I like far-away places, though they are often close; Sometimes just within myself, when I have the courage to look. It's more a state of being than a location. A place to retreat, find myself and the feelings within that often elude me.
I find comfort there, away from the complexities of life and pressure, anxiety and stress applied by society, modern life and even simple social interactions.
In far away places I find a closeness to myself and the world around me and I can reflect on me, listen to me and to seek answers that I can't find elsewhere.
What do I see in those reflections...The changing of seasons, the seasons of my life. The never-ending shift from one version of myself to the next. It takes years, weeks and sometimes only minutes for change to occur, but like the turning of the seasons, the change the planet goes though, so do I and so will I.
I sat at this spot recently and listened to the birds, felt the sun on my skin and the clean air fill my lungs, sweet and cool...I watched reflections on the lake and clouds move slowly across the sky...I felt far away but close to myself - It felt good. It felt wholesome.
I watched the ducks glide effortlessly across the lake and wondered what it must be like to have so few cares in the world, just glide so easily through life. But then a thought came to mind. It's not effortless at all. The ducks passage only looks effortless to me because I can't see the entire picture. A look beneath the surface would reveal paddling legs working away to move the duck forward in that graceful glide.
It's an odd thought to think one's life resembles a duck; I work so hard to find balance and comfort, to make ends meet financially and emotionally, to fit into a society I feel apart from; I paddle to keep up...And on the surface anyone who cares to look sees only an easy glide, a smooth trouble-free life. But that's doesn't really exist does it?
Self-reflection is one of the most valuable moments I allow myself and being here, in this place, allows me to delve deeper, to see more clearly and to find that retreat and occasionally a few answers I seem not to be able to find elsewhere.
“If I speak of myself in different ways, that is because I look at myself in different ways.”
Michel de Montaigne
