The dark before dawn.

The opossum scuttles across the road, glimpsing briefly at the headlights that unexpectedly lit its path.
The birds rest, heads tucked under their wings.
Even the bugs have found a leaf or blade of grass on which to sit.

`Tis 4 A.M., the bewitching hour, when muses fly and fairies whisper in our ears.

I get so excited in the middle of the night.
Without a doubt, the outer quiet calms my mind. 
Like a racehorse at the starting gate, I gather strength, wait for the bar to go up and explode into a swirling whirlpool of creative juice, a ballerina leaping in pirouette, a Tasmanian devil doing the dervish dance, a crazy, wild and wacky space that knows few bounds and doesn’t tell me where we’re going.
My writer’s keyboard sings to me, begs for freedom, demands to be heard.

I wake usually at around 2 and throw on the closest clothes in order to zip out the door more quickly.
No one questions whether my shirt matches or the stubble on my chin.
No one interrupts my flight of fancy.

At this magical hour, mysteries unfold, plots twist and turn.
I need this special time.
I need it to think and will not settle for excuses labeled business or busy-ness or spouse-ness or children-ness.

No one bothers me at 3 or 4 or 5 A.M.
My imagination spits and sparks, crackles and fires.
I gush with ideas.

If I snatch 60 luscious minutes in the dark before dawn, I can still catch a sweet dream by the time the sun ushers away the delightful shadows that hide the leprechauns.

Ghosts and goblins only torture and challenge us if we wallow under the blankets.
When we get up and about and flirt with the moonlight, midnight monsters vanish in the mist.
I pause to reflect and ponder, search and appreciate.

“Get up, young one,” the voices tell me and I do.
“Off with you,” they order and I go.

I watch one less show and give myself this gift.
I let my arm fall before I reach for a drink.
How much tranquil space can I create, to sit, to re-charge, to determine, to focus on big, important dreams.

Has it been too long since my last escape?
How rich a life might I create within if I stop long enough to look?

The sounds and smells in the wee, wee moments communicate the same message.
“Drink us in,” without the revving engines or their toxic exhaust fumes.
“Pause and take nutriment–” elixir for the soul.

Wobbly legs carry me back to my car for the short ride home.
I chuckle.
“I got away with it again. I stole a dance with an elf and a pixie.”

 
Ridgely

Success Quotes

Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake.
Henry David Thoreau

If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started by a mouse.
Walt Disney

Key Points

No one can steal your dreams. No one can take away that magical human ability to give birth to ideas, paint images in your mind and place yourself in countless circumstances, good, bad and otherwise from which you emerge change or altered in some way.
The sad truth is that many of us choose to sleep walk. We fall asleep after the harsh realities of daily life breed an unconsciousness and an addiction to the mundane from which we seldom emerge, until, after a few decades of existence, we move on.
How sad.
The majority of people leave no mark of their passing through this world other than the goods and services they consume that go to enrich the pockets of someone else.
What a wasted gift.
I urge you to be different.
Make the decision to dream big and go after your dreams. Don’t settle. Put your dreams front and center in your life. Write them on a card that you carry in your wallet or your purse. Pull it out and think on it from time to time. Share your dreams with your loved ones. Give them life.
Take steps toward their accomplishment, one by one.
And remember, to make dreams come true, we must both wake up and stay awake, for as long as it takes.

By the way, I have some Australian friends, Glen, Natalie (Glen’s wife) and Ryan who have done something really cool. They created a software program called Mind Movies that allows you to put your dreams and goals onto your computer and watch a movie in which you star that reminds you of those dreams.  You create it yourself, with your favorite music and I personally think that it is very cool. Do yourself a favor and check it out. Here’s the link:
www.MindMovies.com/vid1/?12105
Plus, they’re giving away a lot of stuff. Click on over and claim your share!!!