's why having a good dream journal and tracking your dreams is recommended!

1. Keep a Dream Journal

Keeping a dream journal is the first and easiest step. Many people simply use pen and paper for journaling, which is fine. However nowadays it’s possible to go further with digital tools. For instance, Oniri is an advanced dream journal to help you analyze and interpret your dreams accurately. With Oniri, you can keep track of every detail about your dreams: dream type, emotions, context, characters, symbols, places, etc…

Choose your preferred method for dream journaling, in the end it’s up to you. Grab a notebook, download an app, or whatever suits you! Once you have a good dream journal, you’re ready to go. Journal every single detail and in whichever language you’re comfortable expressing.

Download Oniri for: iOS / Android

2. Record Your Dreams

After getting a dream journal, it's time to start journaling. If you're journaling for goal setting, it can be a little difficult, but with time, you'll master the art of journaling. As soon as you wake up, take a few minutes to reflect on your dreams and write down as much detail as possible. It’s important to do it as quickly as possible, because the memories of your dreams will vanish very quickly after waking up. Journaling dreams is recommended when it's most vivid in your mind.

Try to be consistent with this practice and do it every morning. Sometimes you won’t remember anything, sometimes very fuzzy details. Even then, write down something in your journal. This will help training your dream memory and remember more and more dreams.

3. Interpret Your Dreams

Now that you have a dream journal with many dreams recorded, you can start analyzing your dreams, finding insights, and setting goals. It's important to find and understand dream patterns and symbols. Knowing how frequently you're getting a specific dream or symbol in your dream will help you analyze the right elements. Try to understand your emotions while dreaming and analyze all the characters and places.

While analyzing your dreams, connect all the dots: symbols, thoughts, emotions, people, places, etc… Try to understand what your subconscious mind is saying. It’s very important to look at your dreams in the context of your waking life and goals. A good analysis can help you identify your inner feelings and desires, your fears and sources of anxiety, your thought processes, and more. Use the insights from your dream analysis and implement those in your goal setting.

If you want to learn more about the process of analyzing your dreams, read our articles about how to interpret your dreams and the different ways to analyze your dreams!

4. Set Goals

Once you're done with your dream analysis, it's time to set up goals based on the insights you derived. This is the most crucial part of the process. Now that you know a bit more about yourself, identify the areas in your life that need improvement. Those areas can be anything: your career, relationships, health, personal growth, etc…

You can also set goals in a new area of your life. Insights and inspirations are key factors if you are dream journaling for goal setting. Always look for insights and inspiration from your dream journal.

5. Take Action

Now that you’ve got the goals, it's time to take the required actions! Follow your goals the best you can and try to improve the areas in your life that you identified. These goals can improve your relationships, help you to develop new skills, or make you a better person. Once you reach this stage, your goal-setting practice is worth it.

Conclusion

Dream journaling and dream analysis can help you understand your subconscious mind and set up goals. Start keeping track your dreams, setting goals that can change your life, and become the best version of yourself!

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