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On August 10th, FibroDAZE is excited to be hosting PFAM and the theme is “Your Happy Place.” (We’ve all heard the expression “Find your Happy Place.” That may be a tough thing to do as a chronic chick. So this edition of PFAM asks “Where’s your Happy Place?”)
There are things that help me feel better on bad days (most of the time,) but there are other days, like today, when it just feels like no matter what I do, I can’t win for losing . . . On days like that, it starts feeling like there isn’t a “happy place” because nothing works.
When that happens, I drag out the headphones and the set of nature sounds CDs, and pick out a CD with ocean sounds on it. (I’m landlocked, and can’t afford to take a trip to the beach every time I need the ocean, so I bring the ocean home. I swear, if I can ever afford to, I’m moving somewhere I can get to a beach in less than an hour.)
I get nice and comfy, with hot packs if I need them; crank up the CD, lay back and visualize being at the beach. I’ve had this “fantasy” so many times that I can literally feel the warm ocean breeze and the sun on my arms; I can smell the salty, fishy, organic scent of the ocean; and can see the seagulls flying against the deep, rich blue of the summer sky. I can feel the hot, gritty sand under my bare feet; and then the cool, salty ocean surf as it splashes over them and recedes, over and over.
I walk down the beach, with the surf washing over my feet, and every time it recedes, it draws some of my stress and worry with it. With each wave it pulls more of the tension from my body, allowing me to relax and freeing my mind to find solutions and options that I couldn’t see while I was trapped in the rip tide, drowning in the violent swirls of my emotions.
I’ve always been happiest near the water, there’s something about it that soothes my soul and eases my mind. I love the ocean best; but lakes, rivers, koi ponds, even fountains or tiny streams will work. Hell, I even love the rain, although it makes my pain worse. I love the sound of it, pouring in solid sheets, battering the leaves and splashing in puddles; or gently sprinkling, quiet and soft, against the world.
I can sit for hours, just watching the flow of a river, the lapping of a lake, or the ocean surf, and never be bored. It feels as though my skin just absorbs the moisture in the air near a body of water; as though my skin is the root of some strange plant, absorbing nutrients from the air, soaking in something I need to live, to survive . . .something nameless, amorphous, unidentified and unidentifiable, but necessary for my survival.
Water is my happy place . . . water in all its amazing forms, from tiny droplets of fog to the gigantic majesty of the ocean; brings me peace.
Related articles
- PFAM – Where Is Your Happy Place? (hibernationnow.wordpress.com)
- on friendship, affirmations, and happy places (phylor.wordpress.com)
- a moment in time; a happy place (phylor.wordpress.com)
Beautiful imagery through words. I too like the ocean. Thanks for your entry to PFAM Wendy.
Thanks Kathy – I had an awful time getting started, but once I “hit the water” it just flowed . . . it made me realize that I don’t get anywhere near enough “water time” any more. Gonna have to mix up some bug repellent and spend some time by the pool. LOL
I agree, beautiful imagery. A wonderful happy place for you to go to. I hope you get the cash sometime to go back to the beach for real. Where is your favo(u)rite beach?
One of my creative visualizations involves a walk along a beach, with the waves washing away the bad/the painful/the regret on the out stroke, and bringing in calm, peace, stability,less pain on the inflow.
I like facing the ocean just a bit below the wave line, dig my toes into the sand, and get this incredible “rush” when the outgoing wave moves the sand beneath my feet and toes.
Trouble is I’m not that far from the ocean right now, but have no way to get there. Was once in May for a nice hike along the shore in one spot, and a quick walk along another beach we like. Hubby was only here for a short while, and he had lots of sorting stuff to do and help with the 2nd yard sale, so we didn’t get to do all the beach/canoe/outdoor stuff we like doing here.
Thanks phylor – I think it would drive me crazy to be close to the ocean and not be able to get there, maybe being landlocked isn’t such a bad thing after all. LOL Hopefully you’ll get more time by the water before the end of the warm weather. It’s really odd, I grew up in Ft. Lauderdale and spent a lot of time on the beaches there, but when I go into my visualization, it’s always this beach I’ve been to one time, in Myrtle Beach, SC. It was in the off-season, like March, there weren’t very many people there, and it was just beautiful.
Isn’t it interesting that so far we all have been drawn to water in its many forms. I too, love the water, having the ocean sounds is a fabulous idea. I will have to look into that. i keep seashells from wherever I go because I love looking at them and remembering the trip. Great blog!
It’s very interesting, Laurie (and thanks.) I used to have a huge collection of seashells, but in the moves lately, I’ve lost them all (except one.) I wish we could go visit my in-laws at their place on Watauga Lake in Tennessee, I miss them, and the lake is so peaceful in the early mornings around dawn. I’ve spent hours sitting on the deck watching the water while everyone sleeps, watching the light change from small glimmers reflecting the moonlight to the hazy gray just before dawn, listening to the birds waking and starting their mornings. Then, as the light grows, the geese come out with their goslings; investigating the shoreline for breakfast and swimming away.
Beautiful post!! And I’d come close to writing about water too, but for different reasons. These days I find it so soothing to be immersed in it and soothed by it – floating and weightless, feeling less pain from having nothing poking and prodding at me, no stress on all the muscles and joints. My lowest “pain scale” point in the last couple years (“only” a 6 on 10) was while floating in a warm lake on vacation with the family. Would love to go back to that moment! Glad you are using ways to get back to your happy place when you can, even if it feels like you have none.
~krismom
Thanks Krismom – I LOVE to soak in the tub, and would think I’d died and gone to heaven if we could afford a hot tub. It’s a major pain relieving strategy for me, and tends to keep the pain levels down for hours afterward.
[...] Wendy of Transform your Chronic Life wrote eloquently about using creative visualization and sounds to transport her to her happy place, the ocean, in http://transformyourchroniclife.com/wordpress/2011/08/05/my-happy-place-some-days-im-not-sure-i-have… [...]
Beautiful imagery. It’s so nice that you can escape to the water, even when you aren’t there.
I do think it’s ironic how many of us find water as a happy place. I too love it in many forms, especially natural, but also love my bathes, and pool therapy.
I know it’s hard to find a happy place some days. Heck, it’s down right impossible some times.
I’m glad you are finding a way.
wendy
Wendy – thank you. Some days it seems like you’ll never be happy again. I’ve found that when I’m really, really down, it’s time to check the “gratitude list” again. I keep it on the refrigerator, and every time I find something new, I add it. Once it gets full and all icky looking, I sit down and re-write it, combining where I can so there’s room again.