What Are Dream Signs? How to Find Yours and Use Them to Become Lucid

You are back in your old school. The hallways are longer than you remember. You have an exam today, and you have not studied.

You have had this dream before. Maybe ten times. And every single time, you believed it was real.

That repeating school is a dream sign, and learning to notice it is one of the most reliable ways to have a lucid dream.

What is a dream sign?

A dream sign is any person, place, object, action or feeling that keeps appearing in your dreams. It is usually a little strange. Often it is impossible.

The idea comes from Dr. Stephen LaBerge, the Stanford researcher who proved in the early 1980s that lucid dreaming is real. In his book Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, he explains a simple point: inside a dream, we accept strange things without question. A dream sign is a clue that you missed. If you learn to recognise the clue, you can realise you are dreaming, and that moment is lucidity.

Dream signs are personal. One person flies in half of their dreams. Another person keeps losing their phone. A third keeps meeting a grandparent who passed away. Lists of "common dream signs" can help you start, but your own signs are the ones that work.

The four types of dream signs

LaBerge sorted dream signs into four groups. Knowing them helps you notice signs you would otherwise skip.

1. Inner awareness: what you think and feel

Strong or strange feelings, thoughts and senses.

• Sudden fear or panic for no clear reason
• A feeling that someone is watching you
• Déjà vu, or a feeling that "something is off"
• Knowing things you could not know

2. Action: what you, or others, do

Actions that are unusual or impossible.

• Flying, floating or jumping very high
• Running in slow motion, or not being able to move
• Breathing underwater
• Your teeth falling out

3. Form: how things look

People, objects or your own body looking wrong.

• Text that changes when you read it again
• A clock that shows a different time each time you look
• Extra fingers, or hands that look strange
• A light switch that does not work
• A person who looks like someone else

4. Context: where you are and what is happening

A setting or situation that does not fit your real life.

• Your childhood home or an old school
• A place you have never been, which feels familiar
• Meeting someone who has died
• Being with people who never met in real life

How to find your dream signs with Lucidly (step by step)

You can do this with a paper notebook, but counting repeats by hand takes time. Lucidly is free and does the counting for you.

Step 1: Write your dream as soon as you wake up

Open Lucidly, go to the Journal tab and tap + New (the first time, the button says Write your first dream). Write what you remember before you check your phone. Dreams fade within minutes, so even a fragment is useful: "School again. Late for an exam."

Tip: install Lucidly on your home screen (in Chrome: ⋮ → Install app; on iPhone: Share → Add to Home Screen). Then the journal is one tap away when you wake up.

Step 2: Check the dream signs Lucidly finds

When you finish writing, Lucidly reads your entry and selects possible dream signs, such as flying, school or being chased.

• Tap a sign to remove it if it is wrong.
• Add your own sign if Lucidly missed something, for example "my old phone" or "my boss".
• Tap Browse common signs to choose from a list.

Then tap Save dream.

Step 3: Repeat for one to two weeks

Write every morning. Ten to fifteen entries are usually enough to see your first patterns. Lucidly counts every sign across all your dreams, so you do not need to read old entries again.

Step 4: See your top dream signs

Open the Signs tab. Lucidly shows your #1 dream sign and how many of your dreams it appeared in, for example "In 6 of 12 dreams". Your other signs are listed below it, most frequent first.

Focus on your top one to three. Working on three signs is easier than working on fifteen.

Step 5: Turn on reality-check reminders

In the Signs tab, tap Remind me during the day, or open the Reminders tab. Tap Turn on reminders and choose your waking hours.

Lucidly then sends reminders at random times that name your own signs, for example: "You often dream about school. Are you dreaming? Count your fingers." The next section explains why this works.

How to use dream signs to become lucid

Finding your signs is half the work. Next, you build a habit that carries into your dreams.

During the day: connect each sign to a reality check

A reality check is a quick test that gives a different result in a dream. For example:

• Nose pinch: pinch your nose and try to breathe. In a dream, you usually still can.
• Read twice: read some text, look away, and read it again. In dreams, text often changes.
• Count your fingers: dreams often get the number wrong.

Now link each sign to a trigger. If your sign is school, do a reality check whenever you see a school, a classroom, or a student. If your sign is losing your phone, check every time you search for your phone.

Ask the question honestly each time: "Am I dreaming right now?" A check that you do on autopilot will not work in a dream either.

At night: set an intention

Before you sleep, recall a recent dream with your top sign. Imagine yourself noticing the sign and saying, "This is a dream." Then repeat to yourself: "Next time I see my old school, I will know I am dreaming."

This is the core of MILD (Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams), the technique LaBerge developed. Studies by Denholm Aspy and colleagues found that reality checks work best when you combine them with an intention like this before sleep, rather than on their own.

Common mistakes

• Using only someone else's list. Generic signs help you start, but your personal signs are much stronger.
• Writing dreams later in the day. By lunch, most details are gone. Write them first thing.
• Checking without thinking. A fast, empty reality check builds a fast, empty habit.
• Giving up after a few days. Most people need a few weeks of journaling before their first lucid dream.

Dream signs vs. dream symbols

These are not the same. Dream interpretation asks what a symbol means: "What does it mean to dream about water?" Dream signs do not care about meaning. They are simply clues that tell you, "You are probably dreaming." For lucid dreaming, the clue matters more than the meaning.

Frequently asked questions

How many dreams do I need to find my dream signs? Usually ten to fifteen journal entries, or about one to two weeks of writing each morning.

What if my dreams have no repeating signs? Look at categories instead of exact details. You may not dream about the same school twice, but you may often be "somewhere from the past". That pattern is your sign.

Do dream signs change over time? Yes. As your life changes, new signs appear. Review your journal every few weeks.

Can a dream sign wake me up? Noticing a sign sometimes makes people so excited that they wake up. Stay calm, look at your hands, or rub them together to stay in the dream.