PORTAL 52 – Week 25: My Happy Place
Sitting on the beach with my back leaning against the boulder, I close my eyes. To my right, ocean waves gently lap at the shoreline, while a warm breeze whispers through the old growth cedar forest at my left. Sun rays, filtered through the leaves above me, speckle the sand and touch my skin, warming me. I absorb the sounds around me, focusing on one at a time, to fully appreciate what each offers to nature’s symphony. I taste the salt in the air and breathe in deeply once, twice, three times. With each breath, I relax into a deeper state. I feel grounded and supported by mother earth, while at the same time, feel weightless, like I am floating freely in space.
The chorus of sounds has faded and now I listen to the silence – so many elements of nature to be thankful for, but this I appreciate the most right now. In this moment of being completely relaxed and supported, the silence envelopes me in its embrace. I lean into it, letting everything slip away.
A sunbeam rests on my shoulders and asks if I want to play. Yes, yes, yes! I become a ray of light. Dancing, swirling and bouncing boldly at times, then playing hide-and-go-seek at others. I slide across the surface of the moss, tree trunks, branches and leaves, slowly making my way across the sky. I create shadows everywhere I go, a study of contrasts. Bright and glaring now, bouncing waves of warmth around me, then dark and cool as I crawl across the forest floor; silvery threads of a web flash brightly in one moment, then become invisible the next. I play among the ferns, tickling their leaves, and then I’m gone, over to the tree trunk where I snuggle up warmly on the bark. I tease the undergrowth, then soar up high into the canopy. Onward, to the next part of my journey.