Flying Free
I wonder if you ever thought what a magical and powerful thing is your imagination…your own ability to create images in your own particular style…and other people may see those things differently…but what you create is absolutely perfect…for you…however unusual they might be…however exciting or however unlikely you choose to make them…so you might imagine relaxing in a garden somewhere, relaxing in the sun in a garden and having a dream in which you could fly…a dream in which you are following a bird somewhere, perhaps…a bird that is so agile that you can only just keep up with it…as it soars up to the heavens and swoops down in a rush, skimming the ground, twisting and turning…going faster and faster, then turning in a hairsbreadth before soaring up into the heavens again…full of the joys of living…and you can feel it too, that joy of living…with the feeling of the air rushing past you…being able to see so clearly now for mile upon mile…and maybe following that bird as it heads off towards a distant seashore and beyond…swooping and gliding effortlessly on the breeze…catching the faint smell of salt as you swoop low over the water…hearing the gentle sound of a calm sea… a sea that is so blue and so tranquil…with just the merest hint of a wave here and there…the merest hint of white as a fish glides just beneath the surface…and you can feel the warmth of the sun on your back…as you glide on the air…just for the time being, without a single care in the world…and as a gentle, velvety dusk falls… there’s a quietness and calmness that seems to fill every pore of your being…and
you find yourself just floating and drifting onwards…and it begins to dawn on you that this bird is leading you to a very special place, a place where you’ve never been before…and there’s a faint feeling of being on a sort of adventure…an adventure in which you are going to discover something new and immensely valuable…and as dawn breaks you survey the most beautiful sunrise that you have ever seen…a glorious dazzle of light and colour and a sense of a special day just about to start… and you can see a small dot on the horizon…a small dot that steadily becomes bigger as you approach it…until you can see that it is a small island, green and hilly, with a sparkling waterfall tumbling noisily into the sea…glittering in the early morning sunshine…and you somehow know that this is the place you have been searching for…searching for, for a long time, even before you knew you were searching…you follow the magical bird to soar effortlessly over the waterfall and the green hill beyond…and catch your breath in surprise as you survey the view in front of you…there are blue grey crags and lush valleys stretching as far as the eye can see…and you soar and swoop amongst them for what seems like an age, with a feeling of wonderment and joy…and then, suddenly, you realise that the bird has gone…somehow, without you noticing, it had disappeared…but it doesn’t seem to matter, because you can fly on your own now…and in that very moment of realisation you notice a faint golden glow that seems to be coming from one of the valleys…and you swoop down into it…skimming along just above the surface of the river that flows quietly and gently within its depths…basking in that golden light
Flying Free
…it’s not long before it seems to you that you are approaching a solid wall of rock…as though you have reached the very end of the valley…and yet…there’s a distinct feeling that there’s something more beyond…and even as that thought comes into your mind, you notice the smallest of fissures…and it is from here that the golden light emanates…in a trice, you turn yourself sideways and swoop between the narrow walls in the face of the rock…all at once finding yourself bathed in a golden light that is so intense that for a moment you can see nothing else…and time passes…and after a while you gradually become aware that you have stopped flying…you’re just somehow suspended motionless in front of a wise old man…an ancient who radiates a feeling of peace and tranquillity about him… you are aware of him smiling and extending his hands towards you…“I knew you were coming,” he says, “I have a special gift for you…a wonderful gift that will allow you to find all that you seek.” The ancient hands you a crystal and you take it wonderingly. “How…” you begin, looking up towards him…but the old man has gone, along with the golden light and everything else that was there…and you realise that you’re just relaxing in the sun in a garden somewhere…relaxing in the sun in a garden and dreaming a dream…but then you become aware of the crystal in your hand and gently clasp your fingers around it as you remember what the ancient told you…“I have a special gift for you…a wonderful gift that will allow you to find all that you seek…”