Year 1919 saw the release of a silent footage and images, bravely captured by Frank Hurley during one of the years long Antarctic expeditions he took part in as a young man. As he used the most innovate processes and equipment available at the time, he created timeless documents through his skilful composition and a warmth of funny narration about a rather troublesome voyage of discovery.
John Berger, in his many insightful writings, noticed that, historically and culturally, men are those who discover, while women are those who want to be discovered. What I take from his statement, though, is that we all share a desire for discovery. Whether we look inwards or outwards, it all leads to a better understanding of our own selves and the diversity of the humankind.
In the recent months I have been drawn to nature, through which I am discovering my inner landscape and the relationships of the organic environment with my own body and mind. As I have been searching for ways in which I can tune myself into my own flow, I focused on the body of water, that in the past year provided me with soothing and energising waves, helping me deal with my being’s fluctuating emotions.
To many of us our own feelings can be confusing or overwhelming, as they arise as a response to the events we go through. As I have been observing highs and lows of the tides cycling over their lunar days, I realised that emotions are also temporal. Sometimes they sweep us of our feet, as if we had stepped into a strong current. Sometimes they rise gradually, like the flow of the vast body of water.
Either way, our feelings are indicators. They serve as a sort of natural navigation, helping us figure out whether we are acting in agreement with our gut, or not. And just like a sailor or a surfer learns to read the state and condition of the water, so are we able to learn to read our emotions. By observing our internal feelings we gather the necessary information to steer our actions toward what feels good, what feels right. What is so valuable about human emotions, is that they are connected to who we are. They are personal, and just like the flow of water they are unique to their place of occurrence, unique to you.
“Wisdom comes from experience. Experience is often a result of lack of wisdom. ”
— Terry Pratchett
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