Traveling is a serious thing. We have to choose our traveling companions carefully, wisely, and with forethought.

How far can you go with someone you don’t trust.

How well can you sleep not knowing if they’ve got your back.

How much can you enjoy yourself when you are thinking you wish you had chosen someone else instead?

Traveling is a serious thing. And life is a long journey.

Choose carefully, wisely, and with forethought.

So often we get a glimpse of something, of someone, and what we see is clear, sharp, and in focus.

So clear, how could we not understand it with perfect clarity?

We think we know. We think we understand.

And we act as if we do.

We project our beliefs upon that one image, that one snippet, that one tiny vignette that we saw.

And we are almost always wrong.

Sometimes, to be who we truly are, we have to put on a mask.

To feel the freedom to be able to express ourselves freely, we need to hide who we are.

Why is it that, in order to be free, we have to hide?

Why is our fear of consequences so high that we cannot be ourselves, even when, as ourselves, we would be doing nothing wrong?

I hope you have a well-worn and favorite mask you put on to be free. I hope you are free often.

Sometimes I dream that I am dreaming. In those dreams, I know I am in bed, asleep. Yet, that is part of the dream. I am not aware of really being in bed. I dream I am in bed in a bungalow on the beach, dreaming as I listen to the waves of the ocean.

Or I dream I am sleeping in a tent, in a meadow, listening to the birds sing.

Sometimes, in these dreams, I can feel the warmth of the sunshine on my face.  Sometimes, I can feel the breeze ruffle my hair and tickle my cheek.

I treasure these kinds of dreams. These are the few that have no worries, no stress, no time pressure.

Just… dreams.