Trust 2014

Over the last few months, I’ve often asked myself here and elsewhere: ‘Was I truly alive today?’ I sense that this won’t be such a pressing question over the coming months. I am alive. And I’m taking life in. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But generally speaking, I feel very much alive, and I’m glad about that.

What matters to me this year is to grow in confidence. I would like to trust God more. And myself. And other people – where it is appropriate to do so. By ‘appropriate’, I mean: how well I know people in general, and these particular people in particular. I trust some people whom I have known well for a long time very much. With others, that trust is still growing. I am only just discovering in which areas I can trust them, and in which I cannot.

What have I learnt about trust today?

It’s lovely and relaxing when you can trust people. On New Year’s Eve, I prayed for the coming year together with a very good friend. I’ve known her for over 15 years as a woman who has a very close relationship with God and is sensitive to what He has to say. We asked God to tell us what was important to Him regarding the various areas of my life: the publishing house, the boat, and health, and then we shared what we had heard inwardly. On the subject of health, she said the phrase „brine baths“ had come to her mind. She didn’t know what to make of it, but I did. I know that with mental, but also „just“ physical stress – such as from boat building – the muscles become over-acidified. And that natural sea salt or rock salt has a balancing and regenerating effect.

I had given my neighbour and friend Sonja a voucher book for Christmas – not entirely without self-interest. Two people enjoy it, but only one pays. Although there wasn’t a voucher for a saltwater bath in the book, there was at least one for Saltero: A massage and a session in a „grotto“ completely lined with salt. After a while in there, it felt as though I’d been by the sea: my airways were clear again, I can breathe much more freely and deeply, my back feels wonderfully relaxed, and even hours later my skin still has a pleasant, slightly salty feel to it. And I feel wonderfully relaxed. It wasn’t quite a saltwater bath, but it was pretty close. Without my friend’s encouragement, I certainly wouldn’t have done it… and now I’m glad I did… trusting her judgement has done me a world of good.

And: I’d love to go back there again….