[ Home | Contents | Archive | Post | | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Foxfires
Date: 05 Apr 2004
Time: 13:04:17 -0500
Remote Name: 66.45.216.45
Heyla to you, Nick! I found your question intriguing for many reasons, and would love to officially 'dive in' to the forum by adding my thoughts. I can only speak for myself in that the daily rushed spiral of activity and sensory overload has given me some very surprising gifts in return. My dreams at night have become lush, sprawling epics. Now, mind you, I have always had the pleasure of dreaming in vivid detail. But over the past two years, I have seen a distinct change in the way that I dream. For every day that is chaotic and blurred by the frantic pace, I have a dream that slows down into cinematic grandure. If my day was particularly stressful, I am almost giddy to climb into bed and start the journey into dreamland. It's as if my brain is spooling all the lovely things that I neglected, forgot, surpassed and otherwise ignored due to a lack of time. Fortunately, I have the creative side of me that takes these dreams and works them into something. Whether that's a bit of art, or some writing... anything that helps me dive *out* of the red zone of a work day. After staring at a computer screen all day... having something tangible to shape and sculpt is a huge relief. The slow and steady pace of piecing together artwork, or writing in a journal by hand is balm to the microwave mindset of the world around me. The other gift that sensory overload has pushed up from the rocky soil is the ability to remember back to my childhood, and reflect on days that are so opposite of what I experience now. It has only been in the past few years that I have realized what treasures these memories are. It was one of the main reasons I started my website, and my 'Blog' (online diary). They have started to surface in the same detailed way my dreams have. There is nothing hazy about these recollections. They are so intricate and tangible that after I have written them down and shared them with my siblings, I am met with awestruck responses of "I totally forgot about that! It's as if I were right there..." And I'm certain they didn't forget. They simply shoved the capacity to process these things into the background, because it *takes time*. It takes time to remember. To allow yourself to sit back, close your eyes... and bring to the surface all those treasures buried deep. And too often our world insists on filling our time and conciousness for us. We weren't made to live a life spent treadmilling at breakneck speeds. While we are wonderfully adaptable beings, our minds and hearts weren't meant to be bombarded by what we experience and see all around us in this modern world. Many are unable to process it already - and the tear in the fabric is obvious... at least to me. Another folly I see others stumble upon is that when they *do* have free time, the fill it immediately with 'being entertained'. A family vacation comes around, and every minute is accounted for. Whirling dirvishes, spinning from one activity to the next. Even nature lovers suffer from this syndrome! They are so busy biking, hiking, climbing, swimming, rafting, pogo-sticking around the land they love the most... they forget to just stop. Just.. stop. Sit. Be. Take up a few square feet of ground for an afternoon, and just... be. I like to think that people who realize the benefits of doing this, can catch a glimpse into a parallel world that is lost to all others. One where there is wonderment to be had. One that proves there are still mollasses afternoons that run on forever. But you have to be *present* in order to hone in on that enigmatic little stitch in time. Brain, body, emotions, soul...imagination all focused on the art of slowing time down. It's like a world within a world, and only certain ones have found the key that was lost so long ago. ~*~Foxfires~*~