By Sarah West

Allow your heart to smile today. Let peace and tranquility renew your spirit. Stand in the sunlight and immerse yourself in its energy. Surrender to the magnetic pull which draws upon your senses. Listen to the voice which guides you steadfast towards your appointed destination. Approach each step with gratitude and unbridled enthusiasm. Drink from the well that quenches your thirst and sail upon the winds propelled by your inner voice. Follow your compass.
Clouds of grey parted. Cool winds were exchanged for luminous skies of pale cerulean laced in lavender; from which poured light likened to warm streams of honey. Upon the wings of the wind I sailed towards a Mediterranean shoreline. Guided by my inner voice, I was carried to a destination of inner peace and tranquility. Here the earth met the sky under a fluid horizon line. My feet brushed powder sands as the light danced upon the sapphire tide. Palms praised the heavens, and in the breeze they reclined.
The salt washed my spirit clean and rekindled my vision and love of life. My soul meditated there and in nature found youthful delight. In serenity, I walked as I walk still. I carry with me the winds, water, air and unrelenting exuberance of light. To this well I return, time and again; and there I find the things that never left. In the reflecting pool, I see all that I believe in. These things lay within; they are a flame which burns brighter as I attend to them. All can find tranquility and gain strength at the meditative compass’ end. At the water’s edge is where the renewed journey begins.
Sarah West serves the Opelika Observer as a contributing columnist, with written works of Cultural Arts relevance and prose. She is a preservation, and conservation advocate, activist, and visual artist of American Illustration with a focus on Regional Narrative Painting. She is founder of the Sarah West Gallery of Fine Art, A Center for Cultural Arts, Smiths Station, Alabama’s premier fine arts destination. She is the appointed Official Artist to the City of Smiths Station, a Lee County syndicated columnist, the director of her art center’s Cultural Arts Outreach Initiative which partners with local schools to make the arts accessible to all. She also serves a chief curator to the City of Smiths Station, City Hall Art Galleries. She is a founding member of the Smith Station Historic Commission. She is a member of the Women’s Philanthropy Board- Cary Center, Auburn University College of Human Science. She is an elected member of the Society of Illustrators- NYC. She mentors art students of every age through weekly classes at her studio located in the heart of Smiths Station, Alabama. To learn more about her work and activism visit, www.thesarahwestgalleryoffineart.com.