Seeing life from a distance

The other day I went with the family to Santa Pau, in the ’comarca’ of La Garrotxa. We were to wait for the mother, father, and two children to arrive from a hot-air balloon trip. The mother, my grand-daughter, had organised it as a surprise birthday present for her husband. They landed, rather bumpily, but very excited and happy just before we arrived. Their faces were so alive and the little boy and girl hardly able to speak for happiness and the impatience to share their experience with us.

The parents said, “It was so different up there. The people looked like tiny ants. The houses were so small and the rivers were only trickles of water. Up there it was beautiful; nothing mattered!”

“I wanted to stay there like a bird,” said the boy. “We were flying!” said the little girl. Together we went into the cafè for a sumptuous breakfast. The talk turned to everyday things: the Catalan situation, the Catalan members of Parliament in prison, the world situation, North Korea, Trump’s Twittering ... animation died. Happiness fled.

What was so different about hot-air ballooning? Well, the hot-air balloonists are taking a distant view of the world below, of life. Because they are distant, everything below seems so tiny, so unimportant, so insignificant... . We can’t all go hot-air ballooning when we need to see life in perspective, to distance ourselves from so much negativity and not lose our capacity for happiness. I suppose we all do different things. Some go out at night and stand under the twinkling stars, so remote, so beautiful. Some, while walking, gaze at the infinite blue of the sky, a sky that stretches into infinity. I myself find a quiet place indoors, shut the door, sit down, think of nothing, and let myself go deep within. Sometimes peace comes with an expansion of breath... . I return to daily life, refreshed.

Who knows if, when this article comes to press in the New Year, some of the troubles in the world may have been resolved? In the meantime, let’s practise our own version of ’hot-air ballooning’!