Sunday 14 July 2013

Never Give Up...

I made a decision to sit and write on my birthday sometime last night. There was a familiar stirring within me, a call for expression, for illumination and for acknowledgement. I needed to mark this birthday somehow because for me it feels significant. Some birthdays come and go, gently breathed into and released again as we sail through the oceans of our lives, weathering the storms and calm waters of our unique moments. Some appear lost in sadness and time, sunk beneath the weight of events that constitute human experience. Some birthdays are planned in advance and embraced in an oncoming torrent of celebration and alcohol. To be frank, that was the kind I was expecting, having had so much experience with that craziness. I am surprised and refreshed by what today is offering me though.

Today feels though my ship has come home. It feels as though I have returned to port after a lifetime of ocean sailing, of storms and freak waves, squalls and ocean deserts. 36 years after the event - the launch of my magnificent yacht - I feel as if I have completed a journey of epic proportions. 4 cycles of 9 have been navigated. For me 9 is significant. My birth date adds up to 9 today and did when I was born. My age adds up to 9 today and 9 is my numerological life path number. In truth it only serves as a marker point really and yet, somehow feels like a home-coming.

Looking back on my journey so far, it could appear that I have suffered my fair share of set-backs, heart aches, mind-numbing griefs, unprocessed emotions, broken families, dysfunctional relationships, and relative levels of poverty but that is directly proportional to the amount of adventures I have had, the amount of love and support my family have given me, even when I couldn't or refused to see it, the pathways that have led me to the most conscious and beautiful relationship I have ever been in, the countries I have visited, the amazing network of friends I have, the beautiful people that I have met through my life and the sheer amount of wisdom, love and support I have received on a thousand levels, from a thousand sources.

You see, those storms have shaped my soul and are now providing great compost for my new ideas and dreams. I was Prospero in my own Tempest and I wouldn't change any of it for the world because it is all me. I have not one single regret in my life because I know that all of it was me and I wouldn't be here now, in this moment without it. Regardless of how I feel right now, I can only ever be in one place, in this moment and that is the only place I am ever going to be. There is not a heaven or bright place over the horizon, next week, next year, where everything is peachy. Everything can and at least for me, is peachy right now because I have chosen to embrace all that I am and everything that has ever happened to me.

So, on this morning in the wild olive groves and pine forests of my mountain hideaway, amid the bird song and mountain goats, I celebrate and embrace myself for the completion of another cycle. For all that I am, was and will be. I celebrate the contrast of life for without it we would not want to or be able to move forward.

More so... I write with passion, love, inspiration and hope in my heart that my words may touch and inspire someone to stand up and embrace all that they are as well. The good, the bad and the ugly for it is all relative and is all a part of who we are. I hope that we, as humans may claim all parts of ourselves as beautiful because we are magnificent, creative, gorgeous creatures, whatever form we come in.

As I embark upon a new cycle, I wish you all well and wish you the love and joy that hides in your heart.