A new teammate had joined our troop today. He was exploring his options while getting acquainted with his new community. Although, most of the class hadn’t turned up due to the passing of a family member of one of our fellow mentors. There were just four of us to unfold the day so we kept it short and simple.

We played frisbee to get the ball rolling. Few of us were quite skilled at the game and cast the neatest throws I’ve seen in a very long time. The disc glided smoothly through the morning air, making the catches less intimidating for the receiver. Of course, more often than not, a faulty toss would send us chasing after the frisbee as it veered off course, but that helped us tune up for our next activity – centring ourselves with breathing and meditation.

We spent some time getting our newest companion up to speed on all that he had missed in the past couple of weeks – routines, rules, activities, timetables and the brainstorming we’ve done so far on the project topics. He took it in stride and was quite forthcoming with his views and ideas on the subject. We were off to a good start.

We welcomed a brief fruit break to lighten the density of discussion and then gathered for a new practice: Visualization. We have an essential wireless world inside our brains that can yield positive imagery and anticipate a positive outcome. We can also create tenacious imagery that responds to fear of a negative outcome. We are able to visualize ourselves using our strengths to build a platform for success no matter what hurdles we face. When we engage in a mental workshop, we can visualize our accomplishments or a favourable response to a setback.

Once we had warmed our imaginations to the right temperature, we played the Alphabet Story. (For some reason, the theme revolved around dancing.) We practiced thinking of new ways to weave a sensible story plot using the progressing letters of the alphabet. The letters “X” and “Z” almost unravelled our efforts, but we managed to hold it together with the support of the dictionary.

An hour before lunch we put our heads together to come up with three points each of the pros, cons and creative aspects for the project topics we were working on. Lunchtime marked the end of our short day together, with all of us looking forward to another session of day dreaming our futures. I reckon it won’t be long before we blur the lines between dreams and reality.