Where is Your Peaceful Place?

When you meditate, where do you go? Do you have your favorite peaceful place? Is it a real place . . . somewhere that you have been do . . . something that you already experienced? Or do you go to an imaginary place? Do you even have a special place?

My husband told me about his special meditation spot and it made me realize that I don't really have one. When I meditate, I try to clear my mind. I try to see nothing but a blank white canvas. This is very challenging for me, so I imagine that I'm surrounded by snow. Then to make it more interesting, I pretend that I'm sliding down a never ending hill on a white inner tube. There are no trees (of course) so there is no need to be concerned with obstacles. I just slide and slide down the hill of snow.

I was happy sliding down my snow covered hills until my husband explained his special spot. He told me that his feelings, when he goes there, are more powerful and peaceful than when he originally expereinced it. His special spot is 3,000 feet above the ground with his hang glider. He can perfectly describe, in detail, what this flight was like for him . . . what he saw, what he felt, what he was thinking about at the time. He explained the difference between the real thing and his meditation spot. During the real flight he still had to be concernded about the real dangers - where would he land, turbulent air, the commercial jet that was flying below him. But when he goes back there now, there is no stress. He just relives the longest and best flight of his life and he will never lose that.

So I'm jealous. I decided that I also need a peaceful spot. I don't have anything that compares to my husband's flight and now that I think about it . . . I have very few quiet and peaceful times to go back to. A favorite peaceful exerience that comes to mind is our lazy hours on the swing in our backyard. So many weekends we would go out and bike for 30 or 40 miles on our hill training rides and then come home to lounge in our swing and watch the sun go down. The feeling of complete exhaustion and complete relaxation (and relief to be off the bike), together with the warm sun on my face and the gentle glide of the swing. Ahhhhhh, that is about as relaxed as I have ever been. So this will be my new meditation spot. That is where I want to go when I need some tranquil time. So do you have yours all picked out?