Hi World – I am in a hammock. I like the word hammock. Don't you? Say it out loud. It's fun!
It’s a happy hammock.
These are my feet in the hammock.
I have an old Supertramp song in my head:
When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful, a miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.
And all the birds in the trees, well they’d be singing so happily, joyfully, playfully watching me.
(It's the Logical Song)
I have decided to be six years old.
Then I can do what I want. All day. There’s no mommy or daddy telling me that I can’t. I can eat when I want, drink when I want, sleep when I want.
It’s raining here, and I want to sit in my hammock.
Remember when life was magical, when you were a kid, wherever you were? When the awe of any new experience includes all your senses? When you jumped up and down just for the sheer joy of it? In puddles without boots on? When everything is overwhelming and you obsess wanting something to be done again and again? I had that feeling yesterday.
When I walked to the beach yesterday morning, it was low tide – the rocks were visible, the detritus of the night tide deposited on the beach. I became a little boy, walking among the rocks, jumping from one to the other, documenting what I saw – playing with the camera settings to show more contrast, ‘cause colour is fun, and recording. Playing in the surf, running along the shoreline, squishing my toes into the wet sand, finding my inner child once again. Putting down the camera and just watching the waves.
It was different this morning, as every day is different. The patterns change on the beach, the shells thrown into different places, the rocks and wood strewn around. Yet every day is the same, the tide coming in and going out, the water throwing up spray, the waves pounding into the shore.
As I lie here, I am reminded about how small and insignificant one person is...and as I talk to the people here, I reconnect with the world, and yet retain some of the wonder of being a child.
When I was in Canada, I wrote something about the ocean. I will paste it after the photos for someone out in Internet Land to read, if they have the time. Otherwise, enjoy the photos, and hug someone. Life is all about making connections to others, and to nature and to the child within us.
My favourite photos of the day
And of course the sunset...
We Are Sand - Landon Jones, 2011
As waves break along a shoreline, there is calm and a peace to the scene. The sun is setting, throwing calming light over the land. The water gently arrives and washes the beach, cleansing the day’s footprints and detritus. Yet, within the microcosm of this scene are raw power and pure order and chaos. For each grain of sand has been created by countless waves, each wearing down every pebble and shell into the smallest size. From a rock to a stone to a pebble to one grain of sand. The water powers along and has the vehicle of change within it.
It is as we are in this world. Every day presents us with a fresh beach. We strive to find order within the chaos and when it does not manifest, we leave our junk along the shoreline. The world has a way to create order within its chaos. The ebb and flow of this world presents us with many opportunities to shape our life. And yet, as we are all too painfully aware, it has the power to smash our day, our life, our dreams.
As we look closer at the beach, we see that there is pureness and beauty within the chaos, with the outcome always orderly every morning, every tide, when the beach is refreshed and made new. Such is our life, for when we work towards our goals, we strive for this perfection. And yet, if we look closer, there is no perfection: there is disorder and change in every grain of sand as it moves along the beach and is eroded by the forces of nature.
Our life gives us choices. Do we find that place in the sand where we are away from the water, where only the glare of the sun makes it too hot to move? Or do we trust that, as this grain of sand, such is our life. And we welcome the ebb and flow of the water into our day, for it helps us move. We do not stay static. Yet in the chaos of the day, we are part of the larger whole of the world. Each grain of sand clings to its neighbour, using and supporting them against the might of the water.
It is only through the time when we can stand together that we can build. Build up our world to embrace the changes that come, to sway gently in the surf, to strive for the peace of the low tide as we rearm ourselves for the changes that come with the new tide.
When you go out in the world, make sure you stand together as the energy flows around you. Be strong, and trust each other, for when we bond together, we become larger than the sum of the individual, we become that rock amongst the grains of sand. We fight the tide and we buffet the water. We are able to stay solidly in the world. We can work on building together.
I want to be six years old again too. Oh the things I would do differently if I had the knowledge I had today. But life takes you on this journey for a reason. JM
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