A spiral is flat, like a watch spring or a nautilus shell. A helix, on the other hand, stretches into the third dimension, like the spring in a clicky ballpoint pen or the contrail of a jet circling into the sky. So a "spiral staircase" is really a helix. The genetic code coiled up in your cells forms a double helix - two strands twisted together.
500 years before Rosalind Franklin's X-ray photographs revealed the structure of DNA, Donato Bramante designed a double helix of ramps. People spiraling up never met those spiraling down. His masterpiece inspired Giuseppe Momo's braided staircase in the Vatican museums.
How much of your essence is determined and how much a product of your own decisions? As you walk the staircase's serpentine figure eights, old scenes repeat in your mind. Some bring warm relaxing pleasure. Other memories twist you into cold knots. It's challenging to focus on your accomplishments while learning from mistakes and moving on.
Like the ornate metal railing, you contain multitudes. No one is all good or all bad. You deserve the peace of a restful night's sleep.