Sunrise at the Cow and Calf

My notion that summer was over yesterday was a little premature. The morning dawned bright and, once again, ridiculously warm for the time of year. It was amazing to be running on the moor in a T-shirt at 7 o'clock on an October morning. Probably won't be doing that again now until next April.

Following a comment from Alice in Blipland (check out her wonderfully droll journal), I changed the caption for yesterday's blip - although I had to decapitate a pigeon in the process. Sorry!

This cold is not going away as quickly as I had hoped, and a hacking cough kept me awake for long periods last night. I've not been at my best today. As usual, I've only really felt right when I've been out running in the fresh air. The current deadline is beginning to loom very large indeed. Just beginning to panic a little.

In lieu of being able to comment much for a few more days, let me offer a little exercise for you to do when you next watch a sunrise. It's natural for us to place ourselves at the centre of the universe and watch the sun rise into the sky, but this is, of course, an illusion. Although it's not easy, I try to view the phenomenon from outside of myself. Try to use the sun as the fixed reference point and imagine yourself on the appropriate place on the globe, rotating towards the sun. Think of yourself riding on spaceship Earth and turning to face into the sun on this dawn of a new day ... and then also think about the rotation of the Earth around the sun, that in six months time you will be directly the other side of the sun from where you are facing right now. Think about the elliptical journey the planet will be taking to get there, and all the daily rotations that it will complete on its way.

I find that this is a way of connecting into the deeper pattern of things. It's for this same reason that I love being in the hills and mountains. It simply helps me to get a proper sense of perspective on my little life. It stops me getting too deeply sucked into my own trivial problems. Give it a try sometime.