Rumination, contemplation, meditation…
So many of the revered people from various cultures took time in one fashion or another, to think. August Rodin paid homage to the human form in contemplation.
Jefferson walked. So did Nietzsche, and many others. The songwriters/singers of Abba originated their catchy melodies while out for regular walks.
Think of the great nature and landscape photographers who “happened” upon the shot of a lifetime, because they were open to the world around them and not distracted by it.
The list goes on and includes the anonymous as well.
Some sing in the shower.
Some ride horses, or walk dogs.
Some whittle, though I doubt that’s as popular now as it once was, but tinkering with engines, making stained glass, or throwing clay, all allow for one form of contemplation or another, even if it’s just to make sure the work is satisfying.
Some paint or sculpt for the singular pleasure of the activity and not the result.
Some sit, legs dangling, at the end of a pier over looking tides ebbing and flowing. Many will have a fishing line in the water.
Some cook. I cook. When I do, I find myself examining the garlic I’m mincing, or the bell pepper I’m slicing, and wondering what their short lives were about. It helps me connect to all life, especially, and for some reason by extension, the lives of the elderly and the very young.
The one thing we all have in common is our quiet minds, free of distraction, working out our days, our lives, and untying the knots of existence.
