Badenoch from Torr Alvie
Badenoch means ‘the drowned land’ and is the name of the district around Kingussie in upper Strathspey. The Insh marshes form a large part of the district, and are said to be one of the most important marshes in Europe. The marshes flood regularly in winter, absorbing and holding a massive body of water which would otherwise create massive flooding downstream, and are very important for many bird species overwintering from Scandinavia and the arctic.
This view misses the marshes and looks across Badenoch to the Tromie and Gaick hills of the Cairngorms. I’m loving the winter sunset colours and the cloud wave formations. Apart from that, I’m always up for hazy mountains fading into the distance…
“The body is acutely sensitive to even the tiniest flickerings of emotion that move constantly across the mind. The body often detects our thoughts almost before we’ve consciously registered them ourselves and frequently reacts as if they are solid and real, whether they accurately reflect the world or not. But the body does not just react to what the mind is thinking – it also feeds back emotional information into the brain which can then end up enhancing fears, worries and general overall angst and unhappiness. This feedback loop is a dance of phenomenal power and complexity that is only now beginning to be understood.”
– Mark Williams and Danny Penman, ‘Mindfulness’
Further, as I now understand for myself, the picture is enormously complicated when the emotions you are feeling are not even your own, but are picked up or transferred from people around us, or are thoughtforms picked up from the environment. Constant testing of ‘is this mine?’ and discernment is crucial along the path to greater awareness.