What a lovely weekend I spent in Valencia! It turned out to be (resultó ser) quite different to what I was expecting, but it was nevertheless really enjoyable.
My favourite part was undoubtfully the afternoon we spent at the beach. To me there is something about the beach that I feel connects me with some primal (primario) instinct, something maybe similar to what our primitive ancestors felt in the presence of the sea and what it probably represented for them; an abundant source of food and maybe of enjoyment too.
When I am at the beach there are two things I love doing above all; one of them is just looking at the blue horizon in the distance and letting myself be mesmerized (hipnotizada) by the waves (olas), seeing them coming and going, hearing the monotonus sound of the ocean.... In those moments I have an overwhelming (sobrecogedor) feeling of complete gratitude to life for allowing me to enjoy such sight (vista).
The other thing I enjoy so much is going for slow walks, distractedly looking at whatever there is lying on the sand; shells, insects, algae, pebbles (piedrecitas)... And again, I feel that these "inspection walks" were exactly what the primitive women-gatherers (recolectoras) used to do, maybe looking for some sorce of proteins for their offspring (crías), maybe trying to make a mental map of what kind of life there was in that part of the world...
___________________
Some years ago I read an article about how to build a happier brain. According to Dr. Rick Hanson, a neuropsychologist, "our brains are naturally designed to focus on the negative, which can make us feel stressed and unhappy even though there are a lot of positive things in our lives (...)"
What he suggests is that "we should train our brains to appreciate positive experiences when we
have them, by taking those extra 10, 20, 30 seconds to focus on them and install them in
the brain."
The beach is definitely one of those places where I take the time to take in (absorber) the good... How about you?
No comments:
Post a Comment