‘Lying motionless I hear nothing of the outside world as I look up at the magnificent sky, and those incredible fluffy clouds. I am completely lost in a state of consciousness that can only be achieved by floating on water.’
It is just one of those things I do, I float. I love to float face-up on my lake, where I gaze up to one of earth’s greatest delights for me, the full view of the white, pillow-like fluffy clouds that drift across bright blue beautiful skies. I do not paddle, I do not swim, I just lay there, stretched out letting the waters of the lake hold me and let me drift.
There are no currents here, I am in my protected little bay, and therefore will not go anywhere really. I will just remain in my little private paradise on the lake waters off my dock. I like to do this for some time, it is extremely therapeutic for me. I know that’s one of those buzz terms, ‘therapeutic,’ that is supposed to trigger people into trying it because it is good for you. Well, I can give you a full ‘thumbs up’, floating should be in everybody’s book. It’s fabulous!
I have also been known to float in pools now and then, and will admit that I have floated in a desert resort in the dead of night, just existing in the moment, floating in the only-slightly cooled pool waters, as I gazed up to appreciate the stars in the night sky.
Floating is a solo, mindful experience, and you cannot communicate with anyone else as you float, because, quite simply, your ears are under water. You can only hear the muffled sounds of what might be underwater. For instance, I have been floating in my lake, and have heard the muffled sound of a boat engine as it passed by about a quarter of a mile away. (Please note that my property is not in the main channel of the lake, and so I am in no danger of being run over, thank you very much for your moment of quiet concern.)
I float very well these days because I am larger than I used to be, but can say that I have always been a ‘floater’, even when I was as skinny as a rail in my youth. It is just a thing I do.
I will also have to mention two more things about water with you. Firstly, I have always been blessed to have some sort of access to a lake and swimming all my life, and so I will admit to a pretty intense ‘Mermaid’ stage for a very long time as a youngster. I used to swim for hours and hours pretending to be a real mermaid, with my long hair flowing behind me in the water. I was not trying to be the kind of mermaid who would lure sailors into rocks, but the kind who just loved the water and would dive up and down and circle, and would swim underwater to appreciate both worlds, the one above and the one below the waterline.
The other small note to make is that I did competitively swim in my youth. I swam several times a week before and after school in two local pools, but when the swim schedules got more frequent my parents were not impressed, and so I stopped. It was also a little more frustrating to swim competitively with waist-length hair. I had to wear those silly swim caps, those ones that made you look like you were bald, not the delightful, playful, and often floral ones by mother always wore to go swimming. Even the last time she was here at the lake in her mid-70’s I have pictures of her going down the ladder and swimming in her bright, paddy-green floral cap with a big grin on her face, (of course, that was after the grimace of the shock of the cool water, that is.)
So, swimming has always been my thing, and floating is just one of those mindlful activites I delight in doing at the lake. There is no better way for me to live in the moment and appreciate the beauty of the water and sky, than just being out on a laid-back float in the fresh clear waters of the lake, just gazing up.
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