Lessons from of All Things - the Mayflower!

The last post helped my day today so much that I decided to go with it, not think of it as a fluke and write some more. I also think of much of this recent series of realizations within a nautical metaphor. So with apologies to my my truly nautical daughter and son-in-law, here goes.
One activity that I have been consistently able to do these past months has been reading. I have read a lot of fiction and punctuated that with historical books on a range of subjects, mostly American or English histories. I am at the time reading Nathaniel Philbrook's Mayflower. He discusses the Pilgrims' harrowing trip across the late fall Atlantic in the frail ship. And he includes  on page 31 the  strategy of " lying ahull" which Master Jones employed during some of this journey. He states that"to lie ahull--to furl the sails and without  a stitch of canvas set, secure the helm to leeward and surrender his 180-ton ship to the elements." He also notes that a reproduction ship had to face similar gale forces and attempt the same strategy.  The question was "would she lie that way, more or less quietly, with the windage of the high poop keeping her shoulder to the sea? Or would she just wallow hopelessly in the great troughs threatening to roll her masts out? We didn't know. No one had tried the maneuver in a ship like that for maybe two centuries."
"As soon as the ship's bow swung into the wind, a remarkable change came over the Mayflower II. Even though she was under bare poles in a howling gale, her slablike topsides functioned as a kind of wooden storm sail magically steadying the ship's motion. Almost perfectly balanced the Mayflower II sat like a contented duck amid the uproar of the storm. After being pounded unmercifully by the waves, the ship was finally at peace."
I don't intend the harp upon the analogy and I draw the lines this side of admitting to a "slablike topside" But having wallowed  in the depths of my own troughs of late I found myself able to find a balance and within reasonable limits be at peace beyond that which I had known for some time. I think it came at least in part from taking a risk to face into the gale and hold a steady course for a sustained period of time, which wasn't all that long, but still beyond that which I had done these past weeks. The result was that I had my first good whole day in a long while, I was able to be productive and to think about some plans I need to make. The sorrow is still my companion but I feel a balance I have not known and that lifts my heart. We don't always anticipate the lessons learned from history.