Dear friends, Hope you are all well and enjoying the holidays. My very best heartfelt good wishes to you during this holiday season. Whether you are celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah or some other religious or secular festival may the lights of joy and peace shine brighter than ever in your home now and in the coming year. If you are in a giving mood please consider donating to the Association for India's Development. All details are at http://oneforindia.org The following is a poem based on my experience during meditation one night. One night during meditation I started imagining that I was wandering through a forest. It felt so good to imagine this that I continued it for several minutes and the mind calmed down. A few nights later, in my sleep I had a vivid dream in which I face some dangerous and evil people who are trying to harm a helpless person, possibly a child or someone dear to me. I put this person in a safe place and then run through a forest to escape. But once I am in the forest I remember how I felt during meditation and my mind is filled with peace. Shows how meditation reaches the innermost spaces of our subconscious. Then again yesterday i did the real thing -- I hiked for about 11 miles in the woods, mostly along Seneca Creek (In preparation for a Sierra club hike scheduled for later). It wasn't just a peaceful walk. I was rushing most of the time, trying to get back before sundown, my mind preoccupied with noting down anything that might be an issue during the actual hike. Nevertheless I knew that at the end of it I would feel much peace within, particularly because the woods turned out to be exceptionally beautiful and quiet with very few people around. Indeed towards the end it was very peaceful. Hope you enjoy this poem. Please write when you can. Yours, Sankar Wandering in peace 12/21/2008 I run, run, run Step after step Crunching the mulching leaves Sliding off the wet clay Twisting on roots and rocks. Running away from life. Running towards life. Running with life. Is it me that is running? Worried that I worry About worrying. Running through the woods Beautiful in their stark nakedness. No dress can make you so beautiful. A forest of bare branches. Seneca creek Gurgling joyously from the week's rain. I barely pause to look. Large trees fallen across the creek Looking larger in their death. Mushrooms sprouting all over. Nourishing life even in death. A dead red fox. Wonder what killed it? Curled up as if in sleep. Can foxes ever sleep? Decaying leaves everywhere. Once they too, were gorgeous. Becoming part of the soil right before my eyes. As my journey nears its end The eyes open wider. The ghostly remains of an old mill. The trees, the streams, the deer Their silvery tails flashing As they gallop through the darkness. Step after step The pebbles of thought are ground smooth. The woods enter the mind, Filling it with their quiet beauty. When all memories have faded I will still remember Wandering in peace In the woods.