Tell us about water

Walking to Fairy Meadow Beach, Wollongong

I don't have a waterfront house or live at the beach. I am an inner city mouse,without a love of the great outdoors other than as a tourist.I do however, have a strong pull to water. Without thinking, I am drawn to it. I find it calming and it relaxes and resets my emotions.

Lately, I've been reading a little as to why. This Instagram account @Goodneuroscience posted about Blue space. According to this article, blue space is anywhere  natural or man made, dominated by water. Lakes, Oceans, Fountains, you get the idea.

I like to exercise near water, and as I arrive to the harbour, I feel a shift. I feel it like a smile in my body, an inhale and release as I round the corner and see the water for the first time.

I thought it was just me appreciating how lucky I was to live near the beautiful Sydney Harbour. It is, in actual fact, a shift in my autonomic nervous system. This nervous system is what controls heart rate and breathing, among other things. Being near water calms it, increasing the function of the parasympathetic system. (This article goes into detail on the nervous system,  but the short version is it slows heart rate & enhances immunity. The signs of parasympathetic dysfuncion include stress, disturbed sleep, emotional reactivity and lack of energy). 

 

Fairy Meadow Beach, Wollongong

Even just seeing or hearing water for a few minutes can reduce cortisol.  So that feeling is not in your head, as I had assumed it was. It's biological.

The other effect water has is 'soft facination'. This means it draws your attention, without being intrusive. Waves, ripples, a running stream are constantly changing (but not threatening, so you brain engages effortlessly).
I would also add reflections but I don't know if that's part of it (or scientifically correct). I am always scanning for light and reflections in water.

I want to quote the instagram post and I will link directly when I can find it. "Directed attention depletes. When it does you feel mentally exhausted, irritable, and unable to concentrate.

Water gives it space to recover".

So that refreshed feeling after walking by water or lying by the beach is more than just happiness and well being, as I thought. It's a brain reset. This is called Attention Restoration Theory, and you can read more in this article.

The other side affect of this soft fasination is that it quietens the default thinking - the rumination, the running lists in the background, the anxious or negative inner nmonolgue, it all can't start up because your brain in distracted by the water. Again paraphrasing the instagram post, the water gives your brain an anchor that requires no effort and causes no stress.

Blue Mind theory is explained in this article. There are a number of physical and mental benefits from being near water. And you can use that for your good mental health and wellbeing.

This post also has some suggestions how to utilise this information, even if you don't live near water. Scroll to the end.

I found it interesting that I did so much of this intuatively, though I gave the feeling and mental shift I noticed different causes. While I get an F for my natural scientific deduction, I get an A+ for my health influencer ideas...and I really enjoyed reading futher into the subject.

I know it means something else, but it is still applicable. There's truth in the Slovakian proverb 'Pure water is the world’s first and foremost medicine.'

Have you noticed you feel a shift when you spent time near water?

 

Each of us needs what nature gives us, when nature gives it. Marcus Aurelius

 With everything going on in the world at the moment, sometimes just focusing on the tiniest beauty in nature is grounding and calming.

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. Rachel Carson

Linking with #WeekendinB&W

(Colour shot is here)

Comedy Gold

Why did the Bin Chicken cross the road?

 Linking with #GardenAffair - bird

Reflection

 You can see how taken I was with my stay at the Little National Hotel....this is my third post on it!

Full Review is here, and kooky Inception is here.

This reflection was too good not to share - real lifre literally reflected on the tv!

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Urban Safari

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My husband is off to Cape Town for the marathon, and as we have the HSC in this household, I'm stuck at home (but don't worry, my turn is coming, and it's WILD!). I just booked him on a safari to see the Big 5. I'm very jealous...so here's my own hometown version...with the small 5.

This egret was stomping round the beach while we were touring Wollongong.

As was the art work above.

And below. 

This little guy popped out while we were walking home from the Manning Bar after Daniel Kitson's Comedy Festival show. 

Every visit to the Opera House for me requires enough time to pop down to the stairs and see if the seal is there. Never fails to make me smile!

And after every successful hunt, you display your trophies....(these are at the Biennale of Sydney...not mine, obvs.)

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The Little Things - April

READ When I was pregnant with my first child, I discovered Ariel Gore. I read The Mama Trip and the Hip Mama Survival Guide (I thought it was called something about Pregnancy but it's been renamed?). Over the years I would read her essays whenever I found them. Then not long ago I read her book on Happiness. Last week I stumbled across End of Eve, about the death (and drawn out dying) of her Mother. It's interesting to have read as both she and I evolved in our life journey at the same pace. I feel a strange connection to someone I don't know but know so much intimate detail about. 

I thought The Rest of Our Lives had a 'voice' very simillar to Lawrence Naumoff. I loved him in my late teens and early 20's, and there are 2 books written since I stopped devouring his work, so I've ordered them.

I've also ordered a Sparke Hayter book - I read all her books - such fun - back in the 90s. I've ordered Last Girl Standing because the website said it was published in 2017 but according to Wiki it was 2005, so there's a good chance I already have it and already read it...c'est la vie.

I'm trying to find out what Vicki Iovine is up to at the moment, as she and Gore were intertwined in my reading in that period.  Matching pace with babies and toddlers etc. If anyone knows, please let me know. It appears maybe she's just retired...

So I am reaching out through the years to authors that filled my life with vibrancy. I am seeing how they are now, though my current lens, of course, which is older and maybe wiser than it was.

Do you go back to long forgotten authors who you adored in a period in your life?

WATCHED Been going to a lot of comedy - Daniel Kitson, Daniel Schloss and He Huang were all great (note she still has dates in Sydney, Brisbane and New Zealand on sale). It's great to catch up regularly with a girlfriend I don't see often, and it's really great to laugh - cheap laughs too (so to speak) for the most part. Get out and take a punt on someone! Went to The River - it's an interesting play. I enjoyed it a lot. Also Sistren and Drive your plow over the bodies of dead animals. No movies at the cinema - try as we might there's just nothing on....

HEARD Been listening to the solo albums of Chimano since I discovered he's moved here and has a show on in Sydney this June. Alas I'm in Hobart that weekend but details here.

MADE Not much of a hole in clearing out. The book library is constantly full, working on finding homes for some CDs we will never listen to again (which honestly is all of them as we don't have a CD player except in my car which we are about to sell...)

WORE Not so much what I wore, but what I would wear, if I could get my hands on it, from the Vivienne Westwood exhibition at the NGV. I was amazed at how current she is, from back in the 1980s. She foresaw a lot of current trends, but was just incredibly early to create them! All the pics are dresses I would love to wear, and/or similar to my current styles.

I did get this bag in Melbourne from a fabulous social enterprise, Beekeeper Parade, which will have it's debut outing tonight....

MY TOP THREE MOMENTS FROM THE MONTH GONE BY I love doing this each month, and I really love that it's so hard to narrow down to three.

1. My Mother's Day celebration. We went bowling and played laser tag and arcade games. I love laughing and playing with the kids like we used to and I love watching them play together. It's so special, as I wrote in this post in 2024.

2. Ultra weekend - it's always such a vibe. Great food and fun dancing and being in the festival crowd.

3. Visiting Universities with my youngest was pretty special. Lovely to see what excites her and where she might be living. Miles stone moments for sure!

What's been your highlights?

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#TrafficJamReboot #TheMonthlyWrapUp

Autumn Skies

I don't know what it is, but the light changes with the season. Or maybe just the time of the light changes so suddenly I'm out and about for it.

It's taking longer for things to dry outside - not enough heat in the sunlight, or length of sunlight hours before the shade moves in.

Pretty though....I guess it's time to plan a chilly, crisp getaway.....

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Link one post that shows something seasonal. Traditional weather wise, a seasonal nature marker or a seasonal celebration or event.  Please link relevant posts only.

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