When my friend can't walk with me, I change my track. I go into the city for the ultimate harbourside views (benefits of walking near water here).
Unbeknownst to me there was a half marathon on so I couldn't do my usual path so gave up after a few kms.
I would make up the distance later in the day walking to lunch, and I made my way back to the car.
I stumbled across a delightful community street garden with advice on when to pick the lemons on the tree (of which there were none) and this:
That is a real COMMUNITY garden!
I put this in B&W and got my friends to guess the colours of the bike and fence - the bike they got quickly but the fence took a few hours and some hints...
While walking the dog on my return, there was a broken mirror so I tried to get the dog to see herself but she lacked the interest and was more impatient for the interruption to her journey.
Anyway, as Frank Turner would say 'If you're all about the destination then take a xxxxxxxx flight!...[I'm] going nowhere slowly but [I'm] seeing all the sights!' He's so great - if you ever get a chance to see him, go!! (There is swearing in the song so NSFW)
It may not be what was planned but it was still good for the soul!
If you haven't already been, this is a great time to visit the Chau Chak Wing Museum. It's free to visit and has a wnnderful permanent collection of antiquities from Ancient Eygpt, Ancient Greece and the Roman era. There is also art and photography from modern times and even a lego display!
The Biennale exhibtion is displayed on three floors, and really moving. The Biennale of Sydney runs until June 14 and is showcased around the city, with the main building being the fabulous White Bay Power Station.
I think this year's selection is very moving and accessible to the non art educated. I found it really got me thinking about things, as well as often looking very fun and pleasing but with a sinister meaning. Making the invisible visible seems to be the thread linking a lot of the works this year.
These were clever but they don't really work in the photos. Before going to the exhibition, I took this photo while walking form the car. It's funny how the human mind works. We are never quite as unique as we think....
#Allseasons linky runs from Thursday to Wednesday each week.
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.
Make sure you link back to this #AllSeasons post.
Please comment on the post before yours and the host. Don't dump and run.
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?
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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