“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.”

Cesare Pavese

This made me think of how slight hearing loss has affected my balance (when I lay my head down at certain angles or when doing things like working underneath a car, I sometimes get a touch of vertigo and have to adapt). Then it made me think of that dizziness as a metaphor, and I found myself thinking about how familiar environments–while comforting–can be stifling, and how changing environments alter our perceptions. Or perhaps clear them.

The world is a big place relative to the one in my head, which is remarkable given the size of that one. I’m not bragging. Imagination is a big place.

I found this quote here. Along with other things you might like to see.