Spiral staircases

Have you ever had a recurring dream? I’ve had a series of different dreams repeated over several years. I wonder what I am subconsciously thinking about that they keep occurring in my night visions.

Take for example a spiral staircase that seems to go on into eternity. I cannot see the end of it (for undefined reasons – remember this is a dream-like scenario) and so I feel afraid to step onto it. Eventually I do get to the last tread and, hesitatingly, I step through the clouds or fog or whatever murky substance my dream has conjured up, and I am right back at the beginning of the staircase, looking up to a spot where I believe I have just passed into.

It seems like a circular dream, and being on a floating spiral staircase it is a bit like being on the waltzer ride at the fairground: you can never quite get your balance or perception right.

The image of a spiral staircase could have the same affect on us as it did on James Watson (co-discoverer of DNA) as we use this vision to discern the structure of our lives. On the other hand this vision can pump us full of despair. Given those two choices I regularly choose discernment and discovery.

I’m not sure what – if anything – I will dream tonight, but on the first day of a new month I am again drawn to the idea of beginnings. When you are a beginner in any area you have the beautiful tendency to see all possibilities. When you feel you are an expert in anything you see only a few possibilities open up before you.

So, whether I wake up tomorrow with a perfect recall of a dream from decades ago, or I sleep without incident I will look at the new day in this new month as a new beginning.

Each day in my life is a fresh page in my life book. Each day is really a new beginning.

Like the spiral staircase I cannot see the end of my life book as it is a long way off, however, I see what is ahead of me right now and I will take that first step in this new daily chapter as my daily beginning.

If I am fortunate I may create something in my fresh days that will remove the endless spiral staircases from my night and day realities.