Changing distances

 ^{https://pixabay.com/photos/viewpoint-telescope-distance-3593304/} Today is my first day of vacation (for the summer season). Well, in theory, yesterday was a national holiday, but I still had to go to work to finish some pending reports. As with almost everything in life, change is good. We don't always see the advantage right away, and often there is no advantage at all, only pain... I remember situations that are happening right now all over the world, and in particular “right next door” in Ukraine. But even in situations where there is only suffering and pain without any purpose... There is a side that emerges from there. We always hope that something will come out of that pain, despair, and darkness... and we have been like this for almost 1,270 days... But I will reflect on that another time. Today I want to talk about a concept that always arises when there is change. The distance that changes. There is always this change. There is always a distance between two things, two concepts, two people, two realities, or even two parts that changes. It either increases or decreases... It does not remain the same. I will take my vacation as an example. It is now beginning. I'm going to spend a week on retreat in a small village in southwestern France called Taizé. Some of you, not many, may have already heard of this place. But if no one has heard of it, besides having already posted a few times here on Hive about Taizé, this year I will try to share a little of my daily experience. The distance or time that separated me from this morning was always greater... And it will never be less than it is at this moment... Only less and less! Have you noticed? Just like the photos we take. We never have our current age... we are always younger! No photo can capture our current age! We are always younger! During these holidays, I also want to shorten the distance between my thoughts and myself. I feel that sometimes I am forced (externally or internally) to devote my main attention to what is going on outside (and being disconnected from myself...). But that's life. It would not be possible to constantly think about our inner selves, absorbed in our thoughts. Or if it were possible, would we reach Nirvana? By shortening the distance within myself, I will also increase the physical distance between my earlobes and shoulders. It's true... Have you noticed how anxious, nervous, and restless we are? We don't even realize it, but we often look like turtles, with our heads “buried” in our shoulders. Breathe in... calmly... and breathe out... And let your shoulders “drop”... This will be one of the focuses I will try to have several times throughout the day. In the week leading up to this moment, I took some precautions. I changed some routines. Some of you may even have read about it in my previous reflections. I haven't turned on the television in the last four days. I always ate without distractions (television or music), becoming aware of the foods that would become part of me. In other words, I shortened the distance between what was in front of me and my conscience, increasing the distance from other “less important” things. I also want to become more distant from things that contribute nothing to my knowledge (personal or collective) and get closer to others. This week, I took extra care to try to look people in the eye more. To let go of the instinct to talk about something trivial and instead focus on listening to the other person. Not just hearing. It's more than that. It's understanding what is being said to us. Understanding the context and the other person's feelings. The time distance from my first day of existence in this reality is increasing second by second... And the time distance to the moment when I will no longer be part of this reality is decreasing. Everything is a balance. We don't need to look for it. It's here. We just need to be able to stop, to listen and observe. ##### Bem Hajam🍀  --- Free image from [Pixabay.com](https://pixabay.com/)