The Joy of Just “Being”

I have loved living on my island for 20 plus years. Still do!

The Choice to Survive and Thrive

Like the coconut trying to survive, is a push necessary for us to change our environment when needed?

Change. Is It Challenge Or Opportunity?

When one embarks on a process of change, it is with the knowledge that as the old and no longer relevant is discarded, space opens up to permit the entry of the new, and to creative discovery.

Making a Life Change? The Environment is Your Choice!

It is early morning just before full sun up and my favourite time of day. I feel the soft sand of the beach under my feet. I live in what I call the most nourishing environment for me.

Letting Go

My early walk to the beach one morning presented me with a message I could not ignore. When I reached the ocean’s shore there was a startling sight, a very wide expanse of pristine clean sand.

What is Community?

The idea and value of community has always meant a great deal to me. In my neighborhood I feel a sense of community, a sense of belonging, which I suggest is a need for all people.

The Power of Listening

Being able to listen to the ocean is not only calming and spirit restoring but it also teaches.

The Almonds Are Falling

A demonstration of the strength of the common people here and their creative skills to make work for themselves through marginal but honest activities.

With A Little Help From My Friends

Even nature sometimes needs a little help.“Someone” decided to create a support for the branch so it could be successful in its reach to get the sun’s nourishment for the main tree trunk.

Practising Due Diligence

Do you practice due diligence? Does the sound of these words prompt a negative or positive reaction ?

Thanks to the Beach Workers who Support our Community

Omar is one of the beach workers to whom we community members owe a debt of gratitude.

Persistence Finally Has Its Rewards

Persistence is key to being successful in reaching one’s goals. In life, however, not everything happens in a straight line.

The Case to be Made for Having Expectations

How very dreary to start each day with no expectations and with only the thought, “It is what it is”. If one can dream, the thought can change to, “It is what it can be”.

Patience – What is it anyway?

“Patience is a virtue” What is a virtue? Do I have it or not? As I walked along the sand I began to notice things around me that demonstrated ”patience”.

Taking Time to Play

Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we stopped playing. Can we, should we, reintroduce play into our lives?

Moving Gently Through My World

May you walk gently through the world and know its beauty, all the days of your life.

Dealing with Change: Challenge or Opportunity

When one embarks on a process to declutter, it is with the knowledge that as the old and no longer relevant is discarded, space opens up to permit the entry of the new, and to creative discovery.

The Fisherman’s Wait

I am struck by the beauty of this photo, not only because of the remarkable capture of the sunrise with its incredible colours but also with the message it sends.

How Does One Define Health?

This morning as I walked, I thought about how the fresh air and the serenity of the beach promote a feeling of being healthy. This prompted me to ask, What do I mean when I use the word healthy? How do I define Health? And What is the collective understanding of what health is in society?

Sometimes You Need to Just “Take it Off the Menu”

This blog is written in appreciation of the value of wisdom, and the recognition of the wise “teachers” who gift it to us.

Look Up, Way, Way Up

Can we learn to look up, way, way up at times of conflict, especially when involved in competitive positioning that causes us to miss beautiful moments of understanding?

A Playful Consideration of Perhaps a Message Received

What is the message for me if I observe the ocean’s stillness, the chaos of the following week, and then the safe behaviour of the heron?

Balancing Time Alone and Time Together

There is value in both states of being, solitude and socialization. As we pursue our search for meaning in our lives we need a healthy balance of time alone and time together.

Being Gentle With Ourselves

I am always grateful for the learning on my beach walks in the early morning. The learning today is to be is to be gentle to myself, to be those slow waves coming in and gently touching and smoothing the sand.

Purpose: is it Nature or Nurture?

What is a person’s purpose? How do we define that? Is it defined by our own perspective? Or by others?

Waiting For A Guide

We all have a need for the support and guidance of others to reach our goals. This is especially true when one is considering making a big change in one’s life, perhaps a life change to realize a buried dream.

The Power of Listening

The Power of Listening, to others, to ourselves, to what is around us, to what is inside us, or even to silence.

Goals versus Expectations How are these different?

When one is considering making changes in one’s life, small or big ones, it becomes critical to know the difference between realistic goals and expectations in order to avoid the pitfall of thinking they are one and the same.

Remembering the First Call of a Buried Dream

As I walked, a verse of the poem, Sea Fever, by John Masefield popped up in my mind.

“I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied.”

Barriers Can Be Opportunities

When it seems your path is blocked, is it time to give up or change direction?

Contrasts of The Moments Give Us Understanding

If every moment were just like this, then how would we know to identify it as tranquility?

Seeking The Invisible

Seeing with the eyes can, at best, give only a glimpse of life happening all around us. Invisibility in nature provides protection for living and nonliving things. Do we humans choose invisibility at times, perhaps burying dreams we had wanted to pursue in the past? Are we self-protecting or self-limiting when we do ?

A Path Over Stepping Stones

The value of previous experience and the moment you finally reach a stable stone.

The Search For Who We Really Are

“Who are we really?” Is this the question, the key question for each of us?

It’s All About Connecting the Dots. But Where are the Dots?

Has the experience of the pandemic helped you to identify a strong need for connection? What and where are the dots you can see to connect in your life?

Competition for Resources – Maintaining a Sense of Humour

As I struggled with the ant invasion I also struggled with my values about interdependence, ecosystem maintenance, and my right to kill while defending myself.

Changing Our Position Can Change Our Perspective

How we “see” things can limit our vision of our path forward. Sometimes even changing position physically can change perspective.

Nature Knows to Clean Enough Space to Let in the New

The beach today is clean and the ocean smooth as glass. The ocean is offering up its stillness in readiness for the new waves and the tide that will return.

My World Has Been Weary Waiting for The Sun to Return

For days I have wakened to the sound of down pouring rain, bad news for my exercise routine. My meditative walk has been out of the question, and as a result I have been missing its therapeutic calming effect. But today the sun has come back to cheer the world and me.

A Gift Today

A beautiful panorama of ocean and sky greets my eyes. I see a fisherman, an older man, fishing in the traditional way with a net he throws. It is quite beautiful to watch; the movements are like a ballet.

A “Hoodie” Day

The sky is overcast and the huge waves I see in the distance will come crashing onto the beach. A couple of motorcycle taxis pass me and the drivers are wearing their hooded sweatshirts; they feel cold. Having lived here for such a long time I feel the cold too.

Congratulate Yourself For Being “slow” !!!!

Sometimes being “slow” can be a valuable characteristic. Being “slow” can make you a better decision maker, and promote creativity.

Sometimes A Most Perfect Thing Is Only Seen By Accident

The rushing, the stress, the busy-ness of our modern lives cheats us of the most significant awareness of our surroundings, our relationships.

Is It Time To Dig Up That Buried Dream?

At some point in our lives all of us had high hopes of something very different than what life presented us with, a story we wrote but tucked away when we were very young perhaps. And then one day the buried dream starts to haunt us once more and this time with an insistence we cannot ignore.

A Slightly Different Twist to The Practice of Gratitude

A familiar topic these days is the practice of gratitude. Feeling thankful for people and events in our lives and giving voice to those feelings can enhance our well-being. If we look around us there may be surprising benefits to expressing gratitude for inanimate objects.

The Almonds Are Falling

The Almond Lady is one of workers engaged in what I call “naturally occurring work”. Her work supports a family. She demonstrates the strength of the common people here and their creative skills to make work for themselves through marginal but honest activities.

Being Open At Just The Right Time

This little shell, just open for this moment, is a message to listen to new ways of thinking, to new ways of righting injustice, to new ideas of providing the right support for humanity, the support that is needed right now.

A Nourishing Environment

Having a nourishing environment can make all the difference to quality of life. In this new forced environment we are experiencing right now, are you thinking about how you would like your environment to be when a new normal environment will be possible?

In the Midst of Change What is NOT Changing?

As I approach the ocean shore thinking how fortunate I am to be able so quickly to come to a place that is peacefully not changing. The ocean is here as it was yesterday and where it will be tomorrow. My anxiety lessens. As I look around I see the little bird who is always here. He was here yesterday and will be here tomorrow. My mood lifts; I start to breathe more deeply. My feeling of safety kicks in. What I see around me is familiar.

The Power of ONE

All over the world there are individuals performing small acts to help save the environment. They do not make the headlines but they have more impact than we know.

The Joy of Just “Being”

I sat on the railing and watched him make the coffee.
The sun was shining, I relaxed and forgot about the urgency of the work I had left. I thought, “If I were in the cold north right now, I would be tapping my fingers in impatience, not even looking at the server and I would be missing the connection with another human being”.

Missed Moments

Does your talent have flowering moments that you choose to miss or feel you must save for another day? Do you have brief moments when you feel the desire to give voice to, to write about, to sketch about, or even to live in a new way, place, or daily routine? Perhaps it’s time to give it an audience?

Against All Odds

There is so much to be learned from nature if we take the time to notice. Even in the most challenging situations or times it can be possible to renew, to regain, when it seems that our chances for success have been destroyed.
Every morning I must pass through a narrow opening to enter the space by the ocean’s shore where I do my morning exercises. As I do, I notice…

A Poor Place To Thrive

Come and Walk With Me

An early morning walk is a loving commitment to myself, a daily practice primarily for exercise and for taking the time to practice my Qigong routine of breath and stretch work.
When I am in my island home, I go down to the ocean to a magical place where inspiration and peaceful contemplation wait for me. Today it is a little later than usual when I start out but still the air is fresh.