Back at the beach

We are in Varkala at the beach.  As usual, there isn't much to say about the beach.  This is some down time where we don't do much of anything except sleep and eat and swim and jump in the waves. 

 

Actually, the sun is so HOT here in the afternoons that I find myself having long tracts of time during which to read, or just watch the wind blow through the coconut palms.  Sometimes I watch the fuzzy black and grey crows fly around and steal food from the garbage cans.  Other times we read and read and read until our bums get numb.  At night after the sun has sunk into the haze that seems perpetually on the horizon and the sea and sky are deep purple, you can gaze out and feel that you might fall into the cosmos.  The only thing reminding you of your tether to the earth are the fishing boat lights bisecting the horizon.

 

It is strange that until now I have felt that we have been travelling madly, quickly, seeing sights and smelling smells and swimming in warm seas and despite the fact that we are on "vacation", it did not seem very relaxed.  Now we are starting to relax and slow down and be more in the moment. 

 

There was one time that we were in Thailand and had climbed up the mountain to see a big Buddha (REALLY BIG) and there was this huge bell that this monk was clonging every few minutes and the sound kind of got under your skin and into your head and up the back of your neck, it was such a deep and booming sound. And the monk told us that we should get in UNDER the bell, INSIDE the bell, and it was so big that Nathan and I could actually fit if we sat side by side.  So we sat in the bell and the monk rang the bell while we were inside and he was saying some kind of prayer while we were in there, surrounded by sound.  And we sat for a while and then kind of looked at each other and the monk was still saying the prayer (I THINK...he was speaking Thai) and so we stooped out and got up and went to see the BIG BUDDHA.  But when I look back to that moment, if I hadn't been looking ahead and in a hurry, we might have stayed in the bell for longer, and listened until the monk had finished his prayer and pulled us both bodily from under the bell, ears ringing and spirits soaring. 

 

I think that now, I might have the patience and the...the
"moment-ness" to stay in the bell.

 

But I think it may take 6 months after leaving the day to day life of work and food preparation and friends and on-call to slow down enough to live more in the moment.  At least, it took me 6 months.

 

Here's hoping that you have time to find the moment.

ACDB