A Series of Encounters

Today I am reminded of the time I went to my local book store and started wandering around the used section. I had two reasons for being there: 1. To hopefully find a used copy of a book club book and 2. to shake off a case of feeling stuck and grumpy.

I walked out with 5 books, book club one included! And I felt my day/week turnaround within minutes. In a similar way to how we show up at the waters edge in one kind of a mood, and leave in a totally different kind of mood, the trip inside a local book store provided me the same result. How amazing is that? To have a mood totally changed simply by either getting in the water or browsing in a book store! These are coping tools in my toolbox of life and I lean into them with regularity.

On that trip I found a book that has actually changed my life. It’s called Blue Mind, by Wallace J. Nichols. and it explores the science behind being in, on, or near water actually makes us happier and healthier.

Of course it does! But now there was a book about this thing I believed, but never really articulated.

After that I discovered that he does an annual book club, where he reads the book to people, a few pages at a time, a chapter a week, over the course of 10 weeks. This year he started right after Thanksgiving instead of right after the New Year. The preface starts with “One of the many possible ways to describe a life would be as a series of encounters with various bodies of water….”

And then “Time spent in, on, under, or near water interspersed with the periods spent thinking about where, when, and how to reach it next.''

With this first paragraph I was hooked.

My life could easily be one that is a series of encounters with various bodies of water. It is a most relatable opening sentence to a book. For me. And perhaps what was intended when I had that thought to start this blog. This place to write about trips to the waters edge, and what we encounter each time. The joy, the laughter, the uncertainty, the hope, the calm, the gratitude.

I am reminded that I have not been doing the water thing as much as I would like lately, even the last few months. And yet, I need it as much as ever. I also need to be writing about these encounters with water, deliberate arrivals onto sand being lapped by waves. She is calling and I am overdue.

Time to get back to practicing #bluemind…