Dutch Autumn Scenes: Beginnings of a (mindful) journey

Two years ago marked the material beginnings of a journey that, like every other journey, is nothing but the continuation and encounter of several other journeys that can eventually be traced back all the way to the very beginning of things.

Yet to tell a story one must choose a beginning, and for me there is none other than revisiting Leiden — a small city in The Netherlands where I had lived for two years while doing my Master's degree in Astronomy and which inspired me to new horizons in life. This time my visit was armed with a nice "professional" camera - the Fujifilm X-T1 together with the Fujinon XF 18-55mm F2.8-4 kit lens.

This journey has since then taken me to many a wonderful place, as well as locations that served more as a mighty life experience. Not just places and locations around the world, but also around my mind. Long ago a famous philosopher (Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274) said something about the world being a book, and if you have sights of turning even to the second page you must travel. I believe the book is nothing but a metaphor for the mind, and so to explore your mind you must travel.

What most people perhaps do not realise, however, is that unless done in a mindful way travel might not have any effect in this regards, or even possibly a negative one.

So to the start of a mindful journey in mind and space, here are some snaps and thoughts from wandering around Leiden and its nearest surroundings.

The Netherlands is stereotypically known as the land of bicycles, a stereotype that very happily runs true. How calm it is to stroll around the place without so much of the hustle and bustle that would be caused by the much larger number of cars present in a similarly sized city most elsewhere.

One of my favourite bridges (of plenty around the city), where at night you could stand in near-uninterrupted silence for hours (if you can brave the temperature or the weather!) and just watch the water go by. By silence of course I mean pleasant small sounds like leaves rustling in the wind, the occasional bicycle passing along, and water.

If the bike is not your favoured means of transportation, why not try a boat? They are also available for hire. It's a soothful journey for the mind, floating on calm and peaceful water between majestic trees and buildings. Canals go pretty much everywhere in Leiden, and parking space is certainly not at a premium.

The perfect place to be with your own company and learn who you are and how you can be that.

It's not hard to see how even in a city life could be so calm when one can come in contact with nature so easily, and greenery is all around.

Occasionally the sun does come out too. This is a time when life seems to slow down even further, and you can see people coming out to enjoy the sun while it lasts with a beer on the canal. But for that we will have to revisit Leiden another time.

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