Almost Daydreaming

There is a place in my own head where every one of my senses is in a perfect place. I notice it more with sounds than anything else. When I am in that place, I just love the way things sound. Usually it's the simple things, like the sound of someone shuffling papers around, or someone walking on gravel, or the hollow scraping of a metal spoon at the bottom of a nearly empty yogurt cup. These noises give me goose bumps. It's almost as if my ears are hearing these sounds for the first time and are fascinated and inspired by them.

One essential factor of this state of mind is a sense of peace that overcomes me. I have to be in a certain state of unforced calm. That makes it very difficult to find this place, and just as hard to stay there. I suppose one could consider it a level of consciousness, not unlike R.E.M. sleep. Actually, it's more like the consciousness you are in right as you are falling asleep, just as you begin to dream. There, the mind is more pliable and vulnerable. The fantasy worlds of your dreams are manipulated by the world where you real body lies.

Again, in this case, the most cogent of elements is sound. What you hear in real life is what you hear (or what morphs into what you hear) in your dream. Let's call this state "nearly dreaming".

When I am in that mental place where all of these sounds become so new and real to me, it's such a similar feeling, but it's less intense. Let's call it "nearly daydreaming".

In this place, my senses finally allow themselves to be totally optimistic about my environment. Every sound is luscious and deep and complex. Every thing that touches me is graceful and gentle. Every thing I touch is warm and inviting. Like a lucid dream, every single thing is exactly what I want it to be.

Like sleeping, or dreaming, or "nearly dreaming"; "nearly daydreaming" is a very volatile state. It can be so easily disturbed. And it's incredibly difficult to manufacture.

I want to go back there.