I love being near water. Oceans, lakes, rivers- they all nourish my soul and replenish my spirit. My dream is to one day live in a house on the coast. I don’t need an actual beach, just a cottage on a hill with a view of the ocean and a screened-in porch. I am naturally a hurried, driven person; being near water helps me to slow down and stay in the moment. (My sister, who knows a lot about Eastern philosophies, might say that as a Leo, which is a fire sign, I need water to balance me. Incidentally, my husband is a water sign.) Whatever the reason, I always feel my most whole when water is near.

I have noticed, though, that the type of water body alters this feeling in subtle ways. This summer, we took vacations to both an ocean and a lake. When I was at the lake, I felt calm, peaceful, serene. I got a lot of creative ideas. When I was at the ocean, I felt all churned up. For the first two days I was there, I actually felt a lot of anger, and it was only when I stood on the shore and acknowledged that anger that I was able to let it go. The rest of the vacation, I felt buoyantly happy. The ocean, for me, is about passion and emotion; the lake is about peace and creative thought.

Where do you go when you need peace? When you seek clarity? When you need to let go of something?

In other news, I would still love some more response to the short story I posted last week. I know it was read by many (though it got less traffic than my usual posts, likely because I wasn’t posting the links on Facebook and Twitter, as part of my social media vacation) but so far I’ve only gotten a few responses. If you missed it, here are the links:

Midnight Snack, Part 1, Midnight Snack, Part 2, Midnight Snack, Part 3, Midnight Snack, Part 4, Midnight Snack, Part 5