Last night I had a dream I was walking on a familiar path overlooking a lake, The aura of my surroundings was nothing less than calming. The birds were a symphony matching my steady heartbeat…a soft ba-dum that filled the millisecond of silence where my feet rose to take another step forward.

I could feel my senses tingling, woken by the strong scent of pine trees and my sheer curiosity fed by the single thought running through my mind ‘Where am I?’. I kept my pace steady along the path, letting my eyes wander in wonder of the beauty I beheld.

I took my rest beneath a baobab tree, the only baobab tree I could see. My head laid atop a bed of Citrus scented mushrooms and I looked up to the sky to watch as the clouds zoomed from one horizon to the other.

The wind was like a song that lulled me to sleep, and in my dream I fell into another slumber that took me into yet another dream. Here I was a child again; drowning my fingers in a can of paint.

I mixed the yellows and reds and greens and blues and began painting futures…my own futures. Each was the same yet different, and each held a story of its own.

In one, I was Lioness… with seven arms stretching out towards various corners of the earth. I was atop a mountain, overlooking everything below me and everything seemed to grow towards me.

In another, I was the sun… effortlessly radiating my light towards the earth. As my rays touched the heads of every living being I became home to each that embraced my warmth.

In another I was a forest, so green and healthy. I breathed life into those that ventured into my woods. I was gentle yet tough and there were those who feared my very existence too much to even spare me a glance.

In the one that demanded my attention, I was just me, Boldy timid and vice versa, a pot of all the other futures stirred together: A lioness, the sun, a forest. I was powerful beyond measure but my power was birthed by being a vessel of something positive to those in my midst and even beyond.

My seven arms were stretched to provide for those who looked up to me. I shone light in the deepest darkest crevices and waited for the lost to find their path as I illuminated the way. I was cut down a million times, set on fire and left to rot, but I found my will, building myself from the ground up in order to keep my tormentors alive with only a single exhale.

I was everything I hope to become, fate did not conspire against me but merged different takes of my movie into one perfect scene…that is when I began channeling my dreams into reality. As I woke from my slumber…my purpose became clear.