Lucky Me!
It's easy to find peace here. The Ocean pounds right outside our doors, keeping us in its rhythm, in its core harmony. We are connected to each other and the world by this constant pounding, splashing and thunderous clashing. We are just tiny voices here, lost in the sand of time and space.
Sometimes, we appear to shine, agates in the sun, catching the rays for a second, wet and sparkly and brand new. Agates are tiny stones, beaten and polished in their journey by all kinds of forces. Like agates, we end up here, on the shore, awaiting the final chapter of our days. The stories we could tell!
I've become a solitary walker, by choice. With each step, I weave a story, a narrative of losses and finds, of journeys that took me closer to what I wanted, and further from what I loved.
All narratives speak of our struggles and joys , our humanity.
With each story, with each walk, we find something new, a sign we missed yesterday, an object that reconnects us to our past.
Where do you find inspiration, threads for your narrative?
48 comments:
the beach is a great place for inspiration...love the sound of the surf. alas i am too far...so i enjoy the mountain paths...
Brian, we get our inspiration any way we can. I know you just have to open a refrigerator door and your imagination hums. Thanks for your support and encouragement.
so much of what I do is inspired by nature, even when I am not noticing it! My walks in the woods, along the mountain cove, at Lake J, etc -
Love the beach - don't get there often, but when I do, I love a beach walk (which is disappointing I didn't get to walk the beach last week at Daytona - dang)
wonderful post
this is so beautiful - I read it multiple times.
I like to walk alone as well and sometimes when I run/walk with my husband, we mostly walk quietly. That's when a million thought come into my head and some of them make it to the paper/blog :)
I love the way you write :)
One of my favorite things to do, although I only do it once per year, as it's a 3 hour drive is to go to Acadia National Park. I drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain and just sit and look at the view and get rejuvenated.
Thank you lakeviewer for visiting my blog today. I would love to stay connected.
Your post is very well written. I enjoyed it very much and I love the photo. What a lovely place to have at your doorstep!
Inspiration comes from so many places for many different reasons. I love my solitary walks as well mostly because it connects me with nature. I seem to be most inspired by water, lake, stream, ocean, pond.
thank you for your post
You are right...lucky you!! I love the water, any water and living on a coast must be heaven! What fun to see what things the sea brings!
You write so beautifully...that inspires me. Others creativity, inspires me, beauty and peace -inspire me. Having time to be creative is the most inspiring of all.
I know exactly what you mean. The sea has a hidden magic that is so therapeutic. Of course it has an angry, powerful, fearful side too.
Maggie X
Nuts in May
Dear Rosaria,
I needed the calm and peace you have so beautifully described here ... after that really crazy night at the Ball!
Stafford was the perfect gentleman, and the perfect replacement for Jude.
I love being by the sea. As a child I wanted to live at the coast but I never have. Most places I have lived have had a river which I suppose is the next best thing.
My inspiration comes from life. I can't be more specific than that.
Oh you are so very lucky!
Beach walking is always eventful....or at least inspirational!!
Walking is the best form of ""medication"" for my heart. I need at least one every day:)
Lovely post! Thank you. Your beach sounds so very inviting, especially for solitude. I too, live near the beach, but a more exposed and frequented location. Yet still it draws me, especially in times of pain. Years ago, during a very difficult time, my refuge was sitting on the rocks of the jetty, listening to the waves pounding against them and gradually having the sound and fury ease the knots in my soul.
Lovely post and photo! I lived on the beach in Maryland, for many years and I loved it. But, I don't miss the winters, so it's a trade off. Now I get my inspiration from being out on the bayou and basin, and the many fun outdoor events that we have here.
I was so excited this past summer to get back to the ocean. I know you are aware of how blessed you are - but still... Lucky, lucky you.
Everywhere and anywhere... I love to walk alone.
I love to walk in big cities surrounded by people as much as I love to walk a lonely beach.
Walking is one of my favourite things to do.
Unfortunately it is starting to get hot here, which limits the walks.
Happy walking and next time I'm down by the sea I'll wave across to you :)
xx
I'm envious of your walks and the beach--having grown up on the water. Beautiful photo.
How fortunate you are!!!! Such lovely walks so readily available...I'm almost envious!!! Lovely post as always...you have sparked my imagination with your walk!!! Thank you!!! ~Janine XO
Anywhere on planet Earth will do just fine!! Beaches are full of wonder.
I liked this post a lot.
The ocean does it for me too....especially the Pacific!
However, people would be my inspiration mostly these days, it's just I rarely get time to even jot it down, let alone blog it.
This post was beautifully written. I think I find inspiration in nature and books. I'm always looking to find answers in books, but just when one question is answered, I'm led on another quest. Books are like that. As for nature - there is nothing more spectacular than a shiny agate that has been tossed about from who knows where - or for how long.
the rhythm and beat of the ocean's waves... absolutely inspiring.
as for inspiration, that tends to pop at the most unexpected of times and places.
I agree with you. I'm blessed to live by the water as well and it really calms me and brightens my spirit. I usually like to bicycle along the water. There's often many people here, so it's not as solitary, so I prefer the bicycle to avoid the people and the noise.
Thanks for sharing this.
This was so beautifully written; I especially liked this, "We are just tiny voices here, lost in the sand of time and space."
I love your list of what you like to do, writing, reading, cooking, gardening, walking..... add beading into the mix and you have my retirement ; -)
Beautifully worded and I can relate. Quite is almost necessary.
Any body of water totally relaxes me and unleashes my mind.
I'm a solitary walker too Rosario, and can't wait to move back to Savannah where I'll be closer to my beautiful Tybee Island.
I have been too busy for any narratives and only quiet and peace stimulate any creativity that lies lurking in the corners of my mind. I rarely give it time to gurgle up...maybe someday.
I love walking - and that looks like a beautiful, peaceful place to find your thoughts.
reading this post was like reading poetry, rosaria.
i too love solitary walks on the beach, whenever i am able.
the line you wrote:
with each step, i weave a story, a narrative of losses and finds, of journeys that took me closer to what i wanted, and further from what i loved....
it made me almost cry. haunting, yet achingly beautiful.
"Where do you find your inspiration?"
All around me, looking at people, places, things, at my past. When you stop, look and listen, so many things talk to you.
What a delightful place to walk, as you so wonderfully tell it. Calmer, I think, than by our river, which is high and faster this year, because of all the rain.
My discoveries often come when I'm doing the dishes. That's usually a mindless activity for me. So mundane, I suppose, yet so necessary; not nearly as romantic as walking a beach. Sigh!
Beautifully written post, Rosaria...love the part about being well-worn agates, washed and shining in the sun.
Lots of things inspire me...but today it's the last part of the drive from Iowa to the Gulf of Mexico...the beauty of the Tennessee hills causes lots of dreaming...the quiet of a sleepless night allows for lots of problem solving and creativity...
Your musing was wonderful, Rosaria. You took me on that walk with you. I pick up smooth stones and gnarled wood to remind me of my journeys.
I'm inspired by your beach, and your photograph of it, just beautiful. I feel especially grateful to my blog friends today, for new ones like you, for older ones like Bonnie and George, yet older ones like Lorenzo and Susan, and those who have been with me from the beginning, like rauf in India. I really enjoyed your writing here. The rhythm of the ocean sounds great right now, and I will have to imagine it, through your words, which have provided amply. Thank you.
This is SO well expressed. I feel like you are a sister soul.
Aloha from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
I love the agates comparison. I find inspiration by looking up in Sicily!
I am a solitary walker too, and I love the beach. I can't imagine living anywhere but next to the ocean. The seagulls are my companions.
You're a wonderful writer.
You have such a beautiful place to contemplate! I have a lovely woods to roam and lately I've just been walking around the property and enjoying the smell of the fallen leaves and the crisp air of autumn...would love to be near the ocean but I think we can find peace anywhere if we look hard enough and be still long enough. I'm a lone walker too, although for many years enjoyed walking with my friend Donna who comments here too!
I would love to live near a beach. As it is, I find inspiration on long walks, with my dog, in the woods. Or just by enjoying sunsets over the lake.
Great picture!
Living on the east coast of Italy gives me access to the Adriatic Sea's beach - long, flat, lovely- and the Apennine Mts. - grand, majestic, gorgeous. I spend time in both and feel very grateful as well as inspired.
My eye. If I was blinded in my one good eye I would lose connection with the world that I find inspiration in.
The sea is 30 km from Rome so I often get inspiration from the Roman roofs I see from my windows. Or from the Roman ruins that are all around us during my solitary walks (by choice and not by choice.) Not that being surrounded by ruins is always that great. I recently saw 2012.
Sometimes I get inspiration from my library, in my study room. I am surrounded by books. Sounds a bit bookish I know, but it works for me. Sono un po' topo di biblioteca.
Soybeans on one side, corn on the other. The best time is in the fall--the soybeans turn yellow; the dry corn stalks rustle in the wind. Big sky.
This takes the place of beach for us.
Beautiful. A solitary walk does replenish the soul,but to be able to do so on a beach...heaven! Thank you so much for sharing this (there is poetry in you)!
Like you I am blessed to live near the ocean, and walk along it three times a week. Great exercise, time to think, and to thank God for the beauty he has created. I am a writer and sometimes find inspiration there.
I, too, love walking by the sea. It is such a healing, invigorating and renewing place for me. The waves seem to take away much of any of the pain and anger I might be feeling and help restore balance and harmony to me.
Sister.
You know where for me. On walks, to be sure, walking as much a part of me as breathing, but mostly in every crevice of my life. It is there, tiny mice in the corners, and it is all a lesson waiting to be learned.
xo
erin
wow beautifill blog...
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