Peace in the midst of life's craziness

Dreams have been very meaningful throughout my life. 

I could spend days telling you about my dreams. 

Not all of them have a deep, underlying meaning - most of them feel like my crazy brain processing information and creating weird storylines. 

But every now and then, I will have a dream that feels more real and vivid than when I'm awake... And when I do wake up, I feel...different. 

For me, most dreams like this contain water. Especially when I am feeling particularly stressed, water in my dreams represents things outside of my control - things that create a current stronger than I am, which can wash me away.  

A couple of nights ago, I had one such dream.

I was in a tropical paradise... drifting in the ocean with a couple people. For some reason I was frustrated with them, so I dove under the waves. The people disappeared. I became panicked and stressed - afraid I had lost them, afraid of creatures in the water, afraid I would get trapped under the waves... 

And then I looked around. There was nothing around me except the clear water as far as I could see, and the beautiful sand beneath me stretching in every direction. Then I looked up and saw the waves crashing above me. I suddenly knew there was nothing to fear. 

Peace. Complete peace surrounded me. 

I stayed under the waves for what felt like forever, and only a couple minutes at the same time. 

When I woke - my mind was still in the waves.... I couldn't get that place and feeling of overwhelming peace out of my head.

As I discussed my dream with Greg, my partner, I realized it's significance. 

My feelings of frustration and fear were reactions, ingrained in my pattern of thought - it didn't matter if they were justified or not. And as I looked around in the water and saw I was safe, I realized those feelings were unnecessary. 

The water, which had previously represented feeling out of control and afraid, became life itself and all that it contains - scary and beautiful. 

Having peace in the midst of life's craziness is true paradise. 

Visualize it. Feel it. Take it. Hold onto it. And when anything (yourself included - speaking mostly to myself here!) tries to steal your peace, picture your own version of paradise and know that you are exactly where you need to be. 

All my love sweet friends - 

Sarah