Rejuvenate

“There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls.”                   Howard Thurman

Re-juve-nate : to give new strength or energy to [something]

I am reading for the 3^rd time Gift from the Sea, the intimate reflections of Anne Morrow Lindbergh written while on a vacation of solitude and contentment by the sea.  Taking time away from her husband, Charles Lindbergh and her 5 children was a restorative time for her as a writer, as a woman, mother, and wife.  Being close to the sea she was able to find a space for contemplation and creativity within her busy life and put into words the importance for one to find that “state of grace” within them.  In the book, she goes on to say “By grace I mean an inner harmony, essentially spiritual, which can be translated into outward harmony.”  In other words, we are either in balance or out of balance.  And like a trapeze artist walking a tight rope we have to find the inner core that keeps us and our lives in harmony.  For Anne Morrow Lindbergh she found her rejuvenation while at the seaside.  Where do you find yours?

While reading I began to think of what rejuvenates me, what makes my bliss bubble over?  For me, the rejuvenation comes from a lovely spot in the Santa Ynez Valley.  When I am rounding the top of the San Marcos pass a panoramic view of the valley comes into sight that takes my breath away. The beauty of the valley leaves me with a sense of peacefulness and bliss that I am hard-pressed to find elsewhere.  As I cruise along the 2 lanes of highway 154 the smallest hint of blue plays hide and seek with the trees and then like a wild brushstroke across a canvas Lake Cachuma comes into full view and beauty.  Again my heart skips its beat as a breath of bliss leaves my lips. It is my state of grace and it manifest as an actual physical sensation that engulfs me.  My life is somehow lighter.  My thoughts have a clearer direction.  The weight of time is more buoyant. Soon I’ll be immersed in the vineyards surrounded by the best of friends, wine, stories, and clocks that have forgotten to count time.

A close friend discovered her rejuvenation in New Hampshire on Squam Lake.  The first email she sent from the renovated 1947 summer camp was describing the song of the Common Loons at dusk when the light forms a cocoon-like atmosphere around the shore.   After sundown, the North Woods lakes reverberate with the echoes of the water birds lonesome wails that lull most to sleep along the lakefront.  My friend was in this enchanted spot for a woman’s organic arts retreat.  This commune of artistic free flight and the peacefulness of her surroundings rekindled her thoughts for a simplification of her life.  The clock that once ticked off the time to have her children was now set to quietly but incessantly remind her to rebirth herself.  The time had come to explore those forgotten dreams, revisit the long ago goals, harvest the bounty that time had delivered with age.  Her thoughts while walking around the lake at dusk were continually surrounded by the haunting call of the Common Loons. She felt this touching wail of the loons was a call to her soul and she was listening.  To abandon her dreams now would leave her like a lake without a flight of loons bringing on the dusk.  It would be unimaginable.   She knew she was ready to nurture her artistic muse and to conquer the wilderness of the unknown.  As darkness descended her future was full of light.

What if one lives in the serenity of the desert. Surrounded by the famous purple haze enveloping the mountains at sunset and the constant breeze blowing in at 72 degrees in the dead of winter.  Where does one go to find their rejuvenation?

Where else?  New York City!  Not in the dead of winter but in the warm glow of fall. It is a perfect time, just as the air is turning crisp and the daylight around 4:00 has a special light not found at other times of the year.  What better place to view the changing of the leaves than Central Park. And the changing of the windows at Bergdorf Goodman than New York.

For another good friend, this is her shot of adrenaline.  Out of the desert vistas and into the canyons of skyscrapers.  She is revitalized by the blaze of yellow taxis gliding down Park Avenue. The hustle of the street vendors selling goods “right off the runway.” The heart-stopping fear when you have to beat the light crossing the street. The chorus of international languages mixed in with the ever-present New York accent.  This is her bliss. It’s all soul candy.

She knows that in 5 days she can see 4 shows and 4 museums.  In the morning she can lounge with the New York Times. Snuggled in bed at the boutique hotel paid with points. In the evening, after a totally enjoyable play, she will settle down for dinner at 10:30. The crowded restaurant will revive memories of being young and just beginning your night at that very European hour.  But most of all she is revived and touched to the core by Lincoln Center at twilight.  Aglow with the magnificent architecture of its buildings, fountains, and walkways and where else can you see beautiful Chagalls hanging in the windows – only in New York.  And what better, more honest place to rejuvenate and speed up your heartbeat than the center of the universe…or so New Yorkers believe and it seems the energy backs up the claim!

What rejuvenates you?  Please leave me a comment.  I would love to know what the terrain of your interior landscape looks like and what inspires you.