As I sat down to write this post I had to think a little harder than usual about the calm moments I have found in the last week or so. It has been a busy time with travel, both for pleasure and work and a number of work and other commitments all with deadlines and to do lists attached.
I realised that actually having time to sit quietly at my desk with my laptop and write this is a valued moment of calm in itself. Writing is always where I go to make sense of things. Creating sentences and putting together articles or blog posts, even when the words don’t flow is always a place of calm for me. As I write this, it is raining outside but inside the summer house where I have my desk, it is warm and cosy. I have some gentle piano music playing in the background and a candle called ‘Quiet Moments’ flickering on my desk. This is how I like to write, and lighting a candle signals the beginning of a time of writing. It is this ritual which helps set the tone and put me in the right frame of mind.
Calmness can come in many forms, often I realise, it comes from these tried and tested rituals and routines which I know will give me time to pause, relax the shoulders and breathe.
I was fortunate to spend a long weekend in Paris with my husband recently. I had not visited Paris for many years and it was good to be back, to walk unfamiliar streets, to people watch and take pictures of another city. Like London, Paris is busy. Tourists come in droves to gaze up at the Eiffel Tower, saunter along the Champs Elysee and stand in line to see the Mona Lisa. We bypassed all of these except the Eiffel Tower in favour of some of Paris’s quieter spaces. The most beautiful and calming of all of these was Le Musée Rodin. Just a few minutes from la Seine is this beautiful house and garden both filled with Rodin’s sculptures. The subject of some of the sculptures are are certainly not calm. The Gates of Hell is understandably grisly. However the placement of the sculptures in the garden amongst carefully manicured lawns and precise topiary was instantly pleasing. I always find gardens calming places to be and seek them out wherever in the world I am.
Wishing you a gentle and peaceful week.
