I went on a long drive yesterday afternoon.  I’ve not had a chance all week to get out for a change of scenery, and I needed one. I know I live in Paradise, but sometimes driving out to see the rest of the world lets me appreciate it even more when I return.   I’ve heard that “Paradise does not make itself known to you until you’ve been kicked out of it.” I want to make sure that never happens to me.  I want to recognize and draw Paradise out of anywhere I am, anytime I’m there.  Ma Yoga Shakti says, “Wherever you are, make a heaven of it.”

So yesterday afternoon, I took the long drive along US1 and the Indian River south to the Wabasso Causeway, then east across to AIA.  Although it had rained the past couple of days, it was sunny and mild and I could see many boats on the waterway.  Usually, there are just a handful of sailboats anchored out all up and down the river.  Now there were small craft motoring along as well.  I’d taken my sunglasses off, since I know that most Vitamin D is absorbed through the eyelids.  Besides blocking vitamin D absorption, sunglasses interfere with the body’s circadian rhythms, which depend on undiluted UV light hitting the retina to set our internal clocks. It just takes about 30 minutes a day.  The last couple of days I’d been inside at the computer, and no sunshine.  I have a tendency to work in the available light from the windows in the offices rather than turning on a bright light to work, as I should when it’s dark or stormy and I’ve not been in the sunlight for a day or more.   Researchers have found that bright light changes the chemicals in the brain, and that the undiluted UV of the sunlight also affects mood, causing it to lift.  Much has been written about Seasonal Affective Disorder.   People who stay out of the sunlight for prolonged periods, especially those who live in front of a tv, are most often affected.  Many of them are diagnosed as depressed.  The remedy is some sunshine each day, being outside and moving your body.  St. John’s Wort is a good natural reuptake inhibitor if you are taking no other medications.

I could feel myself coming out of my rut as I drove.  I could feel my mental thoughts picking up.  I had some last minute rescheduling to do last week, and I had finally figured it all out.  It seems I am always juggling my schedule, when one person changes something, it all dominoes *smile*  Then either everything changes or I end up doing it all myself.  I’m used to it, obviously I attract it, I must thrive on it.  Maybe I just use it as my excuse to not have any real time off.  Grin.

I drove north on AIA, with the Atlantic Ocean on my right.  There was the usual crowd at Sebastian Beach Inlet Park.  I could tell not much surf was happening, because AIA was not lined with cars as is the case mid day when there are waves.  As I got into Melbourne Beach and Indialantic, there was a lot of foot traffic walking across AIA, a lot of bicycles on the road.  I turned west to drive across the Melbourne Causeway at Hwy 192 and saw dozens of people out walking the causeway.  There was one gentleman who seemed elderly and out of shape, yet he was riding his bicycle up the steep grade like he was used to it.  I love seeing that.  I know getting there takes work.

I turned south on US1 and drove through the old part of town, now rather decripit yet with an industrial beauty all its own.  I followed the Indian River south to Malabar and then back home as the sun began to get low in the sky.  In just that short 90 minutes, I felt completely rejuvenated and was ready to be back home again.  As I pulled up to the house, I saw the cats lolling about, waiting for my return.  Squirrels were running through the oaks and the cardinals were at the birdbath.  A wasp drank water from an upside down leaf on the concrete bench in the garden.  All was right in my world.