Help understand a recurring dream

Sleepy buddha got a day off today. I got a few chores done, and settled down to watch a movie this afternoon. Instant nap fuel.

I had a dream, and this has been a recurring dream throughout much of my life that I can remember. It's not the 'same' dream over and over, but a variation on a theme.

This one always touches me in a weird way. I'm not really sure what to make of it. I would like to share some of the imagery and themes to get some input. The only thing I can really say is that I am a little disappointed waking up, but it doesn't last long, and the dream is soon let go.

The dream mainly consists of me exploring a house, apartment, hotel, or some kind of domicile. This particular dream was an apartment. It was like a new apartment I was just moving into. Sometimes it's my home, and sometimes it's someone else's that I'm just exploring to sate my curiosity.

There are a couple of elements involved in every one of these dreams that I've noticed:

These are very lavish buildings. They are also very large. One thing that always happens in the dream is that I inspect a few rooms, and think I've seen the whole place, but then I will start to find other bedrooms, bathrooms, secret rooms, secret hallways, doors etc. These places are always majestically big and contain many, many rooms, though they are quite unassuming at first. The secretive aspect is part of these extra rooms I didn't notice until further exploration. In the dream, I feel as if these secret rooms are a place where I can stretch out and have some peace and solitude. They also give me a sense of happily getting lost in my own house.

There is also a motif of water. The bathrooms or kitchens usually represent this as I inspect luxurious bathtubs. Many times there are even fountains or fancy water decorations (like fountains, but not sure quite how to explain them.) There is usually some kind of decorative purpose to running water in these dreams. Sometimes there is a small artificial waterfall for example.

There is no outside. Never in these dreams do I see outside this house. There are no windows to see out of, no landscape. It's just the house. No yards, no nothing outside. The dream is about getting lost in those secret rooms, going deeper into the house; not concerned with big green yards or anything like that. Which is a shame because I'd love a nice big yard!

Some things that are not as consistent:

As mentioned, sometimes it's my home and I'm exploring alone. Sometimes it is someone else's and I'm a guest.

Sometimes the architecture makes sense in the real world, sometimes it's more bizarre like an Escher drawing.

Sometimes the decorative style is more modern, sometimes it is very old, like Victorian.

I am usually very reserved with dream interpretation. I would like to hear an outside opinion, and get an objective insight into what this dream would mean, and why it's so common for me. It's the dream I have more than any other dream.

Thanks to all replies.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha
can't help interpret but
I have the same dream nearly exact accept my houses, apartments mansions are old although usually elegant. The rooms all seem to continue off of one another there are rooms that are just baths like the old roman style. Sometimes I do have a sense of where it sits in a mountain area a city or large acreage but it is also all inside and not seeing outside.

Sometimes the places turn a little creepy sometimes not. Sometimes I feel lost sometimes not.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

I think you probably already know but will give my thoughts. I think the house...yours and others is you. Your exploring or need to explore yourself ...your past and may also speak to your future.

That is all I get at the moment but I do believe from my experience in keeping track of dreams...at least for me, once I begin living it (in as having figured it out unknowingly for me) I never have the dream again. Have had many like this. Think your must be on the verge of a change.

I will follow and best wishes to you.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

Hmm, exploring a big house?

I tend to think of a house in dreams, especially if it's my house as kind of a metaphor for my own mind, or consciousness, like a basement might represent a place in my mind where I put things I don't want to "see" or think about at the moment.

Maybe in the dreams where it is your own house it is showing you that you think you know everything about the house, or to use the metaphor your own "mind" until you discover there is so much more to see, so many secret rooms you haven't seen before, could be showing you that there is a lot about yourself you haven't discovered yet.

The water motif, I usually associate water with emotions. on your dream we see an artful use of it, as you say. That part I'm not sure about. What comes to my mind is emotion controlled, expressed in a way that beautiful.

The part about exploring another persons house as if you are a guest, difficult to say, could be you feel like a guest because these aspects of yourself are places you never knew existed.

Do you ever see people you know in the houses or are you the only person there?

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

Yeah....I call it the complex. Familiar and malleable....I also have small outside areas sometimes...like courtyards and private beaches. Also sometimes it incorporates places I've worked in my waking life. And it is the only place I encounter people that I know in waking life. What physical differences between there and normal, have you noticed? For instance, sometimes I encounter snow.....except it isn't cold. Reading is problematic, because each time I look away, the text changes......anything like that?

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

I'm no dream interpreter by far. But i dream of water every night. I'm also not a believer in astrology. However im a late February baby and a water sign.

You put this...

"There is also a motif of water. The bathrooms or kitchens usually represent this as I inspect luxurious bathtubs. Many times there are even fountains or fancy water decorations (like fountains, but not sure quite how to explain them.) There is usually some kind of decorative purpose to running water in these dreams. Sometimes there is a small artificial waterfall for example."

I love to explore everything... is it possible you may too?🤔


Just to ad, in my dreams. Waterworlds are getting better with detail. I have floating tropical islands with waterfalls and multi-colored tropical plants. I love me some beautiful escapisms...🤗

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

I'd say the house is you and your psyche. The water means cleansing, rebirth or fresh start. The mystery rooms are the future which you're getting ready to venture into and your emotional state about that.

a reply to: mOjOm

Actually thats perfect!

originally posted by: SeaWorthy
a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha
but it is also all inside and not seeing outside.

Interesting that this is a commonality for us. As another poster mentions, it may entrench the idea of pure internalization.

Sometimes the places turn a little creepy sometimes not

Yes, I have noticed this too. No matter how nice the place is, there is a looming sense of getting lost, or an atmosphere of some darkness--not sure how to convey this one... In a way, these nice houses have a sense of not being very inviting despite being very luxurious.

The rooms all seem to continue off of one another

This really jumps out at me because it is the same in my dreams. The rooms are a continuous chain that wouldn't really happen in the real world. It is always about going forward, going deeper...there is never any turning back or entering a room I've already been in. There is no central locale like a kitchen that links the rooms--it is always room to room to room in one direction.

Fascinating that some of these little details match up!

originally posted by: thothful
a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha


Do you ever see people you know in the houses or are you the only person there?

If there are other people, they are only in the first room, or entrance.

Once I am off exploring, I am alone and know I'm snooping around in someone's house

Actually, that's not totally true. There have been a couple times (remember, I have had these dreams for many years) where I bumped into an occupant deeper in the house. This is where the dream would end. That would be my last room if I bumped into the owner.

I used to have a repeat dream when I was younger where I was running on big slate rocks that were arranged like steps going up ahead of me. Giant but shallow steps. All around me in the distance were other people I could barely see that were also running in the same direction I was. Forward. We were all running from a giant wave rushing up behind us about 100 stories high. It's dark and cloudy. I'd run and run and when the wave would crash on me I hit the rocks and claw and kick and hold my breath until the wave washed over me dragging me backward. Then I'd get up and run forward again as far as I could. Each time the wave would wash me back and I'd run I would notice less and less people in the distance running with me as little by little they were swept out to sea.

That scene would just repeat all night and I'd wake up exhausted in the morning. I'm glad I don't have it anymore.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

"Actually, that's not totally true. There have been a couple times (remember, I have had these dreams for many years) where I bumped into an occupant deeper in the house. This is where the dream would end. That would be my last room if I bumped into the owner."

To this is, I would say that you're the owner of your mind. Evict that ocupant, which is you and dig deeper!😉

Have some fun. 😊


Get lucid as some tell me.

a reply to: mOjOm

That sounds terrifying.

Do you think the wave also would mean cleansing and rebirth?

It certainly can be tiresome and exhausting to make a clean change in our lives.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

Wow. I've got chills. I have had a recurring dream ever since childhood...it's sometimes years in between the next installment of this dream. It's always in a huge, lavish home...a sprawling mansion with doors everywhere.

Each time I open a door and inspect what's inside, I find either more doors or secret passageways...and often, the doors are locked, so I basically keep trying different ones until I find an unlocked one. I get the sense that someone is in the house or controlling the house and choosing which doors I am allowed to access. I'm being observed by whomever this is too, every time I enter the house.

So far I've found dusty attics, bedrooms, secret stairways, closets, rooms within rooms, living rooms, dining rooms...and I found one bathroom that really disturbed me. It was the tub...it was some kind of medical whirlpool tub with a lot of drain holes, and it absolutely terrified me to look at it. I saw this tub probably twenty years ago in the dream, and to this day, I feel an irrational terror whenever I see one of those whirlpool bathtubs.

The last time I was there in the house was about seven years ago. I found a tiny doorway in a hidden stairwell...I had to duck down to go in it. Inside was a large rectangular room that had no windows and was completely dark. It felt like a basement.

I found another doorway with a beaded curtain, and went through that into a hallway, which eventually led to another doorway.

When I entered it, I found myself in another huge room without windows. It had beds in it, lining the length of one wall. Huge king size beds, all pushed together, with sheer curtains around them and strings of tiny gold lights draped along the ceiling above them. It was beautiful, and really inviting. I thought someone had come up behind me and I turned around, and that's when I woke up. I'm still waiting for the next installment.

I always feel sad when I wake up from the house. I feel like there is something I'm supposed to do, but I can't figure it out quickly enough, and my time is always limited in the house. I'm hoping the next time, I'll find whoever it is that is in there with me.

I wish I could help interpret, but I cannot even do that with my own dream. But wow...I have only told a handful of people about my house, and I never imagined that someone else might be having a similar experience.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

What can you tell us about any owners you bumped into?

originally posted by: NarcolepticBuddha
a reply to: mOjOm

That sounds terrifying.

Do you think the wave also would mean cleansing and rebirth?

It certainly can be tiresome and exhausting to make a clean change in our lives.

Yeah, it sucked. Especially because I had it when I was a kid. I hated that dream.

I think it had to do with my fear or anxiety in my life and what the future would hold or something. That there was also something in my past which I needed to deal with or get over and beyond because it was just holding me back.

I didn't have a great childhood in my immediate family situation so that's my best guess. I haven't had it in a long time though and doubt I will again which is fine with me. But I won't ever forget it that's for sure. Especially the feeling of the wave dragging me as I'd claw onto the rocks and the fact that I was noticing the other people who didn't dig in hard enough and got washed away. That freaked me out in the dream even and made me want to run even faster.

a reply to: tigertatzen

Thanks for sharing!

I also get the sense of regret upon waking that I needed to spend more time exploring...like that ONE secret room was still waiting to be found.

Very interesting. I did not expect anyone to have this be one of their recurring dreams. I have never seen any posts about this one or heard anyone talk about exploring these mystery mansions.

a reply to: SeaWorthy

Yes, same with me...the rooms continue into other rooms, or hallways with another door at the end to the next room. Some rooms have multiple doors, but only one will open, and I never backtrack or anything...just continue on into the next door.

The house in my dream is very old and very lavish, but some rooms have modern things in them that don't fit the rest of the decor. Some rooms are just empty. It gets creepy sometimes there too, but usually it's not...just completely silent.

originally posted by: VP740
a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

What can you tell us about any owners you bumped into?

Nothing special, sorry to say. There doesn't seem to be anything memorable or significant about it...just a moment of 'hey what are you doing in here?' and me feeling a little embarrassed for snooping.

Nothing menacing or profound or anything. It's just where the dream has ended on occasion.

It is rare, but yeah, doesn't seem to have much bearing on the dream, at least for me.

Anyone else meet other people in these houses? What did they do or say?

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

Thank you for sharing too! It's so weird, because I feel very much like I should know my way around that house, but for some reason I can't remember. I have always said that if I ever find that house in life somewhere, I'm going to find a way to get inside. I've only seen the house from the outside the first time I entered it, but I'd recognize it anywhere.