Dream a little dream of ... can't remember?

Dream researchers tell us we dream every night, but what does it mean when our teeth fall out? Or how about when we get chased? While the visions in our dreams appear to be abstract, we're all curious about their meaning. Gayle Delaney, author of “In Your Dreams” and co-director of the Delaney & Flowers Dream Center in San Francisco, offers tips to help you remember your dreams, “sleep on” a problem and create a dream journal.

Seven steps to better recall
We all dream from four to 20 times a night. We dream those dreams in color and in wonderful vividness. But upon awakening it is easy to forget the adventures we live each night. Here are some very simple ways you can hold on to the usefulness and excitement of your dreams:

1. Keep a pen and paper at your bedside.

2. Get enough sleep. Most of us really do need 7 to 8 or more hours to feel our best, and to recall our dreams easily. If you need an alarm to wake you or a cup of coffee to feel good in the morning you are probably are not getting enough sleep.

NBC VIDEO What do your dreams mean? March 1: Gayle Delaney answers viewer emails about dreams with "Today" show host Katie Couric. Today show

3. Before sleep, write out your day notes in your journal. Just four lines about what you did and felt today. This will greatly increase your recall in the morning.

4. Wake up naturally. This way you will usually awaken right after your longest dream of the night. If you are getting enough sleep you won't have to be battered awake by an alarm clock.

5. Lie still for a moment and learn to ask yourself, “What was just going through my mind?” Form the habit of thinking this thought before you ask yourself what day it is, or what you have to do today.

6. Take your time and write out your dream in any way you remember it. If you are rushed, jot down a few notes. They may suffice to bring back the dream when you have more time.

7. If you don't remember a dream, write out one sentence about whatever you were feeling or whatever first came into your mind as you awoke. In time this habit will convince your memory that forgetting a dream will not get you out of the natural resistance to putting pen to paper. Within one or two weeks, almost everyone I have ever worked with starts recalling dreams using these steps. If you do not, ask yourself if you are for some reason anxious about remembering your dreams. Most likely, you are not following one of the steps!

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How to harvest your dreams
Keeping a dream journal will add excitement, mystery, romance and, I hope, a great deal of insight to your life. A journal will show you that your dreams are rich and usually very well constructed from a dramatic and meaning point of view. Five minutes of journaling will help you recall your dreams more fully and accurately. Your mornings will be full of recalled adventures, and you will keep the dream from vanishing so you can interpret it later in the day. The difficulty in recalling dreams for most of those who follow these simple instructions for a week or two is not in recalling too few dreams, but in remembering too many. If this happens to you, decide how many dreams you care to record per week, and let the rest go. One dream a day is usually enough to satisfy most people, and one dream a week is enough to keep you busy if you study it closely.

Recording your dreams can be a pleasure, and if you include the information suggested below, your dream journal will assist you in understanding your dreams. You can use the following format:

Day notes
At night before going to sleep, record three or four lines describing what you did and felt today. Emphasize the emotional highlights of the day.

Title of dream
Leave a blank line between your day notes and the dream you record in the morning. After you have recorded your dream give it a simple title that will help you to remember the dream at a glance when you review your journal. Dream titles will be a great help to you when you study your dreams in series and look for recurring themes.

The dream
Write down every detail and feeling you can recall and have time to record.

Commentary
Use this space to record any thoughts or feelings you have in the last moment of the dream or immediately upon awakening. Also write down any feeling or impressions you have about the dream as you awake. Later you can use this space and additional pages to make notes about your interview of yourself or with a dream partner. Include any comparisons you might like to draw with other dreams, or with waking life experiences.

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