A lot of times, people recommend that you have a special place that you can go to in your head, to allow you breathing space when dealing with something that’s being particularly stressful.

I have two variations on this, one takes place during the day, and the other at night.

Both take place on a beach, but they conjure up different feelings when I think of them.

The daytime image is on a white sand beach, somewhere sunny, with that beautiful blue-green water that you only get when the water is shallow, and the sun can pierce it to the bottom. There is an on-shore breeze, which causes small waves on the shore, with that regular, repetitive shuff, swish of waves lapping the shore; in and out. I’m standing at the shore, wearing a 3/4 length white dress, and a wide brimmed white hat. The breeze is ruffling my hair slightly, and I can see a few clouds in the distance. After a few minutes of this image, I generally feel quite calm.

The night time scene is by the beach also. There is a grand piano there, and a full moon which casts a beautiful reflection on the water. There is someone playing Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. I’m wearing a long black shoulderless dress, something relatively firm fitting. In regards to who’s playing the piano; sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s a faceless individual. I go through the entire first movement in my head and it calms me. I occasionally cry when I think of this. For some reason Moonlight Sonata causes me to cry and I don’t know why.

These are my two places. It depends on the day as to which one I want to experience — sometimes I just need to cry a little, sometimes I just want to feel the sun on my skin inside my head.