Flying and dreaming

I got home last night, with mixed feelings as usual - missing my family and happy to see Matt and be back. I scrubbed off the journey and washed my clothes. I am burning lemongrass, orange and cedarwood oils, a blend for "when you feel the need to relax and trust that all is happening as it should be", according to this book. I went to work today and it was easy to get back into it - this is always the busiest time of the year, but it feels right after the indulgent slowness and quiet of Christmas.

On the journey my mind was spinning - being in a moving vehicle really does help me think. It's similar when I am walking, running or swimming, but perhaps the passiveness and sedentary nature of being a passenger, with something external moving you through space, means the thinking process is more dreamlike. During exercise my thinking is sharper, clearer and I kind of talk to myself in my mind, whereas on a journey my thoughts swirl more and are often more surprising and seem to come from my subconscious.

I had made my resolutions for this year, but as I was trying to sleep on the plane and later on the cold bus, many more formed in my head - it was more dreaming than planning. The images that came were of cats, gardens and interiors of houses (moving house is on the cards this year, and I would love for it to include a cat and the possibility to get into gardening, something I have always admired but have very little direct experience of) . Many other things, too, but the point isn't so much what it was about, but rather that I am excited about the future, that I have so many ideas and plans and dreams and the energy to seize the day.

I am guilty of letting days go by without filling them in ways that are satisfactory or at least appreciate what they bring when I don't have the luxury to fill them as I please. I don't mean that they have to be extraordinary, but every day is precious. So I am using this evening to order my thoughts, see what my priorities are this month and make space for social and creative stuff as well as work.

I am reading a beautiful book (Deirdre Madden's Molly Fox's Birthday - more on this soon) and have a pile of others to look forward to (among them Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides -thanks again, A&A!- and The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard), and that alone ensures a pleasant easing into the new year.

(The photo is of one of my nightdresses)