The Environment Within

I had borrowed a book, Wherever You Go, There You Are by John Kabat-Zinn, from my daughter Robin, and was reading it upon retiring. As I grew sleepy I let the reading material drop to the floor and went off to sleep. Waking in the morning I felt wonderfully ready for the day and decided to meditate before leaving my cacoon. I raised myself to a comfortable sitting position, did a few quiet Ohms (the rest of the family was still sleeping) and dropped into following my breath and emptying my mind (always a challenge!) The moments flew by as I emptied, refocused, emptied, refocused until slowly my imagination began sending me images of amazing, colorful flowers. There were bouquets, gardens, assortments of flowers. Some were just flowing in sunshine, some softly bending in breezes, some seeming to move like a river through this vast space of my beingingness. It was so beautiful and quite entertaining. I let it continue for as long as I could and then suddenly and slowly began to return to my presence in the room. I felt so deep and in touch with myself. A very happy experience.
Opening my eyes, I remembered the book that had slipped out of my hands to the floor the night before. Reaching down I decided I would hold it in my hands as I often do and slowly slip my thumbnail between random pages, trusting that there was an important message for me to receive. The book opened and on the page I read:

Don't go outside your house to see the flowers.
My friend, don't bother with that excursion.
Inside your body there are flowers,
One flower has a thousand petals
That will do for a place to sit,
Sitting there you will have a glimpse of beauty
Inside the body and out of it.
Before gardens and after gardens

Oh my!.