The only difference between a lake with waves and a lake without waves is the wind. A lake would be calm except for the wind. We would be calm if not for our thinking. We can tell how much of a turbulent effect the wind has on the lake by the size and strength of the waves. We can tell how much effect our thinking is having on us by the size and strength of our feelings. The wind is invisible. We can only feel the effects of it. Most of the thinking that affects us is also invisible. Our feelings are the only thing that tells us something is amiss.
– Jack Pransky, Somebody Should Have Told Us!: Simple Truths for Living
Notes:
- Video: DK. April 22, 2024 @ 5:30 am at Cove Island Park.
- Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.
- Inspired by: “It is exhausting, dizzying. It is good to feel all sorts of things, even the bad things that scare you, because they, too, push you in the direction of your convictions. — Sheila Heti, Alphabetical Diaries (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, February 6, 2024)
- Also inspired by: “When I look at my life I realise that the mistakes I have made, the things I really regret, were not errors of judgement but failures of feeling.” —Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? (Grove Press in 2012)
Oh, how I love this! Is that maybe why I love water and its waves so much? That I feel peaceful just standing, sitting at or walking along water? But maybe Jack could explain to this woman why she’s moved to tears over the slightest event, be it joyful, touching, beautiful, or sad? In later life, I’ve become a ‘water castle’ as we call it (built nr the water) – crying over nothing or everything. Mostly happy tears, I’d say, luckily. Now I can say, It is the waves….’
Mostly Happy Tears. Yes Kiki….
Yes, thanks!
Apparently, being easily moved to tears is a sign that the heart is opening. (After learning this, I’ve noticed the heart connection…one example is that old film clips or pictures of John Lewis often make me tear up.)
Yes, Val, that is exactly what it is! But it’s so much nicer to hear you saying it. 😉
My dad had this from age 68 or so. We were terribly embarrassed at the time and figured that he was becoming *an old man*….. It took a while to realise that he just (finally) was able to show his feelings openly. He buried them for many years, together with his experiences of WW2. God bless him ❤️
this illustrates the point perfectly
Yes! Thanks Beth.
Love the video, dk
Thank you for sharing
Thanks Sawsan.
Lovely. Have you read any Deepak Chopra? The quote reminded me of him (he’s made some mind/ocean analogies).
I have. And have enjoyed this writings Laila!
This is brilliant. “We would be calm if not for our thinking.”
So agree!
Love the sight and the sound! (Thank you…hope I can save this and revisit…)
Of course Valerie. Enjoy! Thank you.
turbulent effect – make waves /// gentle effect – soft breeze of the waves, cooling on a hot day/// a person can just Breeze into others life’s, gracing or Breeze on the Waves can uproot…while buoyancy can uplift…much can take place as the Wind impacts the Water…
Beautifully described Christie!