It’s beautiful here.

{ You knew it would be. }

I didn’t realize how long it had been since I had known what silence sounded like.

{ … }

I have already gotten a lot done in just a few days, and there is still time to just sit. I feel like I had lost the sound of my own voice inside my head, you know?

{ … }

Art should connect people… to the world, to others, to their better selves. But to do that people need space to think and feel. And the modern world has no space. It has no quiet, no silence. We are meant to be like water, both constantly moving yet always still.

{ Stillness is a rare gift. }

It’s funny how I still hear what you would say even when you are hundreds of miles away, and almost certainly busy at work.

{ … }

…

{ … }

I needed to do this. I don’t think men realize just how much of themselves women give up in relationships.

{ I am really glad that only works one way. Think how hard it would be on men if they, too, gave up large parts of themselves in relationships. }

You make me sound like such a witch for coming here.

{ I am not really here! You are only imagining what I would say… }

Yeah, but you would, you know you would.

{ … }

…

{ I would say, “relationships are always voluntary on the part of both parties.” }

Yes. But are they, though? In the real world?

{ … }

There is so much that keeps people together. Social stigma, habit, fear of failing. Sometimes even worse things.

{ .. }

I need to find a way to communicate that to people. That wherever they are in life, in relationships, that they still have choices. They still can find a different way when elements of their life no longer serve them. Women… yes, and men… all have other ways forward than they may see at present. There is a better way, a better them.

The silence inside them needs to be released. The voice of their real self. All of their history, their ancestry, all of the pain they’ve felt in a world shot through with sorrow and conflict. They can be more fully realized.

{ . }

I have a way to express this and I am going to. This lake or pond or whatever it is can be the image, the metaphor. Stillness and constant movement. Freedom even within constraints. The chance to touch other streams, rivers, to even make it to oceans. This is all of us. This is any of us.

Time to get to work…