Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 149

This week's photo is by photographer Juuso Hämäläinen. He took this in one of my dream location to visit, The Raja Ampat Islands (off New Guinea). I love the contrast in this photo. He takes some stunning photos and you can buy prints of his work here. 

An emotional tale this week, sort of a little bit about how to cope with the outside world, especially at the moment, as well as how to find your own inner calm. It's what the image made me think of straight away.

The General Guidelines can be found here.

How to create a clickable link in Blogger comments can be found on lasts week's post here.

There is also a Facebook group for Mid-Week Flash, if you fancy getting the prompt there.

Self Reflection

She had a dream that one day she would go to a tropical island and stay there forever. She imagined the warm sun, the white sand beaches and the palm trees swaying in the breeze. She imagined feeling free and unencumbered, not responsible for anyone but herself, able to go where she wanted, when she wanted, without having an obligation to fulfil, or someone to look after.

But when she finally cut all ties and arrived there, the sun wasn’t shining, there was a gale blowing across the island, driving rain; it was storm season. Everything was washed out and bleak, just like her reflection. It felt desolate, joyless, and empty, but that was nothing new for her, so she did as she had always done: she made the best of it.

Being the tropics it was still hot, and the sea was warm, so every day she donned her snorkel and swam out into the ocean. Under the surface all was calm, all was collected, and all was quiet. And the deeper she dived the more it permeated; the harmonious underwater life going on as though nothing was awry. The fish knew that the storm would pass, and although it might increase a few currents for a time, and some areas were best avoided, all was tranquil.

This newfound tranquillity was infectious, and she meditated on it as she swam out further and further to see more of what lay beneath – and not just beneath the water, but beneath her own surface, inside herself, inside her soul.

Soon the sun began to break through from time to time, lighting up the ocean floor and exposing its true glory and rainbow of colours and life. And then the winds died down and the rain stopped. The sand dried out, and she was able to lie on the beach and revel in the sun. But she was no longer dependent on it to brighten her up, her weeks of snorkelling had kindled her own inner light; by the time all was bright outside, she was shining within. She knew now that no matter what was going on externally, nothing could shake her calm within.