Can Water Heal?

The sun is shining today and the temps have risen above 32 degrees. (The magic number for freezing as any northern climate resident knows!) The months have passed and spring seems to be right around the corner. It is a time of great joy for me. My hibernation period over. The stress of snow driving gone. I can relax into the easing of the thaw and greenery to come before the busy time of summer.
 
When we moved to the tropics I had one answer as to why. “Winter.” I would say emphatically. It was. Winter and I don’t’ always get along. I love being outside. I love sunshine. And I love open water. Those three things are taken away from me during winter. ( No. I have not found a winter sport to get me outside yet. ;)
 
We are not back in West Michigan. (Family and familiar.) It is the home I love. It is the land I love and the land that loves me. But winter still does not. It hides me inside and keeps me down. It holes me up and chills me out. It’s a necessary part of the rhythm of life. I do love the seasonal change. But the 5 months of winter up north here is a bit much for this sunshine girl to take!
 
So today when it hit 40 degrees, I felt free. I felt alive. I felt hope. I felt possibility again. It was a good feeling.
 
A better feeling? Knowing that with the warmer temps will come the thaw. The thaw that unfreezes the waters is just right around the corner.
 
I am a lake lover, always have been. Growing up near the shores of Lake Michigan the water is in my blood, The fresh air oxygen, clear salt free-ness of the big lakes is why I am back in Michigan. The ocean has its charms (and my dolphins!) but the fresh water  is life. And the big lakes are indeed fresh water oceans. (If you have never been, you must go.)
 
There is something about open, flowing, lake water that frees my soul and calms me down like nothing else on this earth. Looking at the real estate prices of waterfront, it would appear I am not alone.
 
The waves come in, they go out. The movement, the constant change of color, of mystery, of aliveness in that motion acts like a rocking bassinet. I feel cradled. I feel supported. I feel safe. I feel loved in the simple act of looking at that water. Nothing else does this for me.
 
I love my sky. I love my woods. I love my open fields and I have even loved a few mountains in my life. But the water? The water is life. The water is everything to me.
 
Currently we live on a little lake, a pond compared to the giant water of our Lake Michigan. But it is water. And when the days stay above 40 degrees, and the sun comes again, that water too shall melt. And the waves will come and my spirit will soar, and I will be unfrozen again.
 
We all have something that feeds us, that calms us, that grounds and supports us. Mine is open, unfrozen, beautiful water. What is yours?
 
*Share your answers in our Mindfulness Mothers’ Facebook Group!
 
- Jeannine (aka JP Starre)