As I walked through the soft grass of the meadow the sounds of civilisation fell away slowly, muted behind me. A deep breath I would never think to take on the city street reveals the scents of nature’s presence on a gentle breeze. Wet grass, lemon blossom and petrichor. The tension in my head immediately started to ease. My smile deepened. I paused to listen. Distant bird song faded in and out and between their lyrics I heard another gentle voice. One I was familiar with.
Water, falling, chattering lightly as it fell down a hillside stream in soft waterfalls to a lake below. I broke into a run, impatient to be reunited with my sacred space. My excitement built as I ran down a slope, alongside the chattering stream towards the overgrown lemon grove, long since forgotten, that bordered the lake on its Western side. The smell of lemon blossom had intensified and I felt overwhelmed with joy, immersed now in the nature that surrounded me.
At the lakes edge I stopped, just long enough to ask permission of the space to allow me to be with it for a while, pouring a prayer of gratitude into the ether for its generous gifts of life and acceptance.
Now at this magical elemental place where earth, air and water met, I discarded my clothes and walked as gently as possible into the lakes edge. I did not want to disturb the stillness of its body. I wanted to become its stillness. As the waters skin met mine, it paused momentarily to greet me, then enfolded me softly into its being. I sank downwards as its unseen arms held me. My breath slowed. I felt the slightest movement as the water kissed my chin. As my body remained completely still, my eyes silently scanned my surroundings. Everything felt as I remembered it. I looked to the far side where tree roots grew deep into the bank and branches hung low to the water. I thought I caught a familiar flash of blue as a small bird dove with expert precision from a tree in and out of the water to alight on a branch again. A tiny fish wriggling in its beak. Ah the kingfisher! I love how everything exists here in harmony, it needs nothing from us. It just exists and is most perfect when undisturbed by us. That is why I always try to tread so gently here, to feel, more than to be felt. The sun shone down, its light creating the smallest slithers of rippled patterns on the surface. The kind an artist would seek to recreate as paint dries.
I felt like I was home. Where I should be. Where I feel nothing yet everything. As the temperature of the lake and my body equalised I slowly forgot my edges and became one with the lake. I closed my eyes and as I realised I had no further need for thoughts in my sacred place, I chose to switch them off.
Bliss state.
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