Craving Escape
What is it that tires us during our daily and weekly routines? What does it mean to crave a space to repose from our reality?
No matter what stage and state of life we find ourselves in, we will crave a shift of perspective once in a while from our daily life patterns. How often that while is, is unique to each of us and the way we live. Perhaps it is a daily craving for a moment’s escape – for others, it might be a longer time-scale between routine and repose.
We do not need to reach a stage of frustration or exhaustion to get to this point, and it is healthy to recognise when is the opportune moment to take a step away from our daily routines and gain a new point of perspective…
Natural Light
Getting out and into the open air is one of the most integral parts of being a human. No matter how far the society we live in advances, we simply cannot escape this. And it’s great! We live in such a beautiful world, and seeing it is a real privilege. In a time where it is so normal to be addicted to artificial light – whether from phones, television or artificially-lit workspaces, it is so vital to get outside to allow our eyes and mind to adjust to natural light.
Seeing the changes of light between seasons, subtleties of scents as they change under different weather… so many small details are very often lost during the passing of daily life as we move from A to B and back again.
In some parts of the world, such as Norway and Sweden, this regular escape into nature is normal, with many families having a cabin in the woods to escape away to and allow their senses to be completely saturated in natural surrounds.
Rest & Downtime
Down-time and dim lights are perhaps one of the most under-appreciated areas in our modern lives. Constantly saturated by stimulus, whether from artificial light or technology, we so rarely get to properly clock off and wind down before reaching a state of rest. Making this a part of our daily rituals is just as vital to our overall health as it is to our capabilities of productivity in the following day.
Living in Scandinavia, where winters are so dark, it is fascinating to see how many people structure their days with light – starting the day in a gently-lit way, transgressing to brighter-lit surroundings and finally, receding once again back into the darkness of night. Strangely enough, I feel more in tune with a natural rhythm of light than when I lived in a very light-saturated environment in Australia. This consciousness of light, where light is either extremely presence or absent, has brought an awareness of its effects upon daily vitality during awake-hours and wind-down potential during the quiet hours very much to the foreground of daily routine-making.
Rejuvenation
A very simple and effective way of shifting our perspective on a daily basis, is to take a moment at the end of a day and think of a few things that we are grateful for. The concept itself can sound a little like a gimmick, and something that will last a few weeks before fading away into the “tried that out” box of life… but really taking a moment to reflect on what we are grateful for can re-wire the way that we see the world and the methods we use to cope with changes.
This constant gravity toward gratitude is a wonderful way to maintain and observe a healthy state of mind as we move into a state of rest. Sleeping from a state of this positivity is really healthy for us in so many ways. Perspective is everything. We can really lose track of how to live as we get lost in day to day life – and it’s not until we step away that this becomes clear.
There is nothing personal about craving a space from the life, and the people, we love most. It is healthy to step away once in a while, see the world with new eyes and renew our perspective on our life. These escapes can be worked into routine, in a macro or micro way. A short walking meditation, dipping our toes into the ocean (if it is nearby), taking a moment to listen intently to music or sounds of nature… we can find short moments of escape much more easily than expected, and the effects ripple into the framework of our daily lives.
