I had a lie-in this morning. Caroline got up at 7:30 but I stayed in bed. I went back to sleep and had an intense dream. It was so vivid that as soon as I woke up, I got up and dictated an account of it into my laptop.
Having recently discovered AI, it seemed reasonable to see if it could tell me what my dream meant, if anything.
“Perplexity” told me told that it couldn’t but referred me to four websites that claimed that they could. I went to https://dreamybot.com.
Below is my dream as I remembered it 10 minutes after waking from it and it is followed by an interpretation of it.
*****
I was on a sandy beach looking at my computer when Matthias (my brother-in-law) asked if I had ever written about tattoos on my blog. I said I had* and tried to show him the piece but there was something wrong with the computer and every icon on the desktop had a black question mark underneath it.
I went to a computer shop and arrived as it was closing. A woman was shutting the door. I asked her to let me in and explained my problem. She produced some plastic strips and told me to put one into a computer port and drag all the question icons into the strip.
While I was being served, a man came in and he was served by someone else. Then, other people started coming in as well. I was told there was another thing I needed, but she didn’t have it and I’d have to go somewhere else to buy it.
As I left the shop, which was closing as I arrived, there was now a queue of people waiting to get in. I went off, found the other shop and bought the part which was inside a brown envelope.
On the way back, I got lost and walked down steep stone steps. At the bottom was no path, just a river. A little boy was in front of me on the steps and he got into the water and started swimming. I followed him, fully clothed, swimming on my back and trying to keep the brown envelope dry.
I passed a landing strip and didn’t get out but I realised that I should have. I got a dinghy back to the landing strip. I started walking and had to take a path up a very steep cliff. Halfway up, I got my coat stuck in barbed wire.
Eventually, I got it free and walked back down to the bottom where there were buildings. I realised I’d lost the brown envelope. I thought it must have been dropped as I got out of the boat so I asked a man if he had found it. He said that he hadn’t, but he’d see if anyone else had.
He came back and said it had been found but I’d have to go and see the man who’d found it. I asked why he hadn’t just given it to him. He said that was a good question but he didn’t know why.
I went to the room where the man who found it had been giving a lecture. People were leaving as I arrived but the man wasn’t there. The room was empty.
* I have never written about tattoos.
Interpretation by https://dreamybot.com:
Thank you for sharing your dream. It's quite a journey! This dream feels deeply connected to your creative expression, specifically your writing (the blog and the tattoo piece), and the obstacles you encounter in sharing it with the world. It also speaks to a sense of frustration, a search for completion, and a potential fear of losing something valuable along the way.
The initial scene of you working on your computer on the beach is striking. The beach often symbolises the subconscious, a place of relaxation and hidden depths. Juxtaposing this with the computer – a tool for outward expression and connection – suggests a tension between your inner world and your desire to share your work.
Matthias asking about your tattoo blog immediately brings the focus to your creative output. However, the malfunctioning computer with the black question marks is a crucial symbol.
Question marks in dreams often represent uncertainty, doubt, and a feeling of being unable to clearly communicate or express yourself. It's as if your ability to articulate your ideas is being blocked or questioned.
The computer shop sequence is a clear representation of seeking solutions to these technical difficulties. The shop closing as you arrive, and the woman reluctantly letting you in, speaks to a sense of timing and potential resistance. The plastic strips and the need for another part symbolize fragmented solutions and the feeling that something is missing.
The growing queue of people waiting as you leave highlights a sense of competition and the challenges of getting your needs met. This could reflect a feeling of being overlooked or struggling to be heard in your waking life.
The brown envelope containing the missing part is significant – envelopes often represent secrets or hidden potential. Losing it, and the subsequent frustrating search, underscores a fear of losing something essential to your creative process or a part of yourself.
The river sequence is particularly potent. Swimming on your back while trying to protect the envelope suggests a defensive posture and a struggle to stay afloat while safeguarding something precious.
The little boy swimming effortlessly represents a sense of innocence and ease, perhaps a part of yourself that isn’t burdened by these anxieties. Missing the landing strip and the steep cliff climb symbolize obstacles and challenges you face in pursuing your goals.
The barbed wire snagging your coat represents painful experiences or setbacks that hinder your progress. Ultimately, losing the envelope and the bureaucratic runaround with the man who found it is incredibly frustrating. It points to a feeling of powerlessness and a sense that even when solutions are found, they are unnecessarily complicated or inaccessible.
The empty lecture hall at the end reinforces this sense of disappointment and the feeling of being left without answers.
Overall, this dream suggests you're grappling with self-doubt, creative blocks, and a fear of losing your voice or your work. It seems you're in a period of seeking validation and trying to overcome obstacles in expressing yourself.
The dream highlights a pattern of seeking external solutions to internal problems, and the frustration that arises when those solutions are incomplete or elusive. It's as if you're being asked to look inward and find the missing piece within yourself, rather than relying on external validation or fixes.
I think we could challenge the belief that your creative work needs to be "perfect" or universally understood in order to be valuable. Perhaps the question marks aren’t necessarily a sign of failure, but an invitation to explore ambiguity and embrace the unknown.
Does this resonate with you at all?
Yes it does. I’m a psychological mess. I never realised that I had such problems.
Caroline tells me that the only thing more boring that remembering you own dreams is hearing about someone else’s.
So, sorry about that.
