And breathe....

No ranting from me this month or not in this blog entry anyway.

Instead something someone said resonated with me and I thought I would share and maybe get you all thinking too.

A Facebook friend of mine called Linda who lives in Florida with her little dog Cocoa told me she was going to the beach this week. She said it soothes her.

To soothe means to calm, to comfort, to quieten, and her remark made me think of what soothes me.

For me it’s a walk in the woods, the feeling of the ground beneath my feet the smell of slightly damp soil and the song of the birds that makes me feel relaxed, in addition I have a love of the sunrise.

One of the first things I do each day is to look out the window and see if the sky is clear asking myself will I see my sunrise? I watch it, I photograph it, I enjoy the days when I get to see the sunrise in all its glory that very simple, yet magnificent moment sets me up for the day ahead.

I can almost understand people who worshipped the sun years ago. Seeing the majestic shining orb rise above the skyline each day and feeling its rays kissing the ground giving life to the plants and man alike must have been a miracle to early people and it’s a solid real thing that had a tangible effect on their lives.

I think everyone needs that soothing place the one where you can breathe out and let your worries and troubles fly away on the breeze with your exhaled breath. Not a long-term solution but what might quite literally be called a breathing space... You can call that place inside yourself a Soul or you could refer to it as the human psyche but it’s the spot all of us have that houses all our feelings, our emotions, our fears and worries and call it what you like its that place that we reach when we go to our special place.

I don’t have faith, so this isn’t a religious kick I’m on, but I don’t think life and the universe is an accident the way some would have us believe. I remember a man of faith once saying, ‘if I took a box and put into it all the components of a television how long would I have to shake the box before the tv just accidentally assembled itself’?

On the other hand, I can’t accept that some omnipitant being just reached out and created it all single handedly.

What I can say is that however it happened I’m grateful for it, it’s my special moment in the day and yet it can be the special moment of millions of others without it ever meaning any less to me or them. It soothes me to see the sun peeping above the horizon, hearing the birdsong and feeling the earth beneath my feet.

Ann, who shares her life with the very cute Bulletje and is another of my Facebook friends says her special place is just relaxing under a palm tree near the water. Knowing how the sunrise makes me feel I can understand exactly what she means.

Because that’s the point, we don’t have to have the same place to connect us, and we don’t have to be standing next to each other trying to see the same thing to be able to appreciate that feeling of total contentment and light that reaches the very deepest part of us when we are able to visit the place that soothes us most.

Sadly, most people seem to have forgotten both the special place where they can allow their soul to breathe and the fact that in sharing that feeling they connect with other people and understand each other a little more.

I cannot tell you what your special place is, I can’t tell you how to find it. I only know that when you do find it you know. You feel the lightness of peace, of calmness and of contentment even if just for a few minutes.

Please dont just dismiss it out of hand, maybe if more of us were able to take just a few minutes each day to breathe and be in that place that allows us to let go of our fears and worries we would be less stressed and angry with each other and the world in general.

So dear readers your task, should you decide to accept it. Is to find your soothing place and allow yourself the time to exhale, let your worries and stress fly away. Even if it is just for a few minutes, allow yourself a breathing space.

Be kind to yourself and you will find it will be easier to be kinder to others.