Monday Meditation (21)

‘Smile, breathe and go slowly.’

Thich Nhat Hnah

The Olympic Torch Relay

The Olympic Torch Relay passed our way today.  Thousands of people lined the streets to cheer it on its way.  It was quite the spectacle!

The torch is being carried around the UK by 8,000 ‘inspirational people’.  A few are celebrities; but, for the most part, the torch is being carried by folk who’ve made a massive contribution to their local communities or overcome serious adversity in some way.  The photo shows Rodger Davies, an athlete and businessman who's raised a ton of money for charity over the years and continues to do so despite now being ill.  He was one of three torchbearers to carry the flame through our local town.

It's left me musing all day on the notion of 'inspirational people'.  Who inspires me?  Why do they inspire me?  What would it take to become an inspirational person?

How about you?  Who inspires you?

My Favourite Ways To Celebrate Summer

-  Make elderflower champagne
-  Go barefoot
-  Throw a tea party
-  Pick bilberries
-  Watch Wimbledon on the telly
-  Swing in a hammock (this one is sort of theoretical ‘cause I’ve only ever swung in a hammock twice in my entire life!)
-  Have a picnic
-  Lie in the grass, listening to the drone of lazy aeroplanes overhead
-  Put up summer bunting
-  Listen to Test Match Special on the radio (we’re talking cricket)
-  Go to an outdoor concert
-  Eat bowl after bowl of apricots and cherries and nectarines and berries

Changing Places: Josephine Borg on Bivouac in the Yorkshire Dales

I first set foot upon Bivouac's hilltop on a wet and windy November afternoon. I was meeting with its founders, Beth and Sam Hardwick, amidst the foundations of their new business to offer the bones of mine.

I'd taken a leap of faith to Yorkshire, leaving behind a stable income, dearest friends and a city I loved, to build a home with my partner and create a company doing what I loved. Naturally, I'd anticipated a period of resettlement; I just hadn't reckoned on grief. I was confronted with a side of myself that appalled me - raw and clinging.

The work I felt such an affinity to became a horrible joke on me - what position was I in to offer support to others? And, whilst I strongly identified with being a massage therapist, the thought of working in a clinical setting for a conveyor-belt of clients, left me cold. I desired connection and service. I longed for creative expression. I craved being in nature and to feel utterly alive.

The sunset framed in my rear-view mirror that evening is etched on my memory. Pink and orange blazed across a wide charcoal sky. Driving home I felt a shift, like surfing a wave. An unmistakeable, exhilarating lift and surge forwards. My internal voice, whose steady mantra for the past eighteen months had been 'I'm lost and scared' had found the voice for a new message: 'I'm excited to be home'. I understood I no longer needed to compromise the essential parts of myself. I could create the opportunities I needed rather than walking well-trodden paths that didn't serve me.

Three seasons on, my compass is still set towards the Dales. I've enjoyed dustings of snow, driving rain, dazzling sunshine and been blessed by double rainbows. Stepping out of my massage appointments, looking over the valley, I can hear curlews calling, feel wind and rain on my skin, take in deep lungfuls of air and taste woodsmoke and forest. The sky never fails to make me catch my breath.

I've learnt to watch for themes emerging in the dreams I’ve had for myself and always feel for that sense of coming home. Each visit to Bivouac reminds me to have the courage to grow a business that nurtures me so that, in turn, I may nurture others.

Jo is a soother of muscles, minds and spirits (I’ll testify to that!).  She offers wondrous, Hawaiian Lomi Lomi massage in Leeds, West Yorkshire and near Ripon, North Yorkshire.  Check out her beautiful website to find out more.

The Bivouac is a collection of sustainable and rustic shacks and yurts (plus a bunk barn) located on the Swinton Park Estate.

Changing Places is a guest post series about the power of place to change us.  You can find more stories in the series here.  If you’d like to share your own story, please contact me  for submission details.

Lise Meijer Shop

I’m excited to share with you today the opening of my good friend Lise Meijer’s online shop.

Lise’s mixed media posters and cards are filled with soul and meaning.  In her own words, they’re created from ‘a place of joyful search for the goodness and wisdom life has to offer’.

Lise recently sent me (oh-so-generously) some of the goodies now on sale in her store and I can vouch for their quality.  The cards are big and glossy – which means the intricate details of Lise’s art can be seen and appreciated.  The colours of the originals have reproduced beautifully right across the range.  I also think they’re very reasonably priced!

Do click over to the shop and take a look.  There's a special opening-week offer on.  And Lise will be thrilled to see you!