 Well, it's a sunny winter day here in Toronto and This is about as bright and sunny as it gets here in the winter just about noon full sun and Throughout this winter This is a time when those living in northern parts of the world are Really feeling this kind of winter Bleakness There's a grayness to it dull colorless You can just see the the silence the the death all around And of course the darkness down here it's we're down to eight hours of sunlight per day 16 hours of night out of every day and And the brightest it gets is when we have snow on the ground, but most of the time. It's just sort of a dull gray with the gray slushy dirty snow sort of rotting brown dead leaves and Really the word bleak really applies to This place this time of year And really this is just the beginning because this is this is really five months of the year here in Toronto and You know, it's different for every Every city every city would have its own schedule of when it's most bleak and Some might be bleaker than others. Some might be bleak all the time but it leads to this very common feeling of Wanting to be somewhere else Endless Discussions of wanting to go to the beach the beach some kind of a tropical imagined Paradise you can see it in advertising. You'll be walking down the snowy cold windy street and then the bus shelter will have a big colorful picture of a Caribbean beach Frolicking on the beach and so this is This is sort of a collective dream That is very powerful here in the winter What is this what is this place that is So sought-after we imagine of course tropical sunshine warmth pristine beach Warm water Maybe white sand palm trees And it's connected with notions of leisure Notions that we would be able to sit on this beach possibly sipping a drink while catching sunshine and Having not a care in the world So it's easy to see how this dream can be powerful when we're in a cold winter far away from any habitable beach and Working regularly the thought of not having to work and being on a beautiful beach in a warm tropical place is Very attractive But then you look at what it's like actually in those places When you're living in a tropical beach world like you don't it isn't just sitting on a beach sipping a drink I mean there's serious work to be done There's a lot of the reality of this sort of tropical beach paradise the dirty jobs the the difficulties The struggles the poverty The the crowds the noise the crime all the kind of reality of This of course there's still beautiful beaches and beautiful moments on beaches to be had but there is no real Paradise beach where no one has cares and we can sort of go back to this innocent childlike playful state That place Does not exist as Far as I know although you know some people will say will tell you how to get there They're usually selling something. I would be curious if anybody has Suggestions of places that may be approached this But really what it seems to me is that this state this this paradise that We dream about is really something in our own minds. It is a state of mind this paradise it's a way of thinking a way of Dealing with the world that Gives us that paradise state of mind So what is it a Sense of the beauty around us a sense of a Freedom from Having Forced things that we must do a sense that there's a there's an expansiveness a sense that we have some flexibility and free time a sense of not having to hurry In fact a sense that we don't have to live by the clock That we can live at a slower pace or at a freer pace a sense of playfulness that we can have fun and not be heavily serious about everything and it seems like those things are things that you could have on a tropical Paradise Beach or You could not you could be just as stressed and anxious on a Paradise Beach as anywhere else and and Is it really possible to have such a feeling and such a disposition in the gray snowy winter of the north Why not? It's all in how we look at it and Although having a beautiful sunny day at the beach may make it easier and help to get us in that Good state of mind It's no guarantee of it so it seems like With this this idea of Finding Paradise is something that we can create within ourselves Make that state of mind in yourself. It's not just pretending It's not about pretending that you know, it's not cold but It's kind of seeing that it doesn't matter those external conditions are secondary and that it's our attitude towards life that really Defines whether we're in heaven or hell so It's a hard sell to somebody who is you know in the middle of winter to tell them that but I really believe that It is about the way that we choose to live and That ultimately it doesn't make a difference what the weather is Ultimately, it's the weather inside that makes the difference so this sounds very hopeful and idealistic and Over the course of this winter. I'm going to see what I can make of it