In college I had a professor who used to talk about “Power Spots”. Places that you could go and disappear for a while with just yourself. If you needed a reset in your day or your week or your life, you could go to one of these places and gain an energy there.
One guy in the class talked about a certain place on Cape Cod that was his power spot. He described how would go there in the winter when he was often the only one at the beach. He talked about looking at the sand dunes and how they would stand up to the wind. He would realize an energy from that place on the beach and leave feeling brighter that when he arrived.
I have and have had many power spots in my life. There was a time I was going through a rough patch in my life, and I spent a day at Fort Wetherill in Jamestown, RI. This fort dates to the Revolutionary War era and overlooks the middle passage of Narragansett Bay across from Newport. I was there on a Wednesday in mid-November and don’t remember seeing more than a handful of people.
While there I wandered through the tunnels and looked at graffiti on the concrete walls of rooms. I imagined these rooms being where generals rolled out maps of the coastline and tried to figure out where the British ships were going to go next.
I spent a while sitting on a rock looking out at the ocean while the late autumn sun sparkled against the waves. I didn’t solve any of my problems that day, but I got a clearer picture of where I was headed. There was a relationship that was over two months after my day spent on the granite cliffs of Jamestown Island.
Here I sit 20 year later, and I still can remember that day overlooking the ocean. I remember drawing a strength from the place that told me things were going to be OK. No matter what happened, I was going to get through it.
I got in the car that afternoon and drove back to my parent’s house. There was a lighter feeling in the car as I drove towards Northern Rhode Island. I felt like something had been lifted off my shoulders, I didn’t need to carry it all myself. The Power Spot at the Fort had taken some of that burden from me. They had taken that burden and heaved it into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Power of a Power Spot.
