Dreams

Since I was a little girl, I’ve always had very vivid & elaborate dreams. There was a time where I kept a dream journal by my bedside, & I wrote down all of my dreams as soon as I woke up so that I can revisit my notes & evaluate them later on in the day. I even have old notes in my iPhone from years ago with dreams that would make for great dystopian movie screenplays, but I’ll keep those to myself just in case I want to switch careers in the future. lol Recently, I’ve been reflecting on this one particular dream that I had last Summer.

It all started at a Casino with my boyfriend & I gambling on slot machines. He had mentioned that he wanted to go to one with me several times before, so we decided to make the road trip. Upon winning a huge jackpot, I eagerly made my way to cash out my winnings only to have everything that I had earned taken from me. I was then detained & separated from my boyfriend for an indefinite period of time. Time always seems to standstill in my dreams.

When I was finally released, I was stripped of all of my belongings & sent back out in the world in my underwear. In a panic, I frantically ran through woods & darkness until I happened upon shelter & clothing.

After putting on clothes, I slowly made my way towards a bright light, glimmering in the distance. As I got closer, I realized that the light was actually a building. Upon further investigation, I learned that it was a behavioral testing facility, comparing various levels of hospitality. There were three groups that were being experimented on in the building, but the groups weren’t allowed to interact with one another.

The first group was over-indulgent hospitality. Everything that they wanted was handed to them without any required effort or hard work. They had an unlimited budget. They were catered to & waited on, hand & foot. They would lounge around all day, eating snacks, watching TV, & sleeping. They could have or do anything that they wanted, not realizing that it was slowly causing them to become useless blobs of human existence.

The second group was strict hospitality. Their basic needs were provided: food, shelter, & a decent spending budget. But they were also forced to lift weights & run every day, & they were each assigned a specific trade to learn. They were only given one hour every day to explore a creative outlet: drawing, painting, music, etc. They would be punished anytime they wouldn’t follow orders & told that they were never allowed to leave.

The third group was enterprise hospitality. They were taught choreography then were required to perform & would be tested on what they learned throughout the day. If they performed well, they would be given everything that they wanted, but if at any time they made a mistake, they would be punished & warned to not repeat the same mistake again. After too many mistakes, they would be forced to leave with nothing.

Being a trained dancer, I snuck my way into the third group. Knowing in my heart that my boyfriend was somewhere in this facility, there was absolutely no way I was leaving until I found him. After learning & performing my choreography perfectly, I was told that I would be rewarded. They quickly discovered that I snuck into the testing facility & didn’t belong there. I was placed in a room & told that if I could choose my boyfriend with absolute certainty then I would be allowed to leave with him without being followed.

Four men then entered the room. They all looked & dressed very similar to my boyfriend, but I personally can recognize his pheromones anywhere, like a moth to a flame. As I approached each of the four men, I knew immediately that this was a trick. I began to argue & refused to choose from the men that they were showing to me. And that’s when I did see him, running past the building through a small, side window.

He was placed in the second group. They had cut his hair & shaved his face. They even forced him to wear contacts, but I knew in my heart that it was him. I ran out of the room, as his group was returning from their run about to start their creative hour. His face looked shocked & confused when he turned to look at me, so I asked, “Do you know who I am?” He shook his head no, & my heart broke. He was brainwashed or under some type of spell.

Then to my surprise, he took my hand & lead me inside saying, “I honestly don’t know who you are, but every day, I draw you.” We turned the corner, & I saw what he meant with my own eyes. He had piles of sketches of me from each day that he had been there at the facility. I wrapped my arms around him & pulled him in close, & that’s when I woke up, my eyes already welling up with tears.

This is how I interpreted my dream:

To me, the varying levels of hospitality represented childhood upbringings. Some individuals come from more privileged circumstances. Others will suffer in silence or have to work really hard for what they want out of life. Usually dreaming about a casino represents good luck & quick fortune, but that also comes with great risks. Being naked involves feeling vulnerable in your current situation, & being detained indicates forced life changes that are beyond your control. We all work hard to always be seen as perfect. You’ll usually be given the basics to survive, but we all face receiving what we want out of life at different costs. So enjoy your happiness, however brief it may have been, because sometimes, you’ll be forced into new situations that require you to forget about everything & everyone that once truly mattered to you.

Even though I grew up loving the idea of magic, I never actually considered myself to be clairvoyant. But reflecting back on my dream now, though my life didn’t play out exactly as it did in my dream, it definitely feels like it was a premonition from the universe of what was coming in the Fall.

Your dreams can have deeper meanings if you pay close attention. While I don’t keep a dream journal anymore, I do still write down my dreams & evaluate them when I have one that particularly stands out to me. Do you pay attention to your dreams? Have any of your dreams come true, for better or for worse?

XO Denise