Just as the Waves in the Ocean
One can Surf in the Swell
Delighting in the Thrill of the Moment
Remain Courageous in the Rough Seas
And Riding out the Turbulent Tides
Knowing the Skies will open up
To Clear and Sunny days
And most of all cherish in the calm
Of the quiet seas,
Resort Girl

(Written in 2015 – Sometimes in medical (Covid) times our minds just need a mental vacay)

Can just thinking about nature make you feel better? From first-hand experience, this Resort Girl believes that it can. Just this week, picturing a beach spot and sharing Resort Girl travels with a fellow RG — and my nurse — brought sunny skies after a necessary, but unnerving, medical procedure.

My RG nurse shared her favorite Florida getaway with me after the procedure. My nose could smell the salty air, and could I feel the sun on my face. I wanted to taste that low country cooking she was describing in delicious detail. And, even though I was clad in no-so-stylish medical attire while she spoke, we were both suddenly standing there in our RG lounge wear imaging this little piece of beach paradise.

Cognitive therapy also is a natural technique to handle everyday stressful situation — a little mind vacay for Resort Girls. A wise man once taught me how to use cognitive behavior instead of medicine to calm my very creative and sometimes overactive and reactive at times mind – which can be attributed to my DNA.

But all Resort Girls may want to try it out when facing a stressful life situation – to calm your mind to maybe make better decisions, or not say or do something reactive. It just breaks those 10 crucial seconds before words come out or adverse reactions start! It can also help you if you are temporarily in a place you don’t want to be — but need to be — like a hospital bed or having a medical procedure.

Here is the visual this wise man shared to calm the soul:

Picture a woman standing alongside a river bed with a beautiful hat in her hand. She may be someone you love and know like your mother or other RG BFF or maybe even you. Then, imagine this woman throwing her hat into the water and watch it slowly and gracefully gliding down the river bed. As you imagine it gliding downstream, it gives your mind just enough time to break that thought and ease into a calmer state.

(Today, this post is dedicated to my beautiful mother, who reads my blog everyday-but is presently in the hospital. She inspires great ideas and feedback and is my biggest fan and inspiration. Mother, we will be back at the beach soon – being Resort Girls. You will be out of the hospital…. and on the beach walking beside the dolphins again. Let’s keep that peaceful picture in our minds….)

Keep dreaming of those sunny blue skies Resort Girls… it is powerful medicine!

Repost: Resort Girls/Guys, let’s treat ourselves and take the time and relax, reflect and recharge in the beauty of nature’s silence. It calms the soul.

In this age of technological noise, you can easily forget what the world sounds like when everything is turned off. Everything is beautiful, from the tender songs of the birds to the echo of the wind against your ears to the crackling of the fire pit flames and the rustling of the autumn leaves. All these sounds can be drowned out, however, by the daily noise pollution of modern day life: TVs, computers, lawn equipment and highway traffic, to name a few.

It is the Thanksgiving holiday. The world is taking a break to power down in order to spend time around the table with the family to share and dine upon all of the Thanksgiving fixings, as well as giving thanks for their many blessings.

I’ve been moving into my new home for the past week and that is what brought the silence: silly me, forgetting to set the cable and internet up. So now, I’m sitting here on my deck, with no cable, observing the trees and draping moss.

The beauty of sitting here is that all I hear are the squirrels chewing away on acorns, the fall breezes echoing in my ears and the tiny chirps from the finches flying by. It is beautiful, quiet and peaceful. It calms one’s soul.

It also made me wonder how the historic days must have sounded before motorized vehicles and LED screens. How serene it must have been back then. As I see the moss on the mature oak tree dance in the wind, I wonder, did someone long ago sit here listening to just the beauty of the sounds of nature, just as I am doing now?

Resort Girls appreciate these sounds of nature. We support, appreciate and nurture this beauty through our respect and conservation of it and it, in turn, gives back to us.

The melodies of the morning birds wake us up. The sunlight streaming through our window panes greet us with bright beginnings to our day. The morning breezes make sipping our coffee sweeter than any cream. And the daily walks with nature keep our bodies healthy and sickness at bay.

I think maybe, we need to take more of these holidays away from the modern noise and give thanks to the beauty of silence. I plan to shut down, unplug, light up my candles and fire pit maybe once a week. My little Resort Girl holiday away from the modern world and back to a quieter time to give thanks to the serenity nature provides us – and all for free.

Resort Girls, let’s treat ourselves and take the time and relax, reflect and recharge in the beauty of nature’s silence. It calms the soul.