Reports, Meditation and Dreams

Yeah, this post isn't half as interesting as the title makes it sound. Since everyone wants me to be careful, I think I'll assure you guys that despite being someone who jumped at the call, I do take precautions. When I go outside, I either listen to music and scan the sparse green space around my complex, or have my dog with me. She hasn't barked at anything more extraordinary than cats or dogs or people on bikes. My music has not messed up at all when I listen to it. I keep my rabbit in my room at night as an alarm system. So far, all he's done is lounge like a hardened badass after consuming the lion's share of kibble, and then settle with a casual flair to fill my room with dung pellets. No alarm, no rushing like mad to get back into his cage. Woot~

Also, I live in a city, so trees are rather hard to come by except in parks. A pity - winter without snow makes everything bleak and bare branches are more paranoia-inducing than leafy forests.

As for meditation - just one of my crazy habits is to take music and then go swing at the park right behind my house for a good hour or more. I do it in the winter, until it rains too hard for me to bother, and all the time in the summer. It... clears my mind. I suppose it's kind of like meditation - just like sitting under a freezing waterfall! This time of year, I do freeze when I do this, and it clears my head and usually makes me feel better despite my hands going numb. I also clear my mind when I stickfight with my friends, but my last proper stick is rather useless now. I need to go find something better to practice with.

Trees have a great deal of importance for me, by the way. I've had recurring dreams of being a wolf (not relevant right now) and also of... a world tree. A tree so large that you need to hike up it for a while until you realize it's not a mountain, but a tree. Usually, it's like a massive national park that I visit all the time in the dream, and when I wake up, reality blurs for a bit and I convince myself that I'll go again soon. And then it hits me that it's a dream. Saddening, eh? I find the symbol of Yggdrasil, or the world tree to be comforting - like being in the shadow of a protecting deity, I suppose. Anyone remember the smiling trees that briefly posted on some blogs, including, I think, Seeking Truth? I might be mistaken and it was Dreams in Darkness instead - whatever it was, they were quite cryptic.