MY MACHINERY

I am amazed by the fact that when I am feeling lethargic, or if I am bordering on despair, my first instinct is to head internally and to examine what form of dark matter is brewing in my psyche.

In reality it is often not so complex, and my mood may be more of a bi-product of certain physical needs requiring attention. The over thinking and soul searching is often no match for the simple remedy of fueling my biological machinery with the appropriate elements;

vitamin d from warm sunshine
a breeze caressing my brow
endorphins kicking in as I increase my pace during a walk
music elevating my mood
visual stimuli that fires up dormant neural pathways

Perhaps I commit the crime of attributing complexity to a situation where it isn't required; Is it a crisis of character or am I so damn moody because I haven't had a good boost of endorphins lately?

I was thinking of this today as I took a brisk walk and lost myself in some blissful songs. I kicked my physical machinery into gear and was able to gradually rise above the dark thoughts that had consumed me earlier.

So simple really, let the machine spin in new directions and see what can happen.

MY EXPERIENCE OF TIME TRAVEL

One way to experience time travel is to simply return to a place that you haven't been to in a long while. I have had this experience coming back to Southern Ontario and Toronto this week, a place I used to live and grew up in until about 12 years ago.

Places or people get stuck in your mind they way they were the last time you saw them, whether it be 2 years or 12 years since your last sighting, and one has to quickly reconcile the newer version with the one that was embedded in your mind for quite some time.

Sometimes the experience of time travel occurs in obvious ways. For me it was the millions of condo towers that exist near the water front and rail lines in downtown Toronto that weren't there during my time. While for most people these buildings appeared gradually, for me they were there in an instant.

In the span of a few seconds your mind has to reconcile the version of a place embedded in your memory with the newer version unfolding before you. At that precise moment when your long established mental image of a place is confronted with the newer version you experience time travel, as if the two version evolved in a second and you are transported to a new reality.

Somethings remain constant though, especially on a deeper sensory level. For me the sound of the subway, the way the air moves with each passing train down the tunnel instantly brought me back to another time. There were also certain indescribable smells that were familiar to me. You certainly can't go back in time, but there are moments that provide a sense of what remains constant.

Of course the people I love change as well over time, though there are many aspects of them that remain reassuringly constant. This is of course more suited for another posting, as I am too much embedded in the moment to write further. More on time travel to come......