The Rock (Not Dwayne Johnson)

She dreamed about a rock she'd found from the pile she'd dug from the ground weeks before. When she placed her fingers around it, it lifted her high into the air. As she rose with hands still one with the rock, the greatest sense of peace that she had ever felt encompassed her. All past and future vanished and the only sense of time was the present. There was no awareness of her body, for she was one with all. No anxiety or fears or thoughts took place; just peace and a joy better than any feeling she'd ever felt. When she woke she immediately thought she had to figure out how to get the rock back. She recalled her dream and she realized when she imagined the rock and the dream again she felt the same peace as when she was in the dream. The truth she'd been searching for her whole life finally hit her. She'd been living a lie all along trying to find something external that could fix her internal angst: a pill, a workout, a mate, a job, money, kids, a house, church. She'd reviewed every research article, book, and documentary on joy, peace, anxiety, and depression. She so desperately wanted the anxiety and depression to end. She'd tried yoga, exercise, a gratitude journal, being more social, meditating, earning more money, working less, acts of kindness, making time for hobbies, strict diets, and countless other modifications to her life. She realized the fix wasn't found in any of these because they were outside fixes. Her problem was inside. Therefore the solution had to be inside too. She could imagine herself being at peace and joyful and then she was. The more she imagined it the more she was experiencing it. She started to keep a symbol of the dream in her pocket. It was a rock so smooth and solid, weathered by the same supernatural force that had lifted her up and given her peace in her dream. It was the same divine intervention that had given her the dream in the first place. The rock had been on Earth since the beginning of time and would still be here long after her soul left her body. It reminded her of how infinite time and space was. It reminded her not to take herself so seriously, for even a tiny rock would outlast her fleeting life. When she touched the rock or even thought of touching it, it was like magic. But it wasn't the rock. It was something much bigger than herself and much bigger than the rock. It was a truth as old as time. She was the captain of her sails, the director of her orchestra, the artist of her magnificent mural, the farmer of her garden. Once she realized that, she made an effort to remember it daily. Eventually the knowing of it became second nature. When her life was anything less than what she wanted it to be, she went back to the rock. She’d found peace and joy. She’d found an everlasting love, both for herself and for helping others find the rocks they too had sitting right before them.