The quiet mind.

"They say I'm a Dreamer, but I'm not the only one" John Lennon.

You can count me in for sure.
Recently, with more time to rest and sometimes a spot to find that elusive sleep, I have been having a lot of dreams. Very intense, startling and long dreams. I guess like anyone, I have some times like this and other times where the morning finds me and I remember nothing but the previous night's pillow, but in this period, I am dreaming.

Thinking back, there are a few dreams I had as a child that have made a home in my consciousness still and once in a great while visit with me inside my head, both good ones... like where I, with great effort to mentally 'un-weight' myself can I somehow amazingly float above the ground, and others... that are less inviting, but now my dreams seem to be of current events, people I know, or unfulfilled wishes... just dreams.

Last night I dreamed of a picnic. Perhaps because it is the beginning of May...spring...my favorite season that my thinking is outdoor minded, that this has invaded my nighttime mind. This was not just an ordinary picnic, but one that was grand and intimate all at once, a quiet tent set into high grass, dogwood flowers adorning a low table, warm sunshine and sparkling cider, grilled lobster and hazelnut crepes. Fun, music....an escape from this world for a small bit. A time of laughs and rest and smiles and warmth. It was an unusually vivid dream in it's details and I, upon waking this morning, so wished to still be there... in that dream for in it there was no pain today, or brace that frames me for this season, but only rest and happiness.

In thinking about it now, we all need 'escape' times like these in our lives and this dream reminded me to look out for them to share and enjoy... to find those times of  peace, joy and happiness with others. Some dreams are to be forgotten, like those scary ones of my youth and yet others... like my time of floating above the earth... yearn to be fulfilled, but I think the mind that comes alive within our rest will always be ready to provide us with both.

The image above is of a favorite spot out in my field's 'high grasses'. I was driven to make it today because of this dream, along with the purposefully 'dreamlike' image detail of my dogwood. The grass, shot with the camera on the ground, far below my current constrained field of vision, resulted when I just guessed the focus and subject framing and took a chance. I'm glad I did. The branches.. my eye through the lens, was me trying to see my old friend in a new way... a fresh vision of this pretty tree along my drive, just before it will fully bloom.

I hope seeing these might inspire your vision today as well, whether it be through a lens, or in a memory, or with your eyes closed...asleep, but either way, I hope shared with me, because you never know what life will bring. Below, a self portrait of my personal, private painful prison that currently envelops me: