I am leaving the title the dreamer offered for this dream, as that is one of the methods that I teach in my dream classes for decoding. The title tends to encapsulate the undercurrent of the dream message.

Without giving more away, this dreamer discovered there was an issue with something she was using, that for her, was making her unhealthy. Without criticism, the ‘crutches’ that we all normally use to distract us, or take us away from our center, can make us feel more vulnerable because we then have more clarity to look at our emotions or the issues that we’ve tried to escape.

Title:  Exposed

I dreamt that I came home and our living room window was broken.  (It was not our house we live in now.  It was a different house). I was shocked when I realized the couch was gone and everything else in the room.  I thought, I can’t live like this.  Do we need to put bars on our window?

Later the dream shifted and I was perusing a stranger’s home.  There was a dog there and I was looking for a leash so I could take him out.  I had no idea how long it had been since the dog went out.  

There were 3 small beds set up in the kitchen.  At first, I thought it was an efficiency apartment until I found a bigger bedroom out back. The apartment was L-shaped and I thought this is negative Feng Shui. 🙂  I never found the leash.  I woke up shortly thereafter.  

DECODING:

I dreamt that I came home and our living room window was broken.  (It was not our house we live in now.  It was a different house). I was shocked when I realized the couch was gone and everything else in the room.  I thought, I can’t live like this.  Do we need to put bars on our window?

I love this first line, I feel it is the most important statement of this dream.

The dreamer, with the actions she has previously taken in her waking life to self-medicate, and having removed said substance that created limitations in her self-awareness, is finally coming back to her self for review. But it doesn’t feel natural or at home to her just yet. Houses in part, represent the physical body, and each room and each level of a house, says something to the dreamer about the greater self. 

However upon arriving home (to the self), it is not the home/body she is used to, because she is experiencing different emotions or sensations in her body now. The picture window is broken. Windows represent doorways to the soul’s knowing or self understanding. It is broken, meaning she will need to reacquaint herself, with Herself, and that feels vulnerable. Something feels exposed.

Couches are what we relax on, so the ways that she may have used to relax in the past, are now gone for her. Including everything else in her ‘living’ room (how she lived before) that may have supported how she chose to relax, disengage, avoid deeper emotions, etc. She doesn’t know if she can do it this way, understandably.  Putting bars on the windows suggests either that she feels she is in a bit of a jail with this choice, or counter intuitively, she feels locked into her choice.

Later the dream shifted and I was perusing a stranger’s home.  There was a dog there and I was looking for a leash so I could take him out.  I had no idea how long it had been since the dog went out.  

Now she is in “a stranger’s house.” She has to get to know herself in a different ways. This new way of being in her body feels a bit foreign, at least to her subconscious self, despite knowing that her waking self made the right, healthier decision to move forward.

There is a dog there (aside: I would have liked to have known the color or breed of the dog, as that would have told me more), but in the same way that the bars would force some sort of control, now the leash also represents needing to control something, or at least directing it externally in a way that feels less exposed.

In the First Nations tradition, dog stands for loyalty, but not to something external rather to something internal to the self.  Dogs also stands for how we pursue our ability to to both play, and do our profession, with more awareness of our own needs and desires. They can also signify that we have to improve a relationship (either to the self or other), and are associated with how we care for something (herself perhaps) in the waking life.

“She has no idea how long it has been since the dog was let out.” She may have been using a couple of forms or items to distract herself from dealing with deeper emotions for a long time now. How long has it been since she was truly, and completely, able to love herself, simply for who she is. This awareness won’t arrive in one day or with eliminating a substance or two, that is merely the beginning of a deeper dive.

There were 3 small beds set up in the kitchen.  At first, I thought it was an efficiency apartment until I found a bigger bedroom out back. The apartment was L-shaped and I thought this is negative Feng Shui. 🙂  I never found the leash.  I woke up shortly thereafter.  

The kitchen is where we go to nurture our self. There are 3 small beds set up. 3 is the number of change, but it is also a way to learn about our Self: maiden/mother/crone; Father, Mother, child; our Divine Masculine, Divine Feminine and Divine Spark of Self. Beds are about relaxing, and sleeping, which is another method for self-care.

At first she thought this would be an easy fix, quick process, small thing to overcome–efficiency apartment–where she had come to compartmentalize how she saw or experienced herself. But the bigger bedroom ‘out back’ shows her this is a deeper dive, or bigger issue to explore, than she may have originally thought. With clearer vision of why we have made some of the choices we have made in our life, we also need to acknowledge and forgive ourselves for how we chose to learn certain lessons.

The bedroom suggests that she needs to ‘rest’ in the awareness’s that will be bubbling up, either through the dreamtime, or self analysis (be that within one’s self or with a professional). The L-shape is significant in esoteric terms to mean’ EL’ or God, it is also described in some culture’s hieroglyphic symbology as a ‘hook.’ So the question becomes will the dreamer work more deeply with the God within, or get hooked again (not by a substance necessarily), but by other ways that avoid looking at what needs to be emotionally addressed? An L is also taking a right angle to explore something new.

Something about her process of self exploration still feels like it is ‘negative.’ Not because she is negative, but possibly because she feels vulnerable to what will be exposed.  Feng Shui is basically arranging things to be in flow energetically, so this is her self-work moving forward. And, ironically, she never found the leash…what she was looking for to control where she needs to be directed next; it’s all new ground for discovering and uncovering.

Thank you dreamer