the house is always my own, but there are more rooms than I ever realized were there, or I remember that I had once known about them but had forgotten.

Since retiring I have recurring dreams of going back to work and there are new procedures or equipment that I don't know how to use. Since I'm a registered nurse this can cause serious problems. But, oddly, almost since the beginning of these dreams I realize in the dream that I'm retired and can wake up and just leave the situation and no one will be hurt. I really enjoy these dreams.

I've been retired from the AF for 22 years and I still have dreams about my work. My job wasn't glamorous or exciting but I enjoyed it.

I do lucid dreaming which is where you know you're dreaming and you can take part in the dream or simple enjoy watching the dream. Most of my dreams I forget but some I remember from years ago because they were so good.

On the other hand, you can have bad dreams while lucid dreaming but since I know I'm dreaming, if the dream bothers me I say to myself, while dreaming, WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! and that works.

but I have yet to put in the effort to learn.

It's more of a realization you're dreaming.

You may want to try this. Each morning, after you awaken from your dream, try recalling what you dreamed about and make the connection that it was just a dream. After awhile, you might realize you're dreaming while you're dreaming and from there you can do what you want with the dream.

Pulling from my little archive: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/01/27/what-an-insomniac-knows

I had a skazillion of them back in the day. I guess I dreamed myself out of space. I studied Jungian dream analysis for years with a therapist and also a teacher.

The mall dream thing is fascinating, though. I hadn't heard of this so it is very interesting to me and I plan to check out the sub-Reddit on it.

The latest dream I had was my assignment for the re-building once everything shakes out after we get rid of trump. In the dream I was shown four different areas of American life and how it would be shaped and what my role in this would be. I was also told, "There are only four of you." Which means ?? because four of what? I think it might mean a combination of certain skills because it was conveyed through a symbol of that.

I am reading a very interesting and expansive book on dreams now: The Dreaming Universe by Fred Alan Wolf. From it I am getting names for phenomena I have identified on my own--but now I am finding there is a name for it and that others have noticed it over thousands of years. The imaginal realm is an example. The book was recommended to me by SheltieLover. Thanks, Sheltie!

I've had the greatly expanded house dream several times. Sometimes it's a house I rented while earning my master's degree - except I don't have a master's degree (despite dreaming about getting one every now and then).

I've done the labyrinth mall pretty often too - just a week or so ago, in fact. I'm retired and have dreamed of having to go back to work and it is also a labyrinth - and sometimes is also located in a mall which never made sense to me. Even when it's the usual building, the elevators can't be trusted. Sometimes I am pretty sure they go sideways. I've always put them down to stress and generally feeling like things were out of my control. It's interesting to learn that it's so common.

One year I had a recurring dream of going to a baseball game and catching a home run or foul ball, only to realize on closer inspection that it wasn't a ball at all but a grapefruit or a rolled up cutoff from someone making blue jean shorts or something equally silly. I had it several times. That summer, I went to a ball game and caught a foul ball. I've never had that dream since. That one remains a "hmm" thing for me.

I have also woken myself up by laughing aloud at how ridiculous whatever that last dream was. I have a lot of completely nonsensical dreams. I don't often remember the details but sometimes I do.

Edited to add: I went to the Reddit. My malls are just regular malls, not places where people live or attached to airports or anything. But they are stupidly big and difficult to navigate. But some people posted pics of a giant bathroom where the toilets are just all over and out in the open. Yep. I know that place. Except mine are always flooded. There was a pic like that too except the lighting was blood red where mine have normal lighting. To be fair, when I wake from that one I typically have an urgent need to go to the bathroom.

(Start at 22:15)