It’s getting hard to find a place to go
Where peaceful waters flow…

Or so Chris de Burgh says, in his beautiful song. But for me, that place to go is right at hand, day after day.  And as is my custom on Saturdays (since I have not yet started keeping the Sabbath, despite reading some pretty convincing texts lately about its overflowing goodness), I took a walk to the shop and back, half an hour or so each way. The first part of the walk took me past sights like this, then green fields and pastures. I live in the countryside, even if it is less than ten minutes by car from the nearest town. In midsummer, the river sees a lot of small boats going up and down, but this early my companions are the occasional bird and, probably, fish.

I had my pulse watch on, and noticed that my pulse was quite slow in the beginning. This varies a bit from day to day, but if it is much higher than normal I will know that I harbor some infection that is likely to break out later. Today, however, it almost seemed like the opposite was true, that I was healthier than normal. Just walking fast, my heart rate stayed below the moderate exercise zone (117-133 BPM, as calculated by my pulse watch based on my age and weight).  I had to run a little now and then to stay in the zone. That is rare.  Well, there is no arguing with nature!

After around 25 minutes this way, the body changes gears. It always does at this point. The exact time may vary from person to person, but I am led to believe that it is rarely more than half an hour. At this point, what happens internally is that the body starts burning more fat rather than sugar.  We have only a limited storage of sugar (free-floating and in the form of glycogen in muscles and liver mostly), but fat is both more plentiful (even on me) and more concentrated energy. It is far more complicated to use, though.  As a result, the body needs more oxygen and produces more heat.  Breathing and heart rate both increase.  So after that, I could walk more normally without my watch beeping at me.

Naturally, in light of recent events, I thought a little about the pros and cons of having a body. I am quite impressed with this body and it should not surprise you that I hope to keep it for a long time yet. I am not a fan of spiritism, so I expect the blog to end at the very latest when my body does!  Hopefully that will still be a long time off.

I am however more at ease now than in the past with the fact that this body and this life are temporary. Death may be the end of a whole lot of things, but not all. And, I believe, not of the most important. My will to free your mind and bring you happiness will remain after me, spreading like rings in water. And where I will be, I may or may not watch it; it does not matter. I have to do what I can in this life to plant the seeds that will grow into trees and bear fruit for the future.

And if you don’t know by now, you never will:
Only love can find the door.
If you could see it now, it’s in your hand.
Only love can reach the shore, forever more…
Where peaceful waters flow.
-Chris de Burgh, Where Peaceful Waters Flow. (YouTube)