The most beautiful place in the world

I had a dream last night that I was riding around in one of those little white safari vans, admiring the scenery as I rode by. Somehow, I knew I was in an arctic region (it had something to do with the darkness and the low angle of the sun), yet it wasn't cold at all. There wasn't anything particularly notable about the landscape, just some trees and some interesting dark-blue transparent patterns on the black road (were they ice patches?).

There was definitely something interesting about the light though; it came from behind us, and was dimmer, whiter, and clearer than normal sunlight. Everything appeared with the crispness of a cold autumn day, but there was also an incredible fullness and depth to the darker colors, something I'd never seen before. As an incredible sense of beauty filled my thoughts, I turned and declared to my friends: "this is the most beautiful place in the world!"

And it really was. I felt so happy that I was lucky enough to experience that moment. I could see everything so clearly; the colors were so pure and deep.

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I woke up and had a typical day at business school: running from one class to the next, getting sleepy in lecture, meeting with teammates to work on projects. At the end of the day, I held a short meditation session, and had a great conversation with a friend. I told him about my dream, and how interesting it was that I was so utterly convinced that I had seen the most beautiful place in the world, even though the entire experience was confined entirely to my own mind. And it made me think -- does it even matter where we are or what we're doing? Can we find beauty and happiness in any situation if we simply become "present" and allow ourselves to see it?


After the meditation session, I walked over to admire the Charles. I took this picture, smiled, and thought: "yeah, definitely"