By day nine, I noticed that my dreams were becoming more vivid, and creative ideas were flowing. I started filling up notebook after notebook with rhymes and songs and thoughts and opinions and movies and poetry. I also started reading about meditation and became intrigued with the idea of “watching my mind.” It was my introduction to words like “self-observation,” “self-investigation,” “consciousness,” and “awareness.” I tasted a tiny, fleeting moment of what I would later come to recognize as “peace.” It didn’t last too long, but it was a scent that I would learn to follow.
