St Clement, Outwell, Norfolk: Seen With Stillness and Serenity

       

A few years ago someone asked, 'How do we live a life more beautifully?' It was said in the spirit of a positive challenge. It is a thought that often gets lost within the ransacked library of my mind, amidst all the clutter and busy-ness of my day-to-day existence. It is part of the reason that I make the effort to place myself within often beautiful heritage spaces. These journeys, encounters and interactions are a key source of my personal wellbeing and emotional resilience. 

During my heritage-inspired explorations, I take a lot of photographs. Often these are pretty functional; namely, an aide-mémoire to 'document' my visits. But every now and then the universe conspires to gift me a special 'vision'. So it was during a recent visit to the lovely church of St Clement, Outwell, in west Norfolk. As I approached the south-west corner, I was suddenly struck by the play of light and the lovely restrained grey and brown hues at work here. Nowadays, all of my photos are taken on my iPhone. As I snapped this shot I was hopeful it would appear photographically as I was seeing/experiencing it. I am glad to say that, with a bit of post-production, what you see here is exactly how I pictured it that day. It turns out that this flânuer is not such a detached observer after all.

But it isn't simply that this vision was 'waiting' in the lovely, cobwebby corner for me to see it. Indeed, it isn't just about making the effort to be there at that time, on that day. It is, rather, that, through thousands of hours actively exploring old places like this, I am receptive to moments like this. Over the past three years in particular, I have been working on being more mindful and present, living life now. This has partly been an inward journey, where - for the first time in my life - I am sometimes able to find peace of mind. It was, then, through this inner peace that I met this vision of serene stillness. 

The Fallible Flâneur <*(((((><(