Come with me my love, to the sea

'I loved the Sea.

Whether in calm it glassed the gracious day

With all its light, the night with all its fires;

Whether in storm it lashed its sullen spray,

Wild as the heart when passionate youth expires;

Or lay, as now, a torture to my mind,

In yonder land-locked bay, unwrinkled by the wind.'

- Carmen Naturae Triumphale; Richard Henry Stoddard 

In film theory I was told that the ocean, the sea, water can represent a number of things for the characters and plot - new life, death, a change. 

'We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came.'

- John F. Kennedy

I live fairly close to the sea, sometimes it's not close enough but I find myself going there and sitting for hours, just sitting and watching and listening. It's a zen-like, meditative time of calm. The weather doesn't have to be sunny. It's somewhat preferably when there's a bite in the wind, nipping at your cheeks.

I find myself compelled to go when I have big decisions to make or when things are weighing heavy on my mind - especially when a bath can't do the trick. The sea, the waves, the water will fix it all.

As I sat on the shore in Split, Croatia a few years ago an elderly local man told me that the sea can heal all wounds but equally can cause them just as easy. He'd swam every day in the sea for as long as he could remember but he told me that never can you under estimate its power or fail to respect it. 

Watch the waves roll, lap at the sand. The magnitude of every ripple, the tiniest of crashes that had started miles away. How it's all connected with the rest of the world. It's mind blowing and puts you in your place. 

Company and entertainment is not needed when sitting on the shore. I always leave feeling less laden with worry, centred and relaxed.

Artists, musicians, writers and philosophers alike have been captivated by it for centuries. It's allure, I find undeniable and indescribable.

'The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever'

- Jacques Cousteau