Thank you so much for this. To improve my dream recall several years ago, I started drawing in the morning. I’d jot down any words or images that might flash into my consciousness. This habit has become COMPULSIVE. I don’t just WANT to do it. I NEED to!
Painting and/or drawing my dreams (along with any written remembrances) every morning has become a form of therapy. It’s to the point now where, if I can get just one little image to burst open from the previous night’s dreams, then a FLOOD of images and storylines will gush forth, flashing across the movie screen inside my Cerebral Cineplex almost faster than I can write them down or draw them on paper. This process will often yield as many as five different dreams from one night’s sleep — in great detail.


On the rare mornings when absolutely NOTHING comes up, I’ll still write a bit or just doodle or draw whatever is in front of me on my desk. And I swear to you,
Even doodling or drawing something random and totally unrelated to my dreams will (9 times out of 10) trigger some little lost “dream bubble” to burst, sending me a tsunami of pictures and/or storylines from SEVERAL dreams.
Based on no data whatsoever, I’ve become convinced (through my own daily, DIY dream therapy each morning) that there is some neural connection that gets fired up when pen is put to paper and allowed to wander, with the eyes fixed steadily on something… on ANYthing.


I’ve started to wonder, too, if the horizontal back and forth motion that writing (and reading) requires could possibly trigger some muscle memory of the previous night’s REM sleep.
Who knows.
All I know is it’s fascinating. And I’m so excited that dream science is finally seeing more sunlight from legitimate science and from academic circles in general.
I’ve gained tremendous emotional and psychological insights from my dreams, and I’m now writing an illustrated memoir with these drawings.


On the mornings when even my drawing and writing CAN’T make any of my dreams reappear, I feel absolutely RIPPED OFF!
Not remembering ANY dreams feels like I sat down in my own private, plush movie theatre and right after the opening credits, some jerk snuck in and yanked the movie projector’s power cord out of the wall, cheating me out of my free, nightly, five-feature marathon.

PS if anyone knows of any research projects about dreams and/or neuroscience and/or visual art, please let me know! Thanks.
