The Year is Complete!

Please feel free to look back through the 365 days of 2010 sunrises, but "a year of getting up to meet the day" is officially completed. There will be no more new posts.

PLEASE JOIN ME FOR MORE SUNRISE POSTS AT THE SUNRISE BLOGGER, WHERE YOU WILL FIND SUNRISE PHOTOS AND REFLECTIONS FROM ME AND FROM CONTRIBUTORS AROUND THE GLOBE.


Thank you so much for visiting.
A one year blog project in which I share a process of transitions: emptying of the nest, reacquainting with my rusty intellect, plowing onward with my first full length book, entering the second half of my first century, and generally reflecting on life.

(see Dec. 29th, 2009 entry for further explanation)

Monday, January 25, 2010

submerged in thought

sunrise:  7:02       38 degrees.  a drizzly, damp day.

Last time we had this weather I said to my husband, "Rain on top of snow is depressing."  Then he pointed out to me all the possible benefits to all the living things that don't go skiing or drive cars.  Food sources are uncovered and more accessible.  It's not so cold.  Water seeps into the soil, good for everything. 

Water is good for everything (except when there's too much of it too fast...).  That gets me thinking...

My sister is an interfaith minister and deeply reflective soul.  She has pointed out the universally spiritual role of water in so many religions - baptisms, purifications, celebrations of life.  It is also thought to be symbolic of matters of the spirit when it shows up in dreams; it is generally interpreted as a manifestation of emotions, intuition, or "things below the surface."

It's no wonder, then, that I get some of my most meditative escapes when I am in the water.

Swimming, for me, is a time for unfettered mind wandering.  Having learned to swim practically before I walked, water has always been a realm of total comfort for me.  My favorite medium for immersion is lake water, but swimming laps in a pool suffices.  There is no phone, no dogs, no doorbells.  Since I can't see much without my glasses and I wear ear plugs, it is like being immersed into a sensory deprivation tank.  Then off I go...

...I am eight years old in an Adirondack lake,  I am going through my to-do list for the day, I am with my parents at a summer cookout, I am flying, I am giving birth, I am composing songs, I am a future grandmother.  I remember, I project, I imagine, and sometimes I disappear.  There are no boundaries.  And yet, I’m able to keep track of the steady counting of laps.

It is important and therapeutic to dive below the surface with some regularity.  That is part of what this whole one year blog challenge is about.  Each of us has that inner voice, usually behind closed doors.  We just need to find those places, activities, states of being where the door opens up and we can listen. 


2 comments:

  1. I was wondering what the meaning of water was in dreams. I meant to look it up but never did. Thanks for the explanation.

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  2. Nice. In Indian films, falling rain acts as code for unrestrained desire and expressed passion, much as images of fireworks used to in American films bEfore full frontal. This makes sense as a metaphor if you imagine living in an arid village with dust blowing for months, with rain bri Ginger life again.

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