Do you know what it means to feel serene?

"Serenity is a poster of a lily pad on a pond somewhere I’ve never been."
- Natasha Mandryk (http://mumblingmonkey.wordpress.com/)

This quote is from a blog entry written by a good friend of mine. It got me thinking about the idea of serenity and how many of us can honestly say that we know what it means to feel serene. With as hectic and rushed as everything seems to be these days, how many of us take the time to pause and just be? To get lost in the peace and stillness of a moment. Can you stop thinking long enough to just feel? What does serenity mean to you? When I think of serenity I think of peace and stillness, sort of a pause in the midst of the rush, a moment of just letting go. Dictionary.com defines serenity as (1) a disposition free from stress or emotion and (2) the absence of mental stress or anxiety. Are these the kind of things that you think of, or does something completely different come to mind? Maybe serenity is being in a lover's arms or sitting by a fire with a warm cup of cider. It could be curling up under a soft blanket with a good book, or looking out the window at undisturbed snow. What do you think? Do you know what serenity is? Is it something that you can honestly say you've experienced? Or is it this illusive place that you've only seen in pictures?