Although you probably dream every night, it may seem like you seldom remember dreams after waking up. Children are naturally in touch with their subconscious thoughts and desires, but the ability to remember dreams tends to disappear when they reach adulthood. With practice, however, you can reclaim this important skill and use dream interpretation to develop new insights into your daily life.

The easiest way to increase your ability to remember dreams is to believe that dream interpretation can be valuable. If you believe that dreams are merely random brain stem activity, you have no real incentive to train yourself to remember the details of what you dreamt the night before. The desire to remember dreams and a faith in your ability to develop this skill are crucial to success.

If you want to begin to remember dreams more accurately, experts recommend keeping a dream journal. Place a small notebook and pen beside your bed. Then, when you first wake up, immediately write down as much of your dream as you can remember. Don’t worry about trivial things like spelling, grammar, or sentence structure. Simply write down as much of your dream as possible, even if it’s just a few words, phrases, or images. If writing proves too difficult, you can try drawing a quick sketch or supplementing your notes with a small tape recorder. After two or three weeks of this practice, you’ll find that you remember dreams with a much greater frequency.

Interestingly enough, it appears that people who tend to awaken several times during the night have an improved ability to remember dreams. If you are bothered by a dream and want to increase your chances of remembering the specific details, try drinking several glasses of water before bedtime. When you awaken to use the restroom, spend some time writing in your dream journal while your mind is still focused on the details of your dream.

Many people who are interested in dream interpretation recommend that you make a habit of rereading your dream journal before bed each night. If you have a dream that you are struggling to understand, rereading your journal will make it easier to remember dreams that are related. You may also wish to use a dream interpretation dictionary to look up possible meanings for specific images or thematic elements within your dream. This can offer new insight into the issue at hand, whether your dream is about a failed romance or work-related anxiety.