What is your Castle in the Air?

In the classic story Little Women, Jo, Laurie and the gang are lounging about when Jo says,

Wouldn’t it be fun if all the castles in the air which we make could come true, and we could live in them?

I find this a fanciful yet useful container for thinking about ones hopes and dreams.

There are some castles I dream up that give me the biggest rush of euphoria. For example, one is always some variation of me living in a cottage spending my days writing in a leather bound notebook, leisurely traipsing around the grounds, maybe taking an afternoon picnic in the garden, glancing up at the sky in between chapters of my novel. This castle hasn’t changed since my adolescence.

But with every passing year I conjure up new castles. With new rooms taking shape and sprouting up from an impactful experience. A sunroom where I practice yoga and bring a profound awareness to my mind and body, a community center that brings me together with neighbors, a café where I chat in Spanish delighting in the new world that has been opened up by the acquisition of language.

The castles have become sturdier and less wispy, grounded in the evidence of what has granted me sustained happiness and satisfaction. No longer are they covered by a dreamy pink mist that made it impossible to find the door.

Then sometimes I realize that I’m already living in some of them. When a warmth washes over me as snuggle with my fiancée and dog on the couch. The satisfying feeling after hosting a successful dinner party with friends, the laughter still echoing in my ears and the taste of the food still lingering on my lips.

I will always have castles in the air. Some you live in some you don’t. The import part is to spend time finding them. Dreaming isn’t just a realm of fiction, it’s part of the fabric of a well-lived life.

What are your castles in the air?