In 1807, British poet William Wordsworth penned the sonnet, "The World is Too Much with Us":
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
To reconnect with nature and the self, multiple cures are available, one of which is travel. Last month, I spent two nights on Iona Island in Scotland and took a tour of sister islands nearby, Lunga and Staffa. A visit to them definitely stilled the heart and calmed the soul.
With a population around 100 people, Iona felt like a visit to the era of beehive huts, scriptoria and high crosses. Founding the Abbey of Iona in the 6th century, St. Columba's spirit still permeates the site. I could imagine him, stylus in hand, on the small hill that once housed his writing cell. The view of the Sound of Iona is as beautiful as Big Ben, the Eifel Tower and the Colosseum. As expected, a tour of the isles of Lunga and Staffa to view the puffins, caves and geologic formations was great, but the it was the trip on the Atlantic Ocean that was the highlight. Even with a strong swell, the ocean felt like an embrace.
Wordsworth's poetry was in mind because I had also visited the Lake District, including his home Dove Cottage, as part of the same pilgrimage for a five-day hike. Disregard the world of getting and spending awhile and refresh the soul in Scotland and northern England.