Monday Meditation (5)

‘The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts

well out of proportion to their size.’

(Gertrude S. Wister)

The Double Rainbow

Two rainbows at once.  See them?  Must be a specially good sign…

Honouring The Imperfect

It was towards the end of our time in Marrakesh that I experienced one of ‘those’ moments.  The moments when with every fibre of my being I think, ‘It was worth coming all this way just to see (or hear) that!’

Maryam, our über-talented hostess, was discussing imperfection.  She explained that the Moroccan people (and Muslims in general) believe nothing is perfect except God.  Since we’re all flawed, then, striving for perfection is pointless.  It can only ever lead to disappointment because we’re chasing the impossible.  Instead, the imperfection of things made by humans - be they pots or decisions - should be embraced.

This thought alone makes me exhale deeply, my shoulders drop, my lips curve into a smile, my mind settle into a more tranquil place.  How wonderful.  How liberating.  How comforting.

But…. here‘s the best bit.  To honour this way of thinking, Maryam has deliberately laid one tile the wrong way round in every bathroom at Peacock Pavilions (see the picture above).

Friends, when I heard this, my heart soared.  Soared and sang!  As an incorrigible perfectionist, I need constant reminders to let go of crippling, stultifying, dizzyingly high standards….reminders that tell me flawed doesn’t necessarily equal bad.  To actually build those reminders into the fabric of your surroundings is, I think, a stroke of genius!

Over the coming months, then, I plan on finding ways to incorporate a few reminders into my own rooms and spaces.  And for that particular idea, it was absolutely worth going all the way to Morocco and back. 

A Day For Leaping

I feel strangely excited by February 29th this year….in a way I don’t ever remember being excited by previous leap years.  It feels like we’ve all been given an extra day to live – sort of the opposite of the way people felt when Great Britain switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in 1752….and people rioted in the streets, believing they’d had eleven days of their lives snatched from them.

BBC Radio 4 has been encouraging everyone to make a leap of some kind tomorrow – to do something unusual, something life-changing or something you’ve been putting off for ages.

I haven’t yet decided what my own particular leap will be, though I have a couple of possible ideas in mind.  I shall see how tomorrow takes me.

But one way or another, I’m determined to make the day pretty darn special.  It feels like a year for leaping.

The random number generator threw up number 3 this morning….so the tiny Moroccan spoons go to Michelle.  Congratulations to her!  (Oh, and if you’re wondering about the goats above, we found them in a tree in Morocco!)

Monday Meditation (4)

‘We need to find God, and He cannot be found in

noise and restlessness.  God is the friend of silence.

See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in

silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they

move in silence….We need silence to be able to touch

souls.’

( Mother Teresa )