Eden’s broken mirror.

The mirror showed a reflection that wasn’t my own, it was me but surrounded by grey. A sad looking shell of a home in its background and me dressed so formally. So dull as though I was going to the old style funerals I read they used to have, where everyone thought death was an end to be mourned and wore black???!!

The experience had shaken Eden so much it had affected him profoundly all day. Even though his soul led life meant he worked doing what he loved. Helping people with growth mentally, physically and spiritually - he had been down and confused. This had in turn affected his clients. One new starter even left their session prematurely saying “motivational speaker?!! I think you need to check your energy and change your ad”.

Eden finished his paperwork and headed to Hope Forestry Park. It was vast. Park it was not, hadn’t been for decades since the great shift meant society had altered how they lived globally. It was a place he knew he could meditate in the abundant and seemingly endless splendour of nature. This always centred him. ‘I am a beautiful tranquil garden’ he thought as he lost track of time deep in the forest. Deep in meditation.

He returned home after sunset feeling much better, off centre slightly still but calm and optimistic again. He was so absorbed and tired he got through the door of his beautiful home and went straight to bed. ‘Tomorrow I’m born again’ he thought to himself as he drifted off.

Eden awoke suddenly, he felt sick which was unheard of usually. He dashed to the bathroom and threw up as though there were no bottom to his stomach. It was morning but earlier than he’d usually rise. He felt cold, sweaty and uneasy. As he lifted his head from drenching it in cool water from the sink he met his own gaze in the mirror.

“What the ffff??!!” He blurted as he recoiled from what he saw. He expected to look pasty but he was grey. Dark rings surrounded his eyes and he even looked thinner. His muscular physique seemed flabby and ached. It wasn’t just that, as he took in the rest of the room his bright and colourful bathroom looked dull and worn. The colours were there but somehow seemed faded. He walked shakily out of the bathroom to find the same was true of everything he looked at. The same but drab, colder and less like home. Was this a bad dream? Whatever it was, it wasn’t great.

He was a resilient soul so he meditated for a while, breathed some focus and peace back into himself. Though things still appeared the same when he opened his eyes he blamed his mystery bug, ate some granola which seemed to help and went about his business.

“Are you ok?” Was the question from the fifth client that day. Days had gone by and none of them smooth. All increasingly grey and tiresome. “I mean, has anything happened because I’m honestly about to leave here more drained than when I arrived and that’s not you”. Eden vainly reassured the client all was well as he ushered her out of the door. All was not well. Not his work, meditation or vibrant fruit salad he’d had for lunch made him feel any better. “I know” he said out loud,”I’ll go see Star at the herb garden, she’ll fix me up”.

The whole way there Eden tried to ignore the sense everything was off kilter. He ignored the unusual amount of negative and argumentative people he’d encountered along the way. He even shrugged off the icy sensation from those that ignored him almost out of spite rather than argue like the rest. A very strange day in what was always such a happy place. He blamed his illness once again as he rounded the corner and saw Star’s beaming face.

“Oooof!!” Star mockingly smiled at him. “Looks like you got here just in time sourpuss”. She was right and seeing his childhood friend was a tonic in itself. “You’re not wrong mate, I’ve been rough as a badgers arse all day” Eden smirked as he felt his energy rise. “I need a hug and a bag or herbal rejuvenation please. STAT!!!”

Of course Star obliged her old friend in need, she lifted his spirits and even packed him off with some of her famous Tom yum soup. “The chilli in that’ll blow your brains out” she boomed as Eden strode homewards. “I defy any bug to survive that”. He felt buoyant again, the sun shone brighter as it set illuminating the room through his floor to ceiling windows. The long chat, herbs and unreal Tom yum soup he’d just finished had worked some magic. The warmth (in no small part due to chilli’s) had returned to Eden and his home despite looking a little dreary still. He drifted pleasantly off to sleep that night after some time painting. “Tomorrow I’m born again”.

‘Born too early’ he thought as scraped his eyelids back over fatigued dry eyeballs. The clock said 4:00 am, it had been a restless night. “Crap!!” He sighed aloud. Eden peeled his clammy frame from sweat dampened sheets. Whatever he’d dreamt of had been permeated with moments of near waking. Temporary awareness of the room around him then back under to the dream world he always usually remembered. Nothing except an eerie feeling remained of his dream.

Eden arrived at the studio, vexed. He approached his ‘temple of light’ (as he called it) only to find his first client sat on the steps to the front door sobbing. “Whatever’s the matter Luke?” Eden empathically enquired. “Tamsin is sick, she’s been in hospital all night. They’re running tests so I walked here to get some air and let you know I’m cancelling the next couple of sessions.”

The day went by and was dominated by the memory of Luke’s face, energy from the morning. None of Eden’s sessions seemed to go well and to top it all he’d had to close the Temple of light as a foul smell had started emanating from the toilet. “Temple of sh*te” Eden’s final client scoffed as he fled the building holding his nose. ‘What in the name of all that’s holy is going on?’ He thought to himself as he put the finishing touches to his splendid painting of a coastal scene. ‘Ah well, it’s Friday today and I’ve got a weekend with Star and Cain at his Mother’s beach house’ he thought. He was sure that after a few days away with friends the world would sort itself out.

The time flew by as the friends enjoyed white sands and sea air. Built sand castles like children, buried each other taking it in turns to sculpt comical bodies. Star an octopus, Cain a mermaid and Eden a broom with his disgruntled face at the top of the handle. “Well you’ve had a stick up your butt for a while now” said Cain. “We’ve had fun but you haven’t exactly always been fully present”. He had not, though he’d loved his time at the beach it was tainted. He felt distant and distracted. A foreboding sense of things. A feeling he was avoiding a truth, a question or something akin to thinking he’d left the oven on. He couldn’t put his finger on it.

“What really??!! You’re bloody kidding me! Erm, right yeah sorry I know it’s not your fault” Eden hissed to himself as he put the phone down. “Oops, sounds ominous?” Star enquired casually as she stirred honey in to her tea. “Yup, that’s the plumber who promised he’d sort it in time to open when I get back. He says they’re going to have to take the floor up throughout the studio and dig up the road outside possibly to trace where the pipe’s broken.” He paused as he nursed the base of his spine. “I’ll have to call my clients and cancel the week, that’s all I need.”

The holiday was over, they drove home in virtual silence dropping Cain off on the way. “Y’know” said Star thoughtfully as she got out of the car by her house “everything will be ok, these things are sent to test us. Stay positive and you’ll see”. Eden watched her disappear inside, of course he knew she was right but he was so anxious and uptight. He rushed home, he was sore and tired and as he hadn’t been shopping he dug a processed meal from the bowels of his freezer. ‘Who even eats that crap any more?’ He thought as he crumpled into bed. Tomorrow he would surely be born again.

Eden sat deflated in his underwear upon his bizarrely uncomfortable sofa he’d loved since buying it a couple months ago. “That’s the last of them” he sighed as he cancelled the final client on his list. More bad news had started his day, it would be weeks before he could reopen the Temple of sh*te. “It’s like I’m cursed, like demons are plaguing me” he said to himself as he aborted meditation, his mind was not calm and his breathing shallow. He hadn’t been well for a while. Nothing had. The grey seemed to encompass everything. The news spoke quietly in the background of a strange blight affecting nature. Crops had suffered. People were suffering.

Confused, impatient and stressed voices seemed to fill the air as Eden tried to shake off these bad vibes. Bird song seemed scarce or drowned out by the humdrum. As Eden briskly walked through Hope Forest he mused upon the past few weeks. ‘Must be something in the air, I’ll check with my astrologist and see if there’s any planetary shenanigans occurring’ he thought to himself.

FWAP!!! Eden spat dirt and leaves out as he rolled over on the floor to see what hit him. A branch rotted and covered in some black mould lay upon him. He was pretty much unharmed. As he dragged his aching body up he noted how many of the surrounding trees bore evidence of the mould. Blighted. He would call his astrologer on the way to Star’s for dinner.

‘Unrest across the globe as the blight continues to affect the natural world’ said the newsman in his monotone way. “Turn that off can you?” Eden spoke with a mouthful of food. “Say it don’t spray it please, what would your mother say if she were here?” She always did know how to cheer him up. The warmth of his mothers presence engulfed him as he remembered her, only passed a few years before. “Thanks She loved you too y’know. Always said I should’ve married you instead of insisting our friendship was more important.”he rolled his eyes at her. “ I know and eeeeeewww!! No offence but you’re not exactly my type and it would be like marrying my brother” cackled Star.

“So have we managed to turn that frown upside down young man?” She chirped as she pulled her best Mum face and jabbed at his cheek with a thumb she’d just licked. “Oh THAAAANKS Star” was the reply, though he said it sarcastically Eden was indeed happier than he’d been in a while. They drank more wine and ate sticky toffee pudding with custard like his Mum used to make. The hours flowed by along with the drink, nostalgia and putting the world right as epiphany after epiphany surfaced. Eden swayed home forgetting how they’d fixed everything. Forgetting his woe he found himself spread eagle on his bed, he didn’t remember the whole journey. He smiled and dribbled off to sleep. Tomorrow he would be reborn.

Morning came. A chance to get up and embrace life. Make the best of things and occupy a heart and mind with uplifting things that feed the soul, after all we can choose how we react to things can’t we? Eden chose poorly, dehydrated and with a furry tongue he lamented as he HAD to get up and do stuff. He moped over his self inflicted state. He blamed Star, his crappy life and blamed the plumber for his studio being closed. He blamed the damn plumbers from before he rented the building.

As he dragged his feet around the place Eden convinced himself that it was OK to have a day off exercise and meditation. There are plenty of tomorrows, right? He’d make up for it tomorrow as it was OK to just be sometimes. Healthy even.

But it wasn’t healthy. It’s never healthy to dwell in depression and self pity, particularly when your first world problems are nothing. Even in such modern times, even since the shift there are always people suffering and in need of help. It wasn’t healthy when he ordered take out twice that day or when he sat alone in the corner of the bar to finish his night drinking again………Eden thought this as he passed out on the sofa. He ignored it. The blight was the depressing background noise in the news, the blight was part of Edens life.

Blighted is how he continued to feel. Days turned to weeks. He’d had to take on a job at the local bar. He’d lived to his means always and it was just one more regret now. Though covered by insurance the works on the studio continued. They’d compromised the foundations of neighbouring buildings on the dig. Anger and frustration seemed to be dominant forces in Eden’s life. He rarely meditated, and even then did it peeking at the clock occasionally through one eye as if he had something better to do. He was born again every tomorrow to play out the same day that had ceased to exist except in his mind.

All his clients had started with other personal coaches saying they would come back as soon as Eden was all good. They offered any kind of support they could. His spiral continued. Globally things spiralled as the blight gained momentum. Rumblings of threatening life as we know it. Trouble in paradise. Images from a broken mirror spilled out into the world and all seemed broken. Eden was a garden of tranquility no more. Far removed from his Temple of light. Another bloodshot eye stared back into his. Broken.

Blllllllluuuuuurblllllurb. The noise and sensation arose from Edens core. He was awake and feeling like he hadn’t slept. He sluggishly cast his legs over the side of the bed and used their weight and momentum to pull him upright. He didn’t know what day it was, did it really matter? It’s all the same. Grey, depressing, blight ridden but- hey. He felt vaguely chirpy when he’d had a good day at the bar. A good take out. A good moan about how everyone seemed miserable except all his former competition in the coaching world.

Who’s got time to meditate? Stroll around in nature. I mean it’s so tiring playing the same day over and over again. Shifts at the bar, drinks at the bar. Late mornings getting over it. Bad news everywhere. Eden couldn’t stop wondering why all this was happening,TO HIM?

Had he heard last night that Tamsin, Luke’s wife had taken a serious turn for the worse?? Probably, just the way things go. Badly, thought Eden. He thought to himself he must reach out to Luke and perhaps try and visit. The thought of it all somehow became more of a block to him. Eden pitied himself that so much of a bad cloud hung over him. The blight continued to show its dark colours over the world. As they felled rotten trees in Hope Park areas were cleared to make way for GM crop sites. Grey temporary buildings with climate controlled super crops inside. The kind that everyone was up in arms about back in history. But of course modern tech made it safe and a back up plan needed to be implemented NOW.

How long had it been? Had Eden ever been a beautiful garden of tranquility or was that some strange dream, an alternate reality? Regardless he kept telling himself that he’d get back to meditating and fitness soon. That would put a smile on his face. He’d be successful again and that would make him happy. He would have enough money and time to go to the beach house again with friends, THEN he’d be happy. But happiness was always in another tomorrow when he’d be born again and stop procrastinating. He’d work some magic someday and THEN things would be fixed.

When WAS the last time he’d even spoken to Star or Cain? He vaguely recalled Star had phoned one night whilst he was at the bar. She’d said the blight had affected her supply chain at the herb garden as well as her own produce. Eden remembered offering her sympathy and promised he’d say hello tomorrow. Then he’d downed a pint and ordered another before he could feel bad about Star too, as if he didn’t have enough problems of his own??!

Past due notices from various annoyed individuals and companies including his landlord littered Edens hallway. The place was a shabby wasteland. The only walls he stared at other than the bar or the kebab shop. As he slouched on his sofa clad only in a smelly bath robe he looked down at his swollen and unhappy, bloated stomach. His temple wasn’t light any more. It was heavy. His temple was full of darkness, beer, cheese and kebab meat. “Ooooooh, kebab meat!” he exclaimed, he picked up the remnants of last nights ‘feast’ and headed to reheat it in the kitchen. Now there’s nothing wrong with kebabs usually in moderation but due to global issues salad and veg was an expensive luxury. The formerly fresh and responsibly sourced meat had reverted to whatever people could afford. It was the same everywhere. No cuisine was unaffected. Grey world, grey food and grey rain cloud following Eden around drenching him in blight spores and misery. ‘Life sucks’ he thought.

The builder explained the underpinning would be complete soon and hopefully that would see some sort of end in sight. “Hope? Pah!!! What hope is there of me getting my clients back now anyway?” Eden put down the phone and like a petulant child pulled a beer out of the fridge. The bar was too expensive to be pouring all the wages he earned there back into it, besides he was probably going to loose everything. His isolation DID make him feel lonely but a least he didn’t have to deal with anyone else beyond his work hours. He glanced over at his easel, the seascape half covered with a grotty shirt. “Pah! Can’t be arsed” he whined. He flicked the screen on the wall to life.

Eden awoke to his phone ringing. It stopped. He picked it up and listened through his messages, how long had he slept? The answer was long enough to miss two shifts at work, get sacked via a very frustrated message. It was not the first time he’d been late or missed a shift. That’s the problem if you dont care about what you do for a living, it spills all over your life. Blights it. Like so much white noise he’d gotten used to the monotonous whirring of repetitive motions that only bear REAL fruit and fulfilment to others. Then became indifferent to it all. Broken like the mirror that had given him the grey premonition, what seemed a lifetime ago. Another life.

Eden was peering down a tunnel with light at the end. Nope, he was suffering from tunnel vision caused by dry retina clinging to dry eyelids. He stuffed the ball of his palms into each eye socket and rubbed them like old beer glasses. You could almost hear that squeaky noise of rag on faded Fosters logo. He was bad, hadn’t felt this much like a badgers backside EVER. he’d wallowed for so long it seemed in suffering, that he’d cried himself to sleep. Maybe just last night, maybe many but either way he knew he’d never felt so low for so long. Lonely and lost, couldn’t remember the last time he’d put on some bright funky clothes and smiled all day. ‘So this is what the bottom looks like’ he thought sighing deeply. This couldn’t go on, something had to give.

Misery loves company. The king of procrastination sat on the throne. As he flushed wadded up tissue away and cradled his stomach like an expectant mother. “Aaaaaah” he sighed. He wobbled slightly as he returned to the sofa. The familiar glow of booze in his cheeks. He’d change things up tomorrow. He’d be born a…drrrrrrrrring!!!! Edens phone lit up and he jumped to his feet, nearly. He thought how lucky it was he’d already relieved himself. Star was calling, good old Star he thought. Just what the doctor ordered.

“Heeeeey yoooou!!” Eden slurred excitedly. A grin spread across his face, a slightly alien sensation. He imagined a crack appearing in a scorched river bed. He was happy none the less. “Don’t bloody ‘heeeey’ me, so you’ve finally decided to answer your phone? Stopped hiding have we? Well thanks for remembering my name. Y’know I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve spoken to your ANSWER PHONE lately ‘mate’” she definitely seemed cross. “So while you’ve been ignoring me everything has gone JUUUUUUUST PEACHY thanks. I lost my pitch for the herb garden. Couldn’t keep it stocked. Couldn’t pay all my bills AAAAAAAAND my landlord had to sell my place from under me to bail out his sons business. With no deposit I’ve ended up back at Mums. You know we can’t live together!!! I tried to find you at the bar but THEY said you’d been let go. I’d hoped to rent your spare room. I tried buzzing up to the flat, were the batteries flat or were you just not there??? Anyway it doesn’t matter now, I’m done. I hope whatever you’ve been up to was worth it. See ya, NOOOOT!!” The phone went silent. That definitely wasn’t the prescription he’d expected.

It hadn’t been worth it. Whatever he’d been up to was a whole lot of nothing and wallowing in self pity. He switched to rum and and accelerated oblivion. He thought of the past and it hurt, he’d drink in the present to forget and avoid feeling. The result would be future Edens problem he thought blowing disgruntled bubbles in his drink. ‘Ha ha’ he thought as another day closed out. Who cares what happens tomorrow?

Days blurred by without many events but with great consequence. A sobbing husk is what remained of a once beautiful garden. Time was dragging, flying by and looping it seemed all at once. Sleep, sleep and hopefully it’ll be better in the morning……if history had taught him anything that’ll be highly unlikely he thought as he buried his head in the pillow.

He knew nothing would interest him, not on the screen or at any establishment. The morning held no new promises, just a jaded memory of yesterday. He was empty and desperate, he thought back to a time when that wasn’t the case. He thought of a story he remembered about a guy meditating deep in the woods. Even though his mind threw up images of grey GM sites he knew he had to get out and find somewhere or something to ease his soul. Anything was better than where he was.

Edens feet seemed upset to be under him but as he walked he lifted his eyes and saw the tops of trees. This spurred him on. He barely noticed the odd grey building on the way there or the protesters outside. Soon, his feet were walking on dirt not tarmac and had forgotten their annoyance. As he walked on, the clean air entered his lungs and he took what must’ve been his first deep relaxed breath in months. He stopped and exhaled, he felt like a balloon released prematurely. As he imagined himself comically blowing around propelled by fart noises from his mouth as air escaped, he realised he was shaking with his own laughter. As he wiped a little tear from his eye he felt lighter. He breathed in and exhaled, sighed out of relief. “Aaaaaaaaah” Eden smiled. “Does you the world of good doesn’t it?” A strange voice cane from the undergrowth. Eden scoured the scene looking for it’s source. Just then an older man appeared from behind a tree brushing ‘dew’ from his crotch area and zipping his trousers. He looked a little feral, Eden realised how far into the forest his feet had carried him. He felt uneasy. He must’ve looked that way too.

“How’s about you come to my palace for a cuppa? Don’t get much company and you look like you should sit” He was right. Eden did need to sit, a cuppa would be lovely and company? Even misery loves company. “Sure mate, lead the way. I didn’t realise they let people build out here any more. Only Gm sites where enough trees ‘had’ to be removed.” Eden continued to follow the chuckling man as he playfully meandered on. “Oh no, they don’t” he chuckled. “Welcome to my palace, TADAAAAAH!” There in the small clearing they were in stood a beautiful and green tent with ‘home sweet home’ painted on one side. To its left a makeshift shelving unit/cupboard hung made of branches and rope and pulley system. To its right and behind a little way was a small stream. In front of it was a crackling fire pit lined with rocks, a kettle suspended above it bubbling as though it anticipated their arrival. It was such a simple pleasant scene. “Pull up a log and rest yourself, please” the man threw his beard over his shoulder like a waiter would a white cloth post cleaning and dragged two wide bits of tree trunk over, offering Eden one.

They sat together in silence as the man made tea, he pulled a jar containing fresh honeycomb from his larder and scooped some into the cups stirring it with a serene smile. He pulled some milk from the stream where the bottle had been kept cool and presented Eden with a tin cup of perhaps the finest tea in the world. He agreed with that statement with a quiet nod to himself as he sipped gratefully in peace and silence. Only birdsong and the rustle of trees in the wind could be heard. The two simultaneously let out a sigh of contentment. They looked at each other and smiled. “I’m Eden” he spoke, “Adam, pleased to meet you Eden”

The two finished their tea in reflection. “Sooooo” said Adam “ what brings you this far into the woods and please explain why you looked so terrible.” So Eden unfurled his harrowing story of woe. After all, if he looked terrible to this seemingly feral and poor man what did he have to lose? So out it poured, there were tears and some heartfelt honesty about himself. He was owning his darkness and facing up to where he was in life. It felt better to share this. He was grateful to Adam for his kind and patient company and thought he’d….“BWAAAAAAHAHAAAaaaaaa…snort!!” Adam was in stitches rolling around the floor laughing. “Sorry man but I just couldn’t help it, HAHAAA..snort!” Eden wiped a tear from his eye and gawped in disbelief.

“B-but I just poured my heart out to you, bore my soul. I’m not sure what’s so funny about anything I just told you mate?” He winced. Adam wiped a tear from his eye and tried to compose himself. “Look man, I felt your pain and genuinely empathised with you about how you’d suffered. I don’t like to see people suffer but let me show you what a change in perspective can give you. What the universe gave you.” Eden screwed his face up “ I KNOW what the universe gave me” he said in a just slightly patronising tone. “Taken everything from me this ordeal has” Eden watched as the man shone a huge and loving smile at him, bewildered. What was in that tea?

“I heard a story. How you were brought up by a loving mother in a good home. Though she died too young she lived a good life she loved. Left you the beach house she saw out her days in. I heard you got stressed out, something about a broken mirror being to blame. That you have loving and supportive friends. A thriving business you love, beautiful home. Good health….. y’know the whole shebang. A full deck.” Adam paused as he cut a wedge off the apple he was holding and smiled as he tasted it. “But then the plumbing went and it all spiralled down from there Adam. Rock bottom.” Protested Eden.

“Firstly“ Adam said through a mouth laden with apple bits and juice “I know people who’ve been at what I’d call rock bottom and they had MUUUUCH worse starts in life compared to you, like a whole other reality man.” He slurped for a moment as he hoovered remnants from the beard around his mouth. “Yeah I hear you about the unfortunate accident with the plumbing. But let me tell you how I see it please. The work, no matter how long it takes is covered by insurance. Great. Your clients said they’d be coming back as soon as you’re good. Also great because even if some don’t you will still have the business you love and can’t worry about ‘what ifs’ that have never happened and probably won’t. In the same way your past no longer exists, only it’s memory and how you choose to react to that memory in the present. So surely you could choose to let go of what you can’t control and what happened once upon a time, right? I mean it doesn’t serve your present or future to continue acting out of hurt and fear does it? So acting out of love, treating each challenge as exactly that is better. Working and learning through it whilst CHOOSING to make the best of things and make opportunities out of adversity is a good thing right? Much better than depression and waaaaay more productive than drinking.”

Eden was silent. “ you didn’t have to take a job in the bar, if living costs were an issue you should’ve moved into your Mums lovely house. You could’ve lived there and found a job locally as you both were known there. Saved on rent here and found another place when your studio opened. Who knows what a great opportunity living at your mums could’ve presented. New clients. The possibilities are endless if you don’t limit yourself. You wouldn’t be drinking, have fallen out with friends or felt such shame or annoyance with yourself. So much negativity achieved zero. Might as well count your blessings and crack on positively. Right?”

Adam looked deep into Edens eyes. “We’re born again every day arent we? A fresh start and chance to improve, live a purposeful life instead of reacting to things. Accepting life. Instead lead it. Choose to master your mind and control your emotions. Everything from there is as in your hands as it ever will be. Can’t change external things but can control what we do, how we allow ourselves to feel or react. Turn negative to positive. Change how your mind works, what’s stopping you?That change in perception changes how your life continues man.” Eden sat in stunned silence. “You’re so right” he finally confirmed. “That’s it man, you don’t get where I am in life without working with the universe. I’m free. Stress free, tax free. Control free. I live in paradise where I can get food, water, warmth and shelter from Mother Nature man. Anything else I need….ask and the universe will provide. I can work for the farmers and people that surround the forest. It’s a simbiotic life that flows with the seasons. Me and the world. It’s not for everyone but it’s my heaven and I’m living it on purpose. I choose it” he sat back and cut another wedge of apple smiling serenely.

Eden was about to hug Adam and thank him from the bottom of his heart when a noise shattered his concentration. “EDEN!!!” He awoke on the studio floor on a yoga mat. Dazed and confused. “What the fffff??” He enquired. “You fell asleep during our guided meditation when you gave me time to ask my questions of the universe.” Eden was embarrassed.

He closed the doors on his Temple if light and smiled serenely as he glowed with gratitude for all his blessings. Even that crazy dream journey he’d had gave him so much inner peace. Real or not. A shift in perspective he’d never experienced before. He’d meditate alone before swinging by Stars place to share all this.

“Weeeeeeell I never thought we’d be having that deep of a conversation today” said Star half joking and rolling her eyes. “Deep though and quite profound. I’m going to try it out. Might not be easy to master your mind and emotions but since when has anything worth having come easy?” She was right. She usually was, not that he’d tell her.

“Just one more thing Star” said Eden. “Yeeeees dear please spit it out, I’d like to drink my tea in peace” she said sarcastically. “Well” he continued “as I meditated solo after I had another mind blower of an experience, erm epiphany if you will. Though Adam said we couldn’t control external things he also said that all reality is perceived through our collective consciousness objectively and that matter is affected by our emotions and thoughts, actions. So what I’m getting at is that although we’re tiny specs to the universe, it exists as reality in our perception of it so therefore we control it. Project our lives and so are gods in our own world and reality. Extensions of god. Creating the world and everything in it. Co creating rather. Erm, erm but that’s a complete mind blower right?? Star…..STAR??!”

Star turned back to him, peering through the steam rising from her honey tea. In her best mother voice she said “Ok young man that’s quite enough excitement for one day. We’ll further blow our minds tomorrow. After all, we’re born again then right?”

End