Color Your Dreams

In this morning’s dream I found myself spending a lot of time painting my toilet lid green! I don’t remember why I was doing that but I mentioned it on Facebook and found other dreamers mentioning the color green as well. It may be because spring is here (or so says my calendar, though not my Toronto backyard). For one friend, green represented prosperity and the heart, but for me, my first associations are about growth and healing. It drove home the point once again that it’s the dreamer’s own associations that matter when it comes to dream interpretation. Yet the whole issue of color jumped to the foreground for me.

Years ago people used to be surprised to learn that we can dream in color, as if we were all watching little black and white TV screens in our heads at night! And indeed, we can have black and white dreams but since the prevalence of color TV’s (one theory) we are mostly dreaming in color these days. According to “Dreams For Dummies” (a thorough and good basic beginner’s book on dreams and dreaming, despite its ridiculous name) the quality of the color in dreams can give you some information in addition to the actual colors that appear in the dream. So a weaker shade of red will have a different quality and meaning than a very vibrant red. Red, for example can represent “excitement, physical vitality, intensity, explosive beginnings... sex, passion…. anger…” and more. A pale red may indicate a weaker version of those qualities. Again, if a dreamer were using the “Dummies’” chart on color to explore their dreams, then they would only use the associations that have meaning and energy for them, or have a physical charge of some kind.

Why should we pay attention to color in our dreams? Colors can give us information about our emotions and our health, two essential functions of our dreams. We have cultural associations to color, too, that can inform and well, “color” the tone and meaning of our dreams. In the West, white might commonly be associated with purity or black with death, yet these colors will mean different things to dreamers from other countries and cultures.

And most importantly, in dreams whose content or meaning is important, we will often see more vibrant colors appear. Dreams of deceased loved ones are usually described as vivid, vibrant or intense in color. Spiritual dreams will also be described in the same way and we must imagine that the colors take on their intense shades so we will remember them! That’s really the key when it comes to color. These dreams heighten our awareness and point us to important messages that we need to pay attention to.

One more thought: Our awareness of color doesn’t have to end with our dreams in the morning. Some people see colors intensify in their waking life when they are supposed to pay attention. We use color psychologically in the clothes we wear, and the colors we paint our homes and offices, and in the gardens we plant. And heightened awareness of color during your waking hours is good practice for understanding and painting your colourful night-time dreams! And who knows? Now that you know about color in your dreams, maybe Debbie Travis will appear and personally help you pick which colors to use!