Day 3 - Whitianga

This must be the only day in my whole trip on which I’m not going from place to place but staying put in Whitianga. I’ve decided to give myself a rest from driving and my car a rest from being driven. Dawn is early as usual because it’s summer here but much too early for my liking, so I just lie in bed and allow my body to rest. Finally, I rouse my self from bed and go outside and get introduced to my neighbouring room-mates. The mother and son duo are called Diana and Malcolm and they are from Scotland.

I strike up a conversation with Diana while I’m making my breakfast and she says that they are planning to drive around and see the local places. I express my reluctance to drive today and she offers a lift. Wow! That was providence. So off I go with them. It feels good to just sit in the back of the car and just watch the scenery :) after all the long driving I’ve been doing. It is a much relaxed pace and I’m finally beginning to settle down and relax into my holiday. I notice that a lot of people tend to rush around on their holidays making a list of things they want to do and going around at break-neck speed ticking off items from the list. They end up stressed out even from a holiday and tend to need a break from even from holidaying. Looks like modern man has lost the knack of just sitting by and watching the world go by :)



Our first stop is Hot Water Beach. So called because a fault line lies under it and the underground thermal activity causes the water in a small area on the beach to get warmed up. So people dig holes in the sand and lie in the warm water like in a spa. Because the area is so small and numbers are large, it is a bit crowded. I stand back and take pictures. Diana, however, tries her luck, she goes from hole to hole dipping her feet in them until she finds one that is warm. She soaks her feet in it for a while, decides it’s enough and so we get into the car and drive on.



The town of Hahei is where we go next which is a tiny little town now crowded with tourists. On the top of a hill there is a lookout point with wonderful views of the bay area with the rock formations in the sea and jutting out into the aquamarine sea. Jetboats crisscross the placid waters and occasional sailboat passes languidly by.



This point is also the starting point for a 45 min walk to Cathedral Cove. As we start walking we quickly realise that it’s hard work, as the bush path winds up and down through the bush. Tall trees and graceful ferns rise around us as birds call and cicadas chirp among the dense foliage. Finally all our efforts are rewarded when we reach Cathedral Cove. This is a tiny cove whose main attraction is a rock formation that has a naturally made tunnel in it maybe by years of erosion by wind and water. It has a domed feel inside it and arches at the entrances, giving it its name.



Having hung around a bit we head back up and pass a wide variety of people. Among them a pregnant woman who is brave enough to do the climb, elderly folks and very young kids. But the most amazing one I find are a family with a pair of twin infants in a buggy being pushed by their father. Gosh, I think, they’ve got a hard climb to do. I'm impressed by their never-say-die attitude. The path back seems less arduous than it was the way up and boy, am I glad to see the car park :)

When we reach the car, however, we find that there is a hitch. The car’s battery is flat. Hmmm, I’m having another one of those adventurous days. It is interesting to watch Diana at this point. She didn’t flag for an instant, just took it in her stride like as if the car battery going flat on top of a hill in a strange place in a different country was a normal occurrence. Her manner changed to brisk businesslike and I could see her brain working thinking out various options. What we needed was a pair of jump start leads that needed to attach to a battery of another car and thus jump start this one. I suggest that we ask the cars coming down, maybe one of them might have a lead.

The first car we flag down has two women in the front and they stop only to tell us that they don’t have the leads, but they are very helpful. They suggest the town petrol station as the most likely place to look and so Malcolm goes down the hill to have a look. Meanwhile, we keep trying to flag down cars. Some stop and some don’t and I find it interesting that the cars with woman drivers are more likely to stop as also cars with young people. Men drive away without stopping as also older couples and more well-to-do, snobbish looking types. Finally an old ute (half-car, half small truck ) which looks like it’s going to come apart anytime stops even without asking and asks if we are okay. Diana says no, we are not, we need a pair of leads. They do have one and they are most willing to help. The couple turn their car around, attach the leads and our car starts up. Halleiluiah! I can’t help thinking that that just goes to show that wealthy need not be the most helpful or giving.

We arrive next at Cooks Beach. Which is really just a beach so we don’t stop but head straight for the Ferry Landing to catch the ferry service which will take us back to Whitianga. I suggest we have lunch because the walk has made me hungry, so Diana and I find a little cafe while Malcolm heads back to Whitianga by road where he is to meet us at the other side of the ferry landing.

Over lunch Diana tells me about herself. She is a widow, her husband having passed away 5 years ago. She used to be an analyst-programmer 20 years ago but when her son was born she stayed at home for 2 years and changed her career. She became a photographer of newborn babies. So used to go the hospitals or homes of these babies and photograph them and their families. Before digital photography became prevalent there was a demand for this sort of thing. She’s taken photographs of 10,000 babies and has a photograph of each one of them. Wow! She’s retired now mainly because she got on in years and also with the advent of digital photography, the demand for her kind of job fell. Now she is into sport. Badminton, bowling and curling. Wow! Not bad for someone over 60. But she misses holding and cuddling babies. Awww! I just sit there and admire her spirit for life.


Malcolm is on a working holiday, ie he goes to places he likes to live in and gets a job there, then he visits nearby places. He’s graduated in Engineering but wanted to do this for two years before he got an actual job. He’s been to the US, Canada and Australia. Diana is visiting him here but plans to tour the South Island by herself later on this month. It was nice how I got adopted for an afternoon by this mother-son duo and it warms my heart how she had opened up like that.

They drop me off at the hostel and drive off to their next destination. And I find that I’ve got new neighbours. This time it a mother-daughter pair. Indians. From Wellington. And she knows some of the people I know. It’s a small world indeed. Well, Devpriya is also a widow and is touring North Island solo with her daughter. She tells me there is a glass-bottomed boat ride she’s going to so I quickly go and book my ticket. At 6PM we arrive at the Ferry Landing and board our boat. The skipper is a young lad and his first mate is younger still and he proceeds to tell us about the places they’ll take us too.

So I visit he places I visited today once again, this time by boat and seeing them from a different vantage point. First stop the Ferry Landing on the other side where Will the first mate points out a stone wharf, the oldest in Australasia. I think it’s a bit of a fib, but so what? He proceeds to inform us about the kauri trees that used to grow in these parts and how they were cut down and the logs floated to the bay where they stacked on ships to be ported over to England. Some few million feet of timber was cut down and sent across, in short whole forests were wiped out. Now I believe these forests are being replanted. Thank goodness for that. Ships would arrive at Australia bringing convicts, then come over to NZ, load the timber and go back to England. One such ship was called Buffalo, but it sank in the bay and is still buried in the sand, hence the bay is called Buffalo Beach Bay.

Then we head out into the sea. Along the way Will shows us various interesting landmarks. There’s a rock outgrowth in the sea which looks like an overturned champagne glass, hence the bay is called Champagne Bay. There is a cliff face that looks like a man’s face with a hooked nose and sailor’s cap which someone thought looked like Shakespeare hence the cliff is called Shakespeare’s Cliff. We approach Cathedral Cove from the sea which looks peaceful now with the crowds gone and imposing from out in the sea.



Then they take us to the marine reserve. Here the fish are protected, ie. no fishing is allowed. This is to let the fish numbers to grow and get replenished. They take the lid off the glass bottom of the boat and the ocean floor comes into view. Fish are seen gracefully gliding in the green-blue waters. Sea plants sway gracefully to the current while a deep blue cod sleeps peacefully on the ocean floor. A couple of my fellow passengers jump off the boat for some snorkelling.



Finally, after all the sights we head back for the ferry landing. All in all a good trip with some great views of the Coromandel from the sea. Not to mention seeing the fish in their natural habitat, watching the spray rise in the wake of the boat, the wind on my face and just the feel of the ocean. Awesome!

Day 2 - Taupo to Whitianga

The day dawns early but I laze in bed trying to get over the tiredness from yesterday’s drive. Finally after much pushing my reluctant body around, I check out of the hostel at around 10AM and head north. My next stop Whitianga is around 350km away and is at the northern tip of what is called the Coromandel Peninsula.

After I leave Taupo I glance at the fuel meter and find that the tank is low in petrol. Gosh, goshhhhhhh!!! But I keep going ahead and just miss a petrol station, ie. I see one too late and it’s hard to turn around on a 100K motorway. Anyway, a little distance away, I turn right into a road that says ‘Geothermal Station’. The whole area around Taupo and especially Rotorua has a lot of geothermal activity. The earth’s crust must be lighter over here because this area abounds in boiling mud pools, natural geysers and gaseous smoke that comes from deep under smelling heavily of sulphur.



I turn around and try to go back to the petrol station but the traffic is so heavy from both directions that I get tired of waiting and go ahead instead. Wrong decision!!! Because shortly the road enters a reserve forest. Tall pines tower on both sides of the road and the air is filled with the fragrance of freshly washed pine. After I’ve gone some 50 km, with no sign of a petrol pump I stop to take stock and consult the map. Which is a good thing, because I discover much to my chargin that I’ve taken the wrong route :((( So many litres of petrol wasted, each drop of which now seems precious to me. So I turn around this time and back track, getting more tense by the minute. What if I run out of petrol in the middle of that forest, with cars just whizzing by in high speed? To be honest I am more nervous with the thought of being stranded with an empty petrol tank than when I jumped from 15000 feet yesterday :) I’m feeling lost and confused. This happens with life too. Sometimes we lose track of where we are headed and lose our bearings, floundering in confusion. Then we have to refer to the grand map, take a global view of things and get back on track.

Finally, since I’m now hungry also, I spot a place called ‘Lava Glass and Cafe’ and turn into it, for a bite and a cuppa to soothe my nerves. The counter lady informs me that Taupo is only 15 mins away, so now I can sit back and relax and enjoy my cuppa :)

So, over a piece of carrot cake, I browse the ‘Vogue’ magazine. There is an article in it which talks about the Lost Boys, or men in Western countries (and increasingly women also) who refuse to grow up and take responsibilities. Their activities are geared to make them believe that they live in the world of eternal youth. It has been men’s best kept secret and women’s worst fear come true. Hmmmmm... I know a few like that :)))

My mind tells me that I should be moving on, and getting to where I’m destined, but I counter that with the thought that each moment is to be savoured for itself, the destination can wait, but the moment cannot. Or should not. Live it to the full, a little voice tells me. The little joys are just as important as the major ones :))) So true, like finding a petrol station at last :))) I fill up and and this time find the correct route and I’m off again, carefree and singing to the music. :)))

Taking the wrong route was really such a stupid thing to do because I have a GPS in the car which I’d borrowed from a colleague just for this trip. So now I sheepishly take it out of the box and feed the destination into it :)) When it asks me if I have to reach by a particular time, I firmly press ‘NO’ :)) Time can wait. I’m living in the eternal now, am I not? From then on, I obediently follow the lady’s instructions, turning right and left when she say so :))) If I miss a turn, she firmly tells me to “turn around” :)) Little does she know that some people do not learn from mistakes, hehehe...

However, since I had chosen the shortest route, the GPS takes me through some backroads. Which is a good thing really because mostly mine is the only car on the road, so there is no car following trying to overtake and no car in front which I have to follow. This is farm country and there are corn and other crops growing in the fields. In some places the hills are dark with pine and the countryside stretches undulating on both sides. I pass little villages with quaint houses some looking like colonial bungalows with terraces and creepers trailing on the verandahs. Also, because the traffic is sparse, little birds sit and peck among the dust on the roads and when the car approaches they take off in a flutter. Some birds have a little white patch under their wings, so when they fly off, they glide and flutter, glide and flutter, doing a very pretty dance. I’m enjoying the side-shows immensely :)))

Finally, I reach the Coromandel and discover I’ve still got 82km to go before I reach Whitianga. The road get winding, rising and falling with sharp curves and treacherous bends, but the mountainous landscape is beautiful. It makes me feel small, going through these hills where nature reigns supreme and man has only carved a road around them. And such wonderfully kept roads they are. Except for a few bumps in the backroads, the roads here run smooth and even. Driving on them as such is pleasant, it’s only the heat and negotiating the curves that makes one tired. When Whitianga comes into view, I’m much relieved.

The YHA hostel is situated on the beach :) Well, almost :) It’s across the road from the beach. The room I’ve got here is much more self contained than yesterday’s. Four of us share a kitchen and bathroom and the other family are a mother and son with whom I’ve a nodding acquaintance. After a little rest, I set out for the beach and sit for a while watching the waves and the ferry boats sailing across the harbour. It is most calm and people with hardly any people on the beach.




Then a bath later, I set about to find the only Indian restaurant in town. It’s called ‘Sangam’ to celebrate the mixing of Indian cuisine with a NZ venue, it says on the menu. After filling up my fuel tank with missi roti, palak paneer and mango lassi, I go for a wander around the esplanade. The moored sailing boats make a pretty picture against the background of a setting sun. Maybe I should go and sit on the beach in the night, if the moon is out it will be most lovely .......

Stretching my boundaries :)

It’s that time of the year when the office is closed for 11 days and hubby has taken off for India and I’m at a loose end. So just because I haven’t stretched my boundaries for a while, I decide to go on a solo trip to the northern part of New Zealand’s North Island. (NZ is made up of two islands, North and South between which is that part of the sea called the Cook Strait). So having planned the trip and made all the bookings, I take off one rainy Sunday morning .........

I’m hoping to chronicle my journey as much as possible... So watch this space :)

Day 1 - Wellington to Taupo

27th December 2009

It’s a Sunday and having dropped hubby off at the airport, I pack my things into the car. For someone traveling solo there are a lot of things I seem to be carrying. I realise at this rate, I’m never gonna be a backpacker :) It’s a rainy day and windy as well, but that is not so bad because it keeps the temperatures down and driving is not so tiring. My first halt is Taupo, around 350 km away and after I leave the city, the landscape unfolds like a green dream. Grass covered hills dotted with cream-coloured sheep, head down in the grass. Pastures of cows grazing, the sea lazily caressing the sands with foamy fingers. Pine-covered hills sparkling dark green in the rain and wildflowers nodding merrily along the roadside. To add to the sensual feast Talat Mehmood voice flows smooth against my skin and serenades my heart.

Mount Raupehu rises majestically on my left, head among the clouds and sides still streaked white with snow. There are photo opportunities everywhere but I can’t take any without stopping but the snow-streaked mountain is so breathtakingly beautiful I stop to take pictures. I stop for a short lunch break which involves having my lunch in the back seat of the car. After that it’s back to the undulating road which curves ever so often and winds up and down hills, over little brooks and streams, and beckons, always beckons, to take the next turn, to find out what lies hidden beyond sight.



Finally she comes into sight, the lake that looks like a blue jewel in NZ’s topography. Lake Taupo is one of the largest fresh-water land-locked bodies and is actually a crater of a dormant volcano that is filled up with water fed by various streams. It is so huge that the other side of the lake is not visible and it can be mistaken for the sea, for waves lap against it’s shores and it’s far shores disappear into the mist. It’s a bright sunny day with little patches of cloud and so the blue sky is reflected perfectly in the waters gleaming aqua in the sunshine.

I reach the Taupo township by around 2 in the afternoon and check into the hostel. This time instead of staying in a motel I’ve decided to try out hosteling. Youth Hosteling Association is an international body which provides backpacker accommodation at cheap rates. The room is clean but the toilet and kitchen are shared which is a new experience for me. The kitchen is a large room with crockery, cutlery, pots and pans, stove, microwave and fridge. So basically you get your own materials and use the kitchen to cook and clean up later. There is an attached dining area. It’s almost like the UN there because I hear very little English being spoken, most people are speaking in foreign tongues. Everyone cleans up after himself and food left in the fridge is labelled with the owner’s name. All very clean and hassle-free. However, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to cook Indian food :)

Then I come to what might be the most exciting part of the trip, or even one of the most exciting moments in my life.

To fly like a bird :)

In the list of things I would like to do in this lifetime, parachuting has always been right up there near the top :) To be almost weightless, to glide like a bird, to defy gravity, to feel the wind on my face, to be suspended in thin air high above the earth, it has an almost dream-like quality. Well, I finally got my chance :) Sky-diving. Or to be more precise, tandem sky-diving where you are hooked onto an experienced skilled diver who operates the lines and other stuff and you are left to just enjoy the experience. So as soon as I arrive I sign up for the sky-dive.

Their bus comes and picks me up and drops us all at the airport which is quite tiny really. There we are fitted with overalls and strapped up and given instructions. Then a tall bald guy comes and introduces himself “I’m Freddy” he says, “I’m going to be your best friend for the next hour or so.” Grin, grin, grin :) I feel safe already. The aircraft arrives which looks nothing bigger than a model plane really and looks almost as flimsy but I’m not put off by such minor details. We all get aboard this model plane which has no seats but just a twin row of benches. Each instructor for our batch of six gets behind each ‘adventurous’ person and the fellows who are going to video shoot us get into the front of the plane. The plane takes off and climbs steadily. Freddy turns out to be quite a character. He tells me he’s been doing this for 27 years, has done 17000 jumps, 15000 with other people. So he’s an old pro. I ask him why the life jacket is inside a pouch all zipped up, how are we going to retrieve it in a hurry? He replies not to worry, we’re not going to need it. Such confidence :)))

The landscape from up there is mindblowing. A little river snakes its way to the lake, fields appear as checkered patterns and the highway with its gleaming metal appears tiny and far far away. Freddy gets philosophical, he comes up with such gems as “this will not give you an adrenalin rush like bungee-jumping does, this will give you a serotonin high.” “This will open doors into your soul, doors that have not opened before.”

At 12,000 feet, the first couple of people jump off. Before they jump, he tells them, you’re going to heaven, we are going to space because we’re going to jump from 15,000 feet. It gives you about 90 secs of free-fall before the parachute opens.

Then suddenly it’s my turn. Freddy inches me closer to the door. Strangely enough, I feel no fear, only excitement to really experience what I’ve dreamt about and a great curiosity to find out what it’s like. I had always imagined myself being stricken with fear and chickening out of the jump but now I find myself actually looking forward to jumping. He had told me to kneel at the door and not jump but that he would slowly ease me out. So I kneel at the door and look down. In awe... and perfect calmness ...

The videographer jumps first, then Freddy eases me out and we are out of the door and in thin air. It was just like walking out of any ordinary door. We gets turned upside down at first but a little chute opens and we are face down again. Freddy signals me to spread my arms and I am flying like a bird.

What follows thereafter cannot be described. It doesn’t feel like falling, just a glide at great velocity, the wind whipping against my face and clothes. The lake is spread out below in all its splendour, gleaming in the sunlight. We pass clouds like one would pass trees on the road and Freddy says poetically, “now you know why birds sing...” I have to say, I agree. My happiness is so huge and overwhelming that a huge smile spreads across my face and sits there. The video guy tries to get me to look at the camera but I’m so intent in what lies spread out below me that I ignore him and his camera, even though I’m paying extra to get him in the air too :))) It is such an other-worldly experience that I don’t even have memories maybe because my mind had shut down and was not recording anything.



Finally, Freddie gives his parachute a tug and we go from vertical to horizontal with a big tug. The fall is arrested somewhat and we are now gliding serenely above Lake Taupo. The sun glints off clouds and sparkles on the waters and the world looks so much at peace. I wonder if this is the view that God gets. After all his universe is perfect in all respects, it’s only our mind that messes it up. Freddy does some swings with his parachute, so we veer to the left and right in graceful arches like two huge birds. Finally, it’s time to get down to earth and we land on the grassy landing area.

To fly like a bird, that dream of mine has finally come true ........

:)))

P.S. The rest of the photos and the video I shall post later ......

An afternoon snapshot

stretched out on the bed
rain tapping on the roof in waves
melody of troughs and crests
my mind stops to listen

cake baking in the oven
filling the house with aroma
sweet spicy maternal
like loving mother hands

stretched out on the bed
‘tween spaces in the rainsong
in the warm embrace of smells
my body stops to unwind

little vignettes of life
captured by memory
stored away somewhere
for another rainy day

in the wonb of this poem
suspended in time, i float
on the edges of reality
stretched out on the bed

My love, can you?

My love, my love, can you hear
the call of my heart
the stirrings of my soul?
When the wind runs its fingers
through the leaves of the trembling trees,
and the rain caresses the tree-trunks
then becomes one with the earth.
When through the night my soul
fights off the demons of the dark.
and the morning sun comes to kiss
my face, in repose at last.

My love, my love, can you feel
the love that bursts forth and spills
and makes me melt and flow.
A love gentle, yet relentless
that brings out all my fears
and destroys them one by one.
That humbles and purifies me
by destroying the dross and the vile,
even as it lifts me up and exalts me
and reveals to me my divinity
and makes me a worthy child of God.

Haiku

Do I write,
or does God write
using my hand?

Arcs of lightening,
claps of thunder,
God's pleased with Herself.

I take your hand,
you touch my soul,
instantly I'm free.

Labels and names
I seem to forget,
can I call you Soul?

Rich man in mansion,
poor man in hovel,
both prisoners of the mind.

Once you're free,
mansion or hovel,
it doesn't really matter.

A moment of grace

I have come home early today and after walking the 4km from the station, I’m a bit hungry. So I make myself a fried egg and a cup of tea and eat it in solitude and silence, savouring every bite. Outside the sky is blue with white cottony clouds floating by languidly. The sun peeps in and out of clouds and when it is out, the light falls full upon everything, the garage roof next door, the leaves, the petals of flowers, the grass, brightening them up to a golden sparkle. It falls through the french windows and lace curtains onto the floor in filigreed patterns. A light breeze caresses the tree-tops making the leaves scatter the sunlight here and there in a merry dance. As I sit there doing nothing but taking in the scene, I think ‘This is it! This is just it!’. A moment of grace. When nothing is done and nothing accomplished and yet is full of beauty and peace and strangely enough, eternity.

Accomplishment. It seems only man is capable of such a thing. But, our intellect, our achievements, are to what avail, I wonder.When I look at all the non-human living beings on this planet I somehow get the feeling that they are living close to their core or source. Man is the only animal who even though endowed with great intellect has moved away from his core. We have accomplished so much, built cities, warheads, machines, yet we struggle to build relationships. We have amassed hordes and hordes of knowledge in our brains, computers, storage systems but know so little about our own selves, let alone the next person. We have split the atom and found quasars but have still not found a way to live without war and in peace. We have sent man to the moon and space craft into inter galactic space, but cannot seem able to take a small step towards our inner self.

It is twilight now and that magical time of the day when light retreats and shadows take its place. The air is hushed and full of mystery as night walks in following the footsteps of the departing day. Our activities, our bodies, our minds wind down. Nature has so cleverly built into us the rhythms of day and night, of activity and rest. A time to work and a time to put our tools down, including our mind. Especially our mind. Time to turn off the lights and listen to the music of the stars, the soft breathing of beings asleep, the stirrings of the soul and realise that we all interconnected. That beyond the veil of illusion of the material world, we are all one.

Relationship

--------- excerpt from The Mandala of Being ----------

A relationship is an energetic alchemy that two or more people create together which has the potential to accentuate the closeness or distance of each from his or her true self. How close to, or how far from, our true selves we live determines the quality of the relationships we create.

- Richard Moss

On Being

“There are moments when one feels free from one’s own identification with human limitation. At such moments one imagines that one stands on some spot of a small planet gazing in amazement at the cold and yet profoundly moving beauty of the eternal, the unfathomable. Life and death flow into one, and there is neither evolution nor destiny, only Being.”

- Albert Einstein

The day was crystal clear and sparkling .....

Today when I got out of the house in the morning the sun was shining, but it must have rained during the night because everything outside was wet. There were tiny droplets of water on the leaves, the flowers and the tiny droplets on each blade of grass shining in the sunlight made it look like the grass was wearing sequins :)) The light has a different quality when the sun shines again after the rain. The air is crystal clear and sparkling and the trees, houses, roads look spanking clean. Sitting on the train I look out as we pass the river. The water is almost still and the trees look like they are looking at their own reflection in the water. A group of gulls sitting on a sand bar is perfectly reflected on the still water. Watching the scene, it occurs to me that this is how witnessing comes about.

Your thoughts, actions, reactions, no matter how turbulent are reflected on the stillness of your inner silence. There no thoughts emerge, no reactions occur, there is just silent witnessing. Thoughts come and go, reactions rage and pass away, concepts are formed and changed, opinions rise and fall, but the witness only witnesses these temporary phenomena. It remains unchanged, unaffected, serene and calm. In this witnessing lies all wisdom. It is the link to the realm of the infinite wherein lies only innocence and pure love.

When I got home in the evening, the trees were alive with the sound of birdsong. The little ones were calling, talking, scolding but in such a musical manner it makes the heart swell with joy. I go for a walk and the sunshine is warm and invigorating. It feels as if summer has finally arrived here after much hemming and hawing and delay :) The light falls dazzling on everything, lighting up the grass to an emerald brilliance, the tender young leaves blushing rose and the leaves silhouetted against the light a translucent shade of green.

Back home while I'm writing this on my laptop I have an unusual visitor. I've left the front door open to let in some fresh air. I see a slight movement near the bedroom door and I turn my head slowly to see a jet black cat with green eyes walk into the room. I am sitting absolutely still so it doesn't notice me. It sniffs at the various objects on the floor and is walking towards my feet when it looks up and sees a pair of eyes looking into its eyes. Its instinctive reflex is to flee, it stiffens and almost turns away but after the initial fear response, it relaxes and looks into my eyes for a few seconds more and realising I'm no threat it turns and leaves, slowly and with dignity.

This is the thing I love about animals other than humans, they are living from the core, true to themselves. In innocence and in being-ness.

Childe Harold

from Childe Harold, Canto iv, Verse 178

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is a rapture on the lonely shore,

There is society, where none intrudes,

By the deep sea, and music in its roar:

I love not man the less, but Nature more,

From these our interviews, in which I steal

From all I may be, or have been before,

To mingle with the Universe, and feel

What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.

Lord Byron, (George Gordon)

Dance to change the world

A truly eye-opening, inspiring video........ Watch and change your world-view -

Dance to change the world

Notes to myself

There is no such thing as a bad decision or a wrong choice. We call it bad because the outcome was not what we expected. We made that choice sub-consciously because of the lessons that choice would bring that we were supposed to learn. In such a situation it helps to step back and ask oneself “what am I supposed to learn here?” If we don’t learn the lesson we tend to make the same choices and attract the same kind of situation again and again. Until we have learnt the lesson.

In a social gathering, you’ll find that almost all those present wear masks, including yourself. So the interaction is really between masks, seemingly friendly, happy and enjoyable. Saying things that sound pleasant, smiling to hide the pain or anger or dislike. How can such a situation be anything but false, disconcerting and dishonest?

Competition springs from the ego. Recognition from peers, glory, acknowledgement from society, my true self has no need of these. There is no need for comparing, competing or proving myself. If I am the source AND the manifestation, of what need is praise? Who is praising whom? If I am all and one, with whom do I compete? My true self knows only union, only the ego seeks to separate, compare and compete.

To be free of the need to talk, to communicate, to be sociable is for me a very liberating experience. Contact with civilisation can sometimes be a corrupting influence wherein while donning the mask of civilisation we lose touch with the purity of our true self. Doing this for too long brings about a disconnect with who we really are while we play the roles of who society wants us to be.

Nowadays I feel happy when I hear that someone has passed away. For the soul the earthly existence is a very binding one, bound by body, limited by time and space. It has taken on a earthly form for some reason, maybe for an experience or a lesson. Maybe it seeks realisation. It longs for escape from the trap of illusion, it longs to be free again. Death of the body and mind gives it that freedom, to merge with limitlessness once again. Why would it want to be trapped in ignorance, in darkness, when it can be the light it truly is and be one with infinite effulgence.

Life's most vital discovery

----- excerpt from www.superwisdom.com -----

Several people were on a walk with author and spiritual teacher Vernon Howard. While crossing a large paved parking lot, he called everyone’s attention to a little flower that had broken through. He pointed out its perfect relevance to our inner task. The seed’s yearning to express itself was so strong that a thick layer of concrete could not stop it.

People possess many different fears, but perhaps the largest one is unseen. It’s the fear that we’ll not be able to handle or contain the tremendous power of the awakened Heart. Therefore, we hold ourselves back. We live a life of reluctance. In this reduced state of energy all our problems “miraculously” appear.

Our inner difficulties are not what they appear to be. Worry, regret, fear, anger and loneliness are symptoms, not the cause. What is the real problem? It is a dormant Central Power Source. What is our purpose? To awaken this source and shatter the concrete of false beliefs and shallow thinking.

It is fascinating to discover that the location of the Central Power Source has been known for thousands of years. Throughout the Bible the power of the Heart is referenced more than 800 times. The dictionary defines Heart as: “The vital center and source of one’s being, emotions, and sensibilities, the central or innermost part of a place or region.” People often point to their physical heart as their spiritual heart, but ancient wisdom places this source in the region of our breath.

Different cultures have highlighted the Heart’s supreme value in life and spirituality, even health and well-being. The Japanese have long referred to this domain as Hara. The Chinese have named it Dan Tien. One of the Bible’s most interesting statements is in Proverbs 4:23, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Shakespeare chimes in, “Go to your bosom: Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know.” Buddha declares, “The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.”

At the turn of the century Russell Conwell wrote a great little book that illustrates this thought entitled Acres of Diamonds. The book opens with a story about a wealthy man who sold his farm and journeyed to foreign lands in search of diamonds. Some time later the richest diamond mine in history was discovered, and it was found right on the land he once owned! The good news for us is this domain is still entirely our own. We can rediscover the rich life we have in fact never lost.

Sufi mystic Al-Ghazzali declares the glowing Heart wisdom:

“The first step to self-knowledge is to know that thou art composed of an outward shape, called the body, and an inward entity called the heart, or soul. By “heart” I do not mean the piece of flesh situated in the left of our bodies, but that which uses all the other faculties as its instruments and servants. In truth it does not belong to the visible world, but to the invisible, and has come into this world as a traveler visits a foreign country for the sake of merchandise, and will presently return to its native land. It is the knowledge of this entity and its attributes which is the key to the knowledge of God.”

Excerpt from the site -

http://www.superwisdom.com/2009/05/superwisdom-seven-vital-secrets-for-a-rich-and-purpose-filled-life-the-books-introduction/#more-1086

the surprising science of motivation

Watch an interesting talk presenting surprising new ideas on the science of motivation.

Dan Pink on motivation

Intellect

Albert Einstein once said, 'We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles but no personality. It cannot lead; it can only serve.'

Come, let’s be free

Would that your silence
lap against the shores of my silence,
how beautiful would that be.
Would that in that silence
our true selves be revealed,
how liberating would that be.
Would that we lose ourselves in that silence
and find the Source,
how divine would that be.

Words are so limiting, so inadequate
to convey our abundance,
why seek comfort in their confines.
Like cages that imprison birds
and arrest their flight,
they force us into little packets of meaning.
Let’s free ourselves of words,
even the cages of our bodies
and be the limitless beings that we are.

A different way of looking

Look at yourself as a tree would see you, or as a rock would or the sea would. They would not see your gender, your colour, your race, your medals, your achievements, your talents, your wealth, your status. They would only see your Beingness. Everything else has been put on, layer upon layer upon your true being. Even your personality, your traits, your character, your values. Observe how they change over time, according to circumstances, how we alter them to suit ourselves. How can our true self be anything so mercurial, temporary, illusionary?

Look at the earth as the earth would see itself. It would see no boundaries, no fences, no countries, no divisions. It would only see bountiful plenty. It would see the richness and the amazing diversity of life and the inevitability of death. And below it all, the hidden intelligence that pulsates in all. Even though we fancy ourselves to be God’s greatest creation for the earth man is just another form of life. It makes not concessions for us, gives us no special treatment. For most of the animal kingdom, man remains their greatest enemy. Maybe we need to go outside of our mind, set aside our ego and look at ourselves as nature would see us.