Real vs Reel
By Claire
“Do you know why the water is blue?” My father asked me once during a hike along a quiet river. I shook my head. My father then answered;
“The water is blue because it reflects the universe up above.”
I looked from the clear blue river up towards the clear blue sky. I thought about how in old Norse mythology the skull of the giant Ymir was crafted into the dome of the universe and his blood turned into the waters of Midgard. The head is where the mind is, and our thoughts can either cloud it or brighten it, while blood is an ever-flowing life force generating constant energy.
I looked at my father and responded;
“The flow of your energy is a direct reflection of your mindset,”
to which he kindly nodded.
Nothing clears my mind better than a peaceful walk deep within the forest.
It’s neutral ground where the soul can breathe, and it feels like coming home each time I put on my muddy hiking boots to once again enter no-one's land.
One thing I’ve found is better than hiking alone though, and that is hiking with others. Not to constantly chat or talk, but instead to be able to share in the silence.
A group of people sharing moments of silence feels like an awkward idea at first, like there is this tension you feel you need to break so you should talk simply for the sake of making some noise. But what if you let go of that feeling and became one with the silence?
Some time back I went on a hike with a group of strangers, young and old.
We were told by our guide to keep our words and thoughts to ourselves and to simply walk along. The moment we started walking, a sort of ease overcame me. A weight was lifted off my shoulders and a tension I did not know existed was broken. The walk felt peaceful in a way which I had not experienced before.
I was reminded again of what it meant to truly live in the moment.
After finishing the beautiful trail we sat down with some hot drinks and sweet baked goods at a nearby cafeteria. It turned out I was not the only one feeling this way during the hike. Everyone had a look on their face which I could only describe as pure relief. Words and sentences were short and almost felt meaningless when we were asked about what we saw. It did not feel important to share, because we were all there. What we did want to share though, was the feelings and experiences we had during those moments. The emotions people felt were strong and it moved us, something that would’ve been lost within a picture, a phone call or text message. Suddenly we were not strangers anymore. Sharing that walk without words is what truly introduced us to each other.
In a world where we are expected to constantly be ‘online’ and be available 24/7, we often forget what it feels like to stand still and enjoy a moment without involving words or pictures. Being mindful is being conscious of your own energy, just like how that water reflects the dome up above. A picture, on the contrary, is but a mere echo of its true essence. Sharing a real moment together with real people goes far beyond putting that same thing on an Instagram ‘reel’.
The word ‘reel’ itself even is a misrepresentation of what it wants and needs to be; real!
During that hike with that random group of individuals, someone else gave us the ‘task’ to walk the trail in silence. It was something everyone craved somehow, yet each one of us needed someone else to tell us it was okay to give in to that need. Think about that for a second…
Even though these people (including myself) craved that silence, why did we need permission to actually pursue it? It was an unconscious need that we lost track of within our ‘clouded dome’. But how do we reset that urge?
The simple answer is of course (and you’ve probably heard it before);
Go outside, and go into nature. If you cannot, then simply getting a coffee somewhere or going to the grocery shop without a screen or headphones blocking the moment can be valuable as well. Or just have a conversation with someone without using text, pictures, videos or even words. How does it feel to experience something and be fully present? Most, if not all, things in ‘online-heim’ are rewindable and repeatable, meanwhile the things here in the ‘offline-heim’ are not. That is what makes life and our experiences so precious and gives them deeper emotional meaning.
I encourage you to try it yourself, invite the silence. And not only that; share it with others.
You are looking at a screen right now reading this, and it's now up to you to decide how you control your need for silence. Do you want to live in the real world or in the ‘reel’ one?
Love,
Claire
