This Monday I returned to Stockholm after having spent a month in the south of Sweden. Most of May was spent in solitude, and as I now came back to the bustling city from the stillness of the countryside; the difference between the two became a clash.

The city is filled with impressions begging for your attention. Be it the noise, the people who run from one thing to another, or the honking rush hour traffic. This week I have been teaching an evening class in tv writing, and spent the days script consulting in a writers’ room. I’ve been around people 24/7. So when Saturday came I just had to withdraw and rest in stillness. My Saturday was spent reading, repotting plants, baking a rhubarb pie and cooking food. That was it, and it was just what I needed.

It was not just the fact, that the contrast between the countryside and the city was so big, it was also in the work and the busyness of the week. From having spent May by myself, work wise, life wise, all things wise, the contrast was a little too much. But as I thought about this, I wondered – isn’t this the clash the modern man battles?

Our heritage is in the stillness on the countryside, and today most people are living the bustling life in the cities. We are not meant to lead this kind of life, we need breaks to handle it. What made me take breaks all throughout this week and especially on Saturday was that the contrast between the two ways of living became so apparent to me when I returned. I sought the stillness of the countryside living. But for most people, myself often included, we keep bustling our way through the weeks because we think that is what we are supposed to do. But is it?

We need the breaks from busyness. We need to return to that little place within where we find the stillness in where we can rest. To recalibrate, so we can polish the armor and get ready to meet what is on the outside. Over the course of this week, my return to base camp, became essential in handling the clash between the two worlds which otherwise results in stress. But it also highlighted the importance to find those little breaks all throughout the day when one stops and smell the flowers for a minute. To break out of the busyness and be still in the present moment, that’s what ‘Return’ came to mean this week.

Tags: Johanna Ginstmark, Return, The bead movement