Silence is a troublemaker

‘Our thinking is like a boat on the water, pushed along by the waves and influenced by the wind.’

Hazrat Inayat Khan

And what happens to our thinking when the boat is on the water but there is no wind nor waves and only silence?

What does it do to your mind if this happens at the start of the trip, scorching sunshine and a temperature of 30 degrees? Yes, this does happen in Scotland! Blue skies, no wind, no waves.

My thoughts go haywire in the boat! I’m towing all the work I did not get round to do before the holiday, in a plastic inflatable boat behind my kayak. My boss is staring stern at me, like a figurehead on the bow of my boat. There are colleagues hanging on my paddle whispering things to me that slipped through my fingers. And I’ve got students clinging on at the back of the kayak. Some whining, others crying or looking seriously displeased. All blunders and mistakes of the school year pop up like seals next to my boat scaring me half to death each time they emerge.

Kayaking is a hazardous buzziness in fair weather, silence is a troublemaker in my head.

In windforce 4 or 5, with a bit more waves, the occupants of my boat cannot hold on in these conditions. I’m way too busy to pay them much attention, let alone rescue them!

My boss will be bashed from the bow of the boat and one by one my colleagues can not longer hold on to my paddle. My students stick around for just a bit longer, they need windforce 6 to wash off the back of the boat.

The sturdy imaginary inflatable boat lingers around until week three of the journey. It needs to be punctured on some rugged rocks. As I don’t want the plastic thing to litter the beach, I stow it deep in a recycling bin. #befantasticpickupsomeplastic, as my contribution to clean oceans!

With the weather fronts coming from the ocean, also the silence drifts slowly in from the south-west. With every paddle stroke I make, life and thoughts slow down. The vast nature around me nurtures my soul. Silence becomes bliss.

Do you regognise this thought proces during the holiday’s? How do you cope with annoying thoughts hanging around like a cloud of angry midgies. Leave me a comment.