40 Dream Journal Prompts

What is the very first image you see when you think about last night's dream? quick

List three feelings you woke up with this morning, and put a star next to any that seemed to come from a dream. quick

What did waking up feel like this morning: heavy, light, rushed or slow? quick

Where did your dream take place, and what would someone see if they stood in that spot? quick

Who showed up in your dream last night? Were they people you know, strangers or some mix of both? quick

What sounds, smells or textures can you remember from a recent dream? quick

Give last night's dream a title, the way you would name a short story. quick

Sketch one object from your dream in the margin, then write two lines about where it was and who touched it. quick

What was the weather like in your dream, or was there any weather at all? quick

What time of day was it inside your dream, and how could you tell? quick

Which part of a recent dream would you happily go back to for five more minutes? quick

Describe a dream place that feels familiar even though you have never been there in waking life. reflective

Write about a dream where an ordinary thing behaved strangely: a door that led somewhere new, a staircase that kept going. reflective

Pick one person from a recent dream and describe how they acted. Was it like them in waking life, or not at all? reflective

What did you want in your dream? Write about what you were trying to reach, find, fix or avoid. reflective

Retell a recent dream from the point of view of someone else who was in it. reflective

Is there a house, school or street that keeps appearing in your dreams? Walk through it on the page, room by room. reflective

Write about a dream that made you laugh, either while you were in it or when you remembered it later. reflective

Which of your senses tends to be strongest in your dreams, and which one seems to go quiet? reflective

Look back over a week of dream notes. What colors, places or people show up more than once? reflective

Describe a dream in which you could do something you cannot do awake, like fly or breathe underwater. What did it feel like while it lasted? reflective

Write about the moment a dream ended. Did something wake you, or did the dream fade on its own? reflective

What from your day yesterday seems to have slipped into last night's dream, even in a changed form? reflective

Tonight, before you sleep, write one line about what is on your mind. Tomorrow morning, write what you dreamed beside it. reflective

Describe a dream that felt more real than an ordinary afternoon. What made it feel that way? reflective

If you share a home with a partner, each write down a dream from the same night, then read them together. Where do your dream worlds overlap, if at all? reflective

Write about a recurring dream you have had at any age. What stays the same each time, and what has changed over the years? deep

Recall the earliest dream you can remember. Write down every detail you still have, and what it was like to be the child who dreamed it. deep

If someone you have lost has appeared in your dreams, write about that visit: where you were, what passed between you and how you felt when you woke. deep

Write about a dream that frightened you, only as far as feels comfortable. What do you notice now that you are awake and writing in daylight? deep

Choose a dream that has stayed with you for years. Why do you think this one, out of so many, is the one you kept? deep

Write the next scene of a dream that ended too soon. Let your waking imagination carry it wherever it wants to go. deep

Turn a recent dream into a short story, poem or letter, keeping its strangest detail exactly as it was. deep

How do you act in your dreams? Write about whether the dream version of you is braver, gentler, more anxious or simply different from the waking you. deep

Look back over a month of dream entries. Which feelings come up again and again, apart from the images that carry them? deep

Write about a dream you have never told anyone. What made you keep it to yourself, and how does it feel to put it on paper now? deep

Write a conversation with a figure from your dreams, a stranger, an animal or a voice, and let them answer your questions in their own words. deep

How has your relationship with your dreams changed since you started writing them down? What do you notice now that you used to miss? deep

If your dreams from the past year were gathered into a book, what would the chapters be called, and which dream would open it? deep