The Middle Ground

If you are me, you are not a morning person. As soon as you open your eyes in the morning, into your head come rushing the events of the previous night in most spectacular detail, then the events of the past week, followed by those of last 5 years, and finally your whole life — all crunched into a script that you are not interested in reading, delivered so abruptly and so unforgivingly as if there was no other way to orient you and set context. As you calm down and make yourself a cup of tea, all you want to do is dodge but fail, then block and say, “ I know this already, just let me be”. You gradually warm yourself up with light exercise and tune into Guided Meditation with Deepak hoping you’ll glide into the day smoothly, knowing all the while that you are not prepared for the harsh sunlight of the post- breakfast till lunch time period. Each day as the sun sets, he returns your superpowers that he takes without your permission every morning — as the moon rises, the muse returns coax...

Prompt You are locked in an empty room with no clue how you got there. The only thing in the room is a book. You open the book to the first page and read, ' And then the door opened' And at that point the door opens What happens next ? Entry I wake up gasping. My eyes squint painfully at the harsh sunlight flooding insensitively through the small window above my bed. My arms instinctively reach out to shield them. They find that my neck and forehead are beaded with sweat and soaking strands of hair stick to my temples.  Catching my breath I reach out to the glass of water that rests usually on the table beside my bed.  I find none.  I take in a deep breath, while images from my nightmare rush to taunt at me in intimidating, accusatory tones .  “ Relax, it’s just a nightmare”, I tell myself. “But they feel so real”, a scared voice responds.  I look around to find myself in a strange place.  The air is heavy with the stench...