Island Drive

Here we are on this lovely island. The sun is just beginning to set and it's the perfect time to go for a drive. It's a particularly pleasant night and a light warm breeze flows through the car window and you have the road to yourself, no place to go, no place to be, so you can just take your time and drink in all the details of your surroundings, the beautiful hillside views and the sound of the ocean washing up to the shore are an invitation to drift along with the current of island life. This sense of gliding effortlessly through a landscape that seems particularly sympathetic to human happiness is enhanced by the car's steady pace as it carries you forward. Before we set out, I always like to do a little wind down exercise. Tonight's exercise is a really simple breathing exercise. So when you're ready, let's begin. So first get yourself comfortable. Now just bringing the attention to the breath. Just noticing where you feel it, in the nose, the throat, the chest, the diaphragm. You're nice and relaxed. We're going to be taking a deep breath in for four, holding it for four and then breathing out for six. So are you ready? Let's begin. In for four, two, three, four. Hold it for four, two, three, four. Now breathing out for six, two, three, four, five, six. In for four, two, three, four. Holding for four, two, three, four. Out for six, two, three, four, five, six. In for four, two, three, four. Holding for four, two, three, four. Out for six, two, three, four, five, six. In for four, two, three, four. Holding for four, two, three, four. Out for six, two, three, four, five, six. Great, now returning the breath to normal. You are following a river inland from where it empties into the sea, above the pale blue horizon, the moon transparent and trailing ribbons of cirrus clouds floats like a bride. You approach a wooded area through which you glimpse strange colorful shapes along the bank of the river. As you get closer, a pavilion rises into view. Among its intricately carved pillars you notice people of all ages lounging around baskets of fried fish and glistening fruit, pineapples, watermelons, rambutan, snake fruit. After you pass the pavilion, the shapes at last resolve into detail. Fishing boats, wood hewn, with dramatically peaked bows and sterns meticulously painted with contrasting colors horizontal red, green, yellow stripes along the outer shells and inside ribs of teal anchored in perfect alignment along the riverbank their beauty is at once visceral and elegant. You find yourself standing in front of them reaching out to run your hand along one of the hulls. It is smooth as glass. You close your eyes, your ribs expand with each breath. My canvas sails unfurling slow and strong rippling out like a lowing and the buffalo's throat. Like the promise of Moonlight. The inside of the car...