Color as a Dream Sign

**Fuzzman** · 03-23-2012 03:40 PM

So this thought just occurred to me after I noticed that a few objects in my dreams last night were the color blue. I had read that people had dreams that showed a prominent color but never really experienced it before.

What I thought of when I woke up was, could you use color as a dream sign? I don't mean something that's just out of place or weird that it makes you lucid, but just something that when you see it you RC or be aware.

I put this into practice for about an hour after waking by noticing everything around me that's blue. I realized there's so many things that I've not really noticed that are blue and thought that it would be useful if I tried doing it all day. Each time I saw it I asked myself if I was dreaming and observed my surroundings.

This seems more useful than using an object as a dream sign because it's so prominent. If you pick some object, you're waiting around all day for that object to come by, and even if it does you may miss it, ruining your practice. With colors, there's so many things that you can use that even if you miss one, another is surely to come by sooner than later and you can just use that. Also, unlike a chosen object that may NEVER show up in a dream no matter how much you focus on it, a color seems more likely to appear in a dream.

So with this, every time you see the color, you can use it like a regular dream sign with any day technique you're using. With MILD's you can recite your mantra, with ADA it can trigger you to be aware, or if you're just using RC's you can do a RC whenever you see the color.

My main concern with this is that it may show up too often that you end up just ignoring it after a while but I haven't tried it enough to know. I think as long as each time I end up wanting to ignore it I just force myself to focus on it anyway.

I'm going to keep trying it all day today and see how well I can keep it up but I'd like to hear what you guys think. Would this be useful, has anyone done this before?

**Blackfox** · 03-23-2012 06:10 PM

Interesting idea, let us know how it goes! I imagine it's going to take a lot of energy to notice everytime you see the colour blue, but go for it!

**Fuzzman** · 03-23-2012 07:24 PM

Hah, yea I just picked blue because it showed up a lot in my dreams last night, but what I didn't consider was that one of my school colors is blue so on campus today I noticed that it was EVERYWHERE! But it's not so bad because it reminded me to be aware, and then by the time I stopped being aware I noticed something else that was blue and I started paying attention again.

I've worked with ADA but my problem is I can't seem to get myself to keep it up for very long. So even if it's not something that I RC every time I see the color, at least it'll be a subtle reminder to remember to work on my awareness. And that's why I like that it's pretty common, even if I miss something there's surely going to be another thing I notice that's blue soon enough.

**OpheliaBlue** · 03-23-2012 11:36 PM

The only time I noticed a prominent color in my dreams is when I look at the ocean. It starts out calm and normal, then becomes extremely stormy and wavy - and the color of the water becomes either a deep sapphire blue, or a deep golden amber.

So my question is, when you noticed the color blue being prominent in the dream you described, what were the objects? I don't know if it's even significant for you or not, I'm just curious, based on my own experience. It could be either the color, or certain objects WHEN they're that color.

At any rate, I always do RCs when I see the ocean as a result.

**Fuzzman** · 03-24-2012 12:05 AM

It wasn't really like a lot of things all at one time were blue, but a few objects that I focused on in the dreams were blue. Like at one point in my dream I picked up an original Game Boy and it was a bright blue instead of the regular grey. And later I encountered blue snakes and blue arrows.

So when I woke up it just got me thinking about how if I use a color as a way to remind myself to RC or be aware. That way if in a similar situation where I'm focusing on something and it's blue or whatever color, it would remind me to be aware and then I'd notice I'm dreaming.

If I had been working with this "technique" beforehand, just last night I could have potentially had 3 chances to become lucid and my recall last night wasn't great so there might have been other blue items in my dreams as well that could trigger it. Rather than just having some random thing (like yours, the ocean) that may never appear even during waking, the chances for something to be the color of your choice would be more likely to show up at any time. Also potentially focusing on noticing a certain color during the day may make it more likely to show up in dreams.

I'll keep working on it though and see how it turns out. So far just today it's been pretty easy to notice things that are blue. Occasionally I forget and don't actively notice everything that's blue, but if my eye happens to catch something I'm looking towards, it will remind me and I'll be aware.

**OpheliaBlue** · 03-24-2012 12:16 AM

Yeah, definitely let us know how it works for you. Sounds interesting. "Blue" could become one of your dreamsigns.

**Fuzzman** · 03-27-2012 06:00 PM

So I've been doing this for a few days and haven't noticed any indications of it in my dreams yet. But it has started becoming a lot easier to notice in waking. Where ever I go, even if I'm not thinking about it, if my eye catches some blue I realize it quickly and become aware. I think after working with this a while it will carryover to the dream state and when I see blue there it will trigger the same thing. It seems very promising, I think of it as an SAT technique with a common trigger to become aware.

One thing I've noticed that I like about this is it's very easy to do it when watching TV or playing games. That was a big problem for me when I was just doing regular all day awareness, whenever I would be watching something or playing games, I would get sucked in and forget to be aware. But with color as a cue, it's becomes a convenient reminder. Whenever I see the color show up on screen, I catch it and become aware and sometimes RC.

I'm going to keep working with this for a while and hopefully it will have an effect in my dreams.

**Mydera** · 03-27-2012 06:49 PM

That is an awesome way to keep yourself aware! I've never noticed any particular color stand out more in my dreams, but I imagine someone could probably just pick a color at random right? So long as you dream in color, there's a good chance you'll see the color you pick at least once in a dream each night. Are you picking like a certain shade of blue, or just generally any shade? I think I might give this a try as I struggle with remembering to be aware all day, and generally finding myself remembering to reality check only a handful of times a day if at all. Maybe with a common color like Green, something that occurs a lot in scenery so I'll have more chances of seeing it in a dream.

**Fuzzman** · 03-27-2012 07:02 PM

Originally Posted by Mydera

That is an awesome way to keep yourself aware! I've never noticed any particular color stand out more in my dreams, but I imagine someone could probably just pick a color at random right? So long as you dream in color, there's a good chance you'll see the color you pick at least once in a dream each night. Are you picking like a certain shade of blue, or just generally any shade? I think I might give this a try as I struggle with remembering to be aware all day, and generally finding myself remembering to reality check only a handful of times a day if at all. Maybe with a common color like Green, something that occurs a lot in scenery so I'll have more chances of seeing it in a dream.

This could work with any color that would be fairly prominent to you, or you can just pick it at random as long as it's something you'll notice. I liked blue personally because it's a common color and it stands out to me (I'm red-green colorblind so I get that end of the spectrum confused sometimes). At first I was working with just every shade of blue from light to dark, but some of them were just weird to notice and iffy so I'm working with just sticking with the neutral blue (it's my school color so I see it a lot), but I do notice the other shades that are in that range a lot as well because of it.

I'm glad someone else is interested in this and I'd like to see how it works out for you

**OpheliaBlue** · 03-27-2012 07:55 PM

I really like this alot Fuzzman.

I choose green. While blue is my fav color, green for some reason stands out more to me. Don't know why, but I'm just going to go with it. What an inspirational idea man, I'm trying it.

**Mydera** · 03-29-2012 11:25 PM

I'm still trying to remember to become aware of whether I am awake or dreaming whenever I see green, but since Green is everywhere I keep forgetting when I see it, lol. I know my brain is noticing green though because while it hasn't gotten me lucid yet, I'm suddenly having green show up in my dreams a lot and as stuff important to the dreams so I can not miss it. Just wondering if it's working for you two yet?

**OpheliaBlue** · 03-29-2012 11:38 PM

Well Mydera and Fuzzman, I'm remembering to do reality checks throughout the day just fine. There's alot of green because it's spring, and we have alot of green in the house. But in my dream last night, there was an avocado and a whole damn jungle of green, and it didn't occur to me to do an RC lol. I'm going to keep at it, it's only been a couple days.

Fun experiment though.

**Fuzzman** · 03-30-2012 02:32 AM

Cool I'm glad you're enjoying it

So do you find it easier to use your color as a reminder to RC instead of using some object as a dream sign? Do you notice your color easily and does it remind you to be aware or RC every time you see it? Do you think that eventually it will carry over to the dream state and be useful?

I'm finding it really easy to notice the blues around me and it's now an instant reminder to become aware and RC. I like this because it is also useful even for peripheral vision, even if in the corner of my eye there's a speck of blue it catches my attention and I look at it. I think this will be really useful once it starts carrying over in dreams because even if I'm not directly focused on a blue object, if I notice it in my view then it will draw my attention. I haven't seen any significant blues in my dreams lately but I've been slacking on my journal during the school week, but I don't know if it would have much effect this early on. I think if I can keep it up for a couple more weeks I may see some progress in my dreams.

**OpheliaBlue** · 03-30-2012 04:32 AM

I can honestly say, that in the 7 years that I've actively done reality checks, using color has helped me to remember to do them more often each day. Before I might remember only a handful of times each day, but now it's dozens of times. The good news is that I'm seeing green in my dreams, so I don't have to worry about that. I just need to keep at it for a while before I notice if it carries over into my dreams or not. The other good news is that I'm more likely to see something green in a dream than a tornado, or a fight with my mom, or an opera gone wrong, or any other dream sign that may or may not appear in dreams regularly enough for me to remember to do a reality check.