Water, Healing and Emotional Release

First Published on Facebook, as a Note: Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 1:42pm

It's interesting how we view cleanliness. Last year, we read some articles on miasmas in the 19th century and I remember being so intrigued by how our interpretation of health changed in such a short period of time and became so linked to cleanliness. From a "modern" psychological perspective, it is then interesting to look at how we view water and cleansing as restorative, when essentially when we cleanse ourselves, we're getting rid of part of ourselves.

That sense of shedding the bad to become good again is not a mere "modern" idea of health. Remember the bleeding ppl had to do to recover from the plague. From a modern standpoint we think that's reidiculous and scientifically prove that that was probably why more people died. So, what's to say now that scrubbing ourselves clean will actually cure us?

I don't know. And I fall victim to it myself. For some reason, cleansing is therapeutic. Even crying makes us feel better. There was this piece on the news this week about extreme sports being good for us because the adrenalin rush allows for an emotional release. The psychologist said this was healthy. So are tears. They are the definitive emotional release.

I like the motif of water and cleansing. I know it will make it into my novel. There are already scenes where water plays a huge part in at least two characters' healing and self discovery. And with a setting of Vancouver, you can't really NOT write about the rain.

I miss Vancouver rain. The April showers here have been nice and I've really enjoyed the immediate sunlight that comes with English spring rains. But I think Vancouver had more sunshine earlier in the year. Something about it being right on the coast. I miss the coast. I miss looking out onto the water and losing yourself in the possibilities of where that ocean touched. I'm on the largest island in the other ocean, yet it's not the same.

The issue I have most with cleansing for health - the release - is that it doesn't create anything. Of course, you rid yourself of the bad and think then that all that is left is the good, but don't you lose some of the good? Instead I think to really heal you need to create something out of that bad. Perhaps we need to get rid of most of it first, but in the end, it's like the piece of sand and the pearl. The clam was at first disturbed by the granule, but worked and worked at it until one day it became a beautiful pearl. I like that concept. It helps me get over the pain I feel from all of my mistakes.