I had a wonderful dream last night:

Two figures are standing on a beach. I am outside of them, watching them, but they do not speak. However, I can see the images of their thoughts, almost like thought bubbles in a cartoon. Intuitively I know that one is the guru and one is the student.

The guru’s thought image is white, while the student’s image contains a myriad of symbols, forms and colors. I feel the student’s discomfort.

In an unspoken whisper, the guru conveys ‘focus’ and the student’s thoughts shift to the myriad shells on the beach, an array of brown, gold, amber and pink. I feel the student relax.

Again, in an unspoken whisper, the guru conveys ‘simple’ and the image in the student’s mind changes. All the colors drop away, leaving a vast ocean of sea shells, all white. I feel the student exhale.

Then the guru reaches out his hand and grasps the clenched fist of the student. As he gently uncurls the student’s fingers, the guru reveals three small white conch-shaped shells, forming a line down the middle of the student’s palm.

And in unison, the three of us understand, “focus only on what you can hold.”

Suddenly I feel a simple, clear realization, more of a feeling than a thought, “Do not focus on eternity, but on the stillness of an instant.”

Then my dream state shifted and instinctively I knew I needed to remember the dream in the morning.