A holiday for the brain

I went on holiday this month to the Norfolk Broads on a boat for a week with two friends. Relax and unwind! With the boat and life travelling at a top speed of 4 miles an hour, these tasks seemed positively energetic. Life slowed to an apparent stop and I was able to write about it.


“Endure all that has gone before, then enjoy any that should remain. Modern life is simply penance and scant reward, with neither particularly preceding nor following the other. It is a constant cycle of appeasing needs through selfishness and paying high prices for things that are rarely a privilege. There is no safe middle ground that can support us for any length of time. The only modus operandi for surviving life in these times is submersion or flight. We either sign ourselves up to doctrines that govern our every breath and thought or we escape to the emptiness we somehow know underlies it all. Indeed there is nothingness in these very words, the fact that they exist in a somewhat understandable order dictates that any truth they may carry is marred by the condition and perception of both the reader and writer’s language. Yet, despite the apparent loss of inherent purpose for this document – where there is existence and therefore suffering and happiness, there should also be explanation, comment and analysis. Particularly if that discussion should acknowledge the nature of it’s own reality. All of which only defends the material existence of this work, it’s content will hopefully go on to give it materialistic value by enriching the reader.

Take a holiday from times and dates, from the responsibility and worries of a modern mind living a modern life – and do this regularly. These escapes can exist where ever you are, whatever you are doing and may last anywhere between a split second and a life time. Recognise then capture your freedom in the present moment. Upon doing this it is important to keep your eyes firmly open and acknowledge the false realities that plague us, rather than hiding from them. Moreover we should, in times of clarity see the greater picture of all life’s falsehoods & inequities and meet it with sorrow and empathy. We should do this for all beings, not just our own lives. Through this projection we may see that our place in the world is perhaps not deserving of the attachment and importance we place upon it. Should your mind return from holiday bring something back with you, it may ease a path through modernity.

Once you subscribe to it, the suffocation of modern life makes for constant unwanted company. It engulfs us in obligation, routine and responsibility - often at signed contractual agreement. To consider this level of submergence highlights the need to leave our crazed existences behind once in a while and gain perspective, morality and a greater understanding of what each of us should both expect from and give back to our world. Hopefully, if I have been successful in my aim in writing it, by taking the time to read, consider and understand this text you will return to the reality of modern life with something to ease the incumbent suffering.”

Of course life is now back to the usual groundspeed of 900mph and I am always due a holiday, but it all made sense at the time and, as ever, is therefore worthy of our attention now.