| Movement |
| Written by Talyaa Liera | |||
| Thursday, 29 January 2009 15:34 | |||
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It feels like I've been sitting since early December. Oh, wait. I have been. I don't think I've been outside since November. For someone used to being active and outside, this was a huge change. I went inward, contracted, became smaller. It was time to do something about that. I live near a lake, in an outdoorsy community about fifteen minutes outside a smallish city in the northwest corner of Washington state. It's an hour south of Matthew in Vancouver B.C. (long story, but Canada wants me to maintain a residence in the U.S., or anywhere but Canada, so I've been here officially since December) in an area covered by tall tall evergreen trees. It's not for nothing they call this the Evergreen State, and it's one of the most beautiful areas I've ever been to, let alone lived in. It was time to get outside and be a part of it. It was quiet. I could smell the trees. After 40 minutes my hands felt warm, unclenched from their frigid whiteness. I walked up steep wet hills and down, my covered ears leaking white cords attached to the music of Augustana and Calexico/Iron & Wine (I dare you not to get chills from that one), among others. I was moving. It felt good. My legs stretched with pleasure, finally unbent and uncurled from where I have been holding them in contracted stasis since November. I let my arms swing. I took deep breaths of the evergreen-scented air. Movement feels good to me. I've said before that if you feel stuck emotionally, move. Move energy. Clean something. Make a change. Any change. Do something, anything, and eventually the feeling of stuckness dissipates. But we hold onto our stuckness. We allow ourselves to become covered by it, immersed in it, clothed in it. We allow our stuckness to become us. I think we all do this, and I am as guilty as anyone. Ask Matthew! He says over and over that movement, any movement, feels better to him than stasis. And so he provokes. I hate the provoking. To me it feels like pushing and I hate feeling pushed. I am very very happy to push myself, and I do this over and over, setting often impossible goals and expectations for myself, but just don't push me. He knows this and pushes anyway. And it's okay. Things do eventually move, and then we both feel better. I thought about all this while walking. I breathed in the evergreens and watched my breath come out in clouds. I felt my muscles moving. I felt myself bringing change. Every step was creating something new. What about you? What are you creating in your life? What do you do when you feel stuck? 
Related Articles Comments (2)
  written by artofreed, February 04, 2009
Hello, Good for you to live in a quiet place near a lake.. makes you relax and health.
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I went for a long walk today.
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Anywhere but Canada??