Dream provides 'mop up' of past experiences

Our Dreamer Writes:

Dear SMYD,

First, a little background will help:  My kids’ dad and I have been divorced since 1995.  I don't have any feelings for him one way or the other.  We still see each other at family functions, but that’s it.  I’m moving on in my life and don’t want to repeat the past, but I do want to learn from it.

I dreamed my ex, my kids and I were in a rented house that we no longer live in.  We are cleaning and fixing it up because we moved out.  I am trying to fix a broken window on the other side of a perfect window.  (From the inside the window looks fine.  But when I look out through it, I see another window and it is broken.)  I think I need to go onto the roof to find the broken window, which I do but I can't seem to find it.  

Then we are sitting in the living room with doors open and an owl is coming towards us.  I say something like, “Watch out for the owl!”  The next thing I know the owl is sitting on my finger looking at me.  I can feel its feet and the weight of the bird.  I am so excited!  I am telling my ex-husband, “Quick take a picture!”  End of dream.

What does this dream mean?

Signed,

Cleaning Up the Old House

 

Dear Housecleaner,

Your dream about the broken window in the rented house seems to be one in which you're reflecting on past times and past relationships represented as the cleaning and fixing up of the (temporary - rental) house (relationship) where you lived in your past marriage.  Such actions are indicative of a transitional point in your waking life when you wrap up loose ends before moving on to a new phase in your life. 

You appear to be bothered by an imperfection, a shattered view (the broken window) of those times and those situations, and determined to make it right.  Perhaps in waking life you hash over some things that you would do differently if you had the chance.  But it’s important to note that the shattered view, the perceived flaw or problem, is visible only to you from the inside, and is therefore likely to be “in your head,” your interpretation alone.  When you go outside onto the roof to a more objective perspective, you cannot find the flaw (the broken window).

Then, if we accept the owl in the traditional mythology, as a symbol of wisdom, that wisdom comes and settles in on you when you recognize that there is nothing you need to worry over or correct from the past.  Your “mop up” dream of those days offers a positive learning experience:  All is well settled, Dear Dreamer.  You can move on in good conscience.  It feels great when you recognize that you’re on your way and call out to take a picture - "Look at me now!"

Sweet Dreams to You!

SMYD