The House of Many Rooms

Last night was another one of those nights when I wake up in the wee hours of the morning, with thoughts racing on items of work and life that are stressful. There is nothing that you can do at that time of night to take care of any of the items streaming through your mind, but it is there to distract you from sleep. I also have had a knot in my shoulder from stress that just won't quit and the pain from it was also playing havoc with my ability to rest.

I hate those nights with racing thoughts of stress. This is something from my past but I was unwilling to give in to another sleepless night. So I got up and took a bunch of ibuprofen and climbed between the sheets and said to myself "Think of joy. Don't focus on that stuff. I will change my life. I will break bad patterns."

Will wonders never cease! I fell asleep, deeply asleep and had a dream. Now in the past, I have had a recurring dream about a house. For some reason I know that this house is 55,000 square feet and I own it. All the rooms are irregularly shaped, but I love the house and want to decorate it and share it and live in it. In all the dreams of this large home, it was empty and cold.

But last night the house had a lot of people in it. They were homeless and needy and loved the shelter the home provided. In the dream, I was taken aback by all of these people in my home, but then I realized that the place would make a great shelter for homeless and psychologically distressed people. I started to get excited and I worked hard to set up the shelter. Others got involved and it seemed like all kinds of things were falling into place. Most importantly, my house of many rooms was finally filling up and getting decorated and used and enjoyed.

Suddenly I woke up, obviously remembering my dream, and realized it was 6 AM (I leave for work at 6AM!) I jumped up, ran through my routine and got on the road in 15 minutes flat! While driving to work, I began to reflect and to marvel. I actually got back to sleep! And my house with the many rooms had been full and lively. I wondered at the significance of the dream.

I got to work and suddenly a number of the problems that had awakened me much earlier were solved with a clarity of thought and problem solving that I just hadn't mustered at 1 AM. I went through the day quite well and was pleased with the accomplishments.

What did the dream mean? Who knows! I believe that the dreams we remember are part of our subconscious working on our issues, those that we just don't deal with during the day. I started to feel that the house of many rooms was me, my life. Not that it hasn't been full, but that I am searching to fill my life with special meaning for me. Maybe the work I am doing to change the habits of the past, my determination to find joy in my new life and the very decision to take a risk at creating a new life are represented by the people starting to fill my house. I hope so. I like to think so. Because what goes around comes around. Positive thoughts yield positive thoughts. And I would really love to have another night of deep sleep and sweet dreams! Here's hoping that the sand man visits me in that house of mine. I have tons of empty guest rooms.