The Free Zone is where Tomaso and all our dearly departed loved ones dwell.

The Free Zone is where Pearl The Dog lives, now. My moment to moment perception of Pearl has become more lucid and alive. As we take our 5-10 mile daily walks and she trots willingly beside, behind or in front of me, I know these moments are fleeting. In those microseconds of perfect contentment, I see her as she is, and close my eyes to capture her in that moment of magnificence. Her beauty never fails to enrich my feelings of hope and happiness.

Pearl thinks I am a dog, one of my greatest compliments. All other compliments are shallow by comparison. She moves where I move. I move where she moves. We pause long enough for the smells of the day to register on her canine intelligence. She lies at my feet with the sun illuminating this writer’s page.

The world continues to encroach with diversion and complexity. Yet Pearl stands as the beacon to guide me back to the Free Zone.

The Free Zone exists inwardly as we meditate, garden and pray: in the hazy afternoons while doing creative projects away from clock time and deadlines. The Free Zone exists in collective memory, in waking and sleeping dreams. It exists in our cells and atoms in continuous regeneration and change.

Pearl knows The Free Zone.

Humans need a major wake up call to taste true freedom. But it’s there.

Let your dog show it to you. OM