Soaking

It’s spring and we’ve had a lot of rain. The ground is soaking, and so am I.

“Soaking” is a word I’ve come to appreciate in new ways. My riding instructor uses it at the end of a session, when we stop and reward our horses with time to absorb what we did. Yoga instructors teach this practice too, and I’ve begun incorporating it into my fitness classes. It goes against the tendency to move quickly from one thing to the next.

Soaking takes time – time out to assimilate what was experienced or learned,whether good, bad, happy, or sad. Time is a gift and reward we can give ourselves – a break from regular activities to reflect on things we’ve done, heard, read, or experienced, and may even reveal recurrent themes and trends that help us persevere and grow in our lives.

Meditation and prayer are also forms of this. Soaking up love in the recesses of our hearts, and like puddles after the rain, creating reservoirs that spill over into other’s lives.

Soak it in. Soak it up. Soak on it.

The rain has stopped, the sun is out.

I think I’ll soak up some sunshine.