This week's topic is Intention - How You Want to Feel.
When I think of peacefulness, calm, and relaxation I am always drawn to water. On a weekly basis hiking to the babbling brook, or swimming laps at the rec. center until I hit that zen relaxed feeling. I love swimming the sidestroke – I am at one with the water as my eye is level with it and I experience the slight wave as I glide almost effortlessly. Most vacations center around water; my husband thinks I’m part fish as I could snorkel all day. The love of water goes back to my childhood.
You see, my Grandma lived on a lake. Our family spent many weekends at her place, often with our cousins playing games on the lawn, cookouts, and hours upon hours swimming. We would get to stay at Grandmas for a few days by ourselves in summer. That was pure joy (having three sisters can wreck havoc during summer vacation!) Grandma would make her famous peach pancakes for breakfast, with a peanut butter and butter sandwich, lemonade and cookies for lunch. Picking hazelnuts in the driveway, apples from the trees and enjoying her hydrangeas were the sights and smells of summer. Lazing on the lawn and swimming all day was nirvana. Not sure any other words that fits.
We were not allowed to use an innertube (poor man’s flotation device) until we passed our dad’s swimming test – the length and back of our Grandma’s front yard. Of course, we all eventually passed and spent many a day lazing on the innertubes. My sisters and I would swim the across the lake every summer – always careful of the motor boats of course! In the evenings you could hear the music playing from across the lake at the event center. I can almost smell the water as I recount the memories. When I am stressed, in pain, cannot sleep or need help meditating I go back to the sights, sounds and memories of my Grandma’s lake.
I am so thankful that I have these awesome memories to recount, as I know that not everyone has experienced this blissfulness in childhood. So, take a moment with me…Hear Grandma calling you to breakfast, the birds chirping, the sound of the water hitting the shore, and the lapping noise of the oars from a rowboat. Smell the peach pancakes cooking, the coffee percolating (for young ones you will have to google that!), smell the apples as they are picked from the tree, the hydrangeas, the smell of water, the lily pads, and the motorboat engines from a distance. Feel the water – first as you tiptoe into the lake and then the fateful jump in – oh that’s cold! Feel the green grass beneath your bare feet, the warmth of the sun and the cooling breeze. See the beautiful blue water, the evergreen trees, beautiful tended flower bed, and sky speckled with puffy clouds – what do you see in the clouds?
Let go of what troubles you and enjoy your own virtual vacation on Grandma’s Lake. Embrace the feelings of peacefulness, calm and relaxation.
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