Scotland – isolated bliss
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Isle of Mull 2018
My heart, my soul, my bones and blood
I honour and cherish and yearn when apart
On meditation
I have had a reflective Sunday today on the subject of meditation. I felt I just could not let it pass without doing one and it was a good and interesting experience. I am a strong believer in everything coming at the right time and today aligned intuitively with meditation subject, which also turned into some intuitive healing spell work, which I had sensed was on the cards last night. It took me on a long journey through very beautiful chakra colours. I had a meeting with the elements and crystals were pointed out in a way of integrating energies. Flowing, simple, incredibly soothing and perfectly aligned.
People talk about how meditation changes lives, removes fears and blocks, rids us of frustration and anxiety and so on. I wonder how interesting it is that by going within, which is essentially what meditation does, things become better. Why haven’t we always been going within, which would make the most sense to turn inwards for answers. It speaks loudly about our collective avoidance of ourselves, devaluing of our own resources and qualities. If it is a tool to know ourselves better. If that’s the case why doesn’t everyone do it?
External has dominated so many aspects of our lives for so long, concepts made up by men, rules of the society, ideas based on social conformity and abandonment of self, there is no wonder. It is incredible to think that we would turn away from the gold that lies ready and available within ourselves for the things that shine on outside, but have no depth or real value. It makes me very sad to think about it that way.
Meditation is going within, observing and honouring that breath that keeps us alive at all times. It is, indeed, powerful to notice our thoughts and patterns in which they come and go and most importantly where they go. We also notice how most of us don’t breathe, forget to breathe. We hold it, which creates all sorts of restrictions, blocks and anxieties within our bodies. We find sitting still difficult just as we find being alone difficult without external stimulation. Instead we aim to avoid and shut down. It is curious to imagine that it is easier to be without yourself than to be with yourself.
Meditation is a wide term for what your relationship is with yourself, it seems. We all can find our own way of meditating, practicing stillness and awareness. For me, it seems, meditation is just that being with myself as I am and where I am. Just there, present with all there is. Meditation can be done any time anywhere, as we speak, walk, sleep and sit with another. It is not just one way of relating to yourself, it is unique to each. For many years I was unable to meditate, afraid of what I would find within. That’s just it, it is that fear I referred to earlier of being with and avoiding is much more habitual. I suspect it is similar to many. I remember wanting to cry every time I sit in meditation, which was hard, so I would abandon and distract myself with other things rather than paying attention to what was asking me to be present. I also at times had some powerful meditations, which left me in wonder and distress at the same time. There was too much within for my external
self, adapted self to hold. Just think about that. We are proficient in being in our adapted selves positions yet our true self is hard to relate to. After years of therapy I am able to meditate and really understand what it means for me and what it does for me. It is once again an inclusion of the whole self just as it is, true and adapted, positive and negative, wounded and healed. As practice develops one becomes more curious, more at ease with experiences, feelings and lessons that come through sitting with oneself and in time it becomes soothing, comforting and full of wisdom. That wisdom that lies within each and every one of us is open and available if only we allow ourselves to go there and become aligned with what we were always meant to be.
Many blessings!
Home land
Earlier this summer I sat with my father looking at the map of Scotland, as I explained to him our travel plans, and suddenly he started going over each area naming it, as if it was a map of Russia, specifically Siberia. He gets it, ‘I thought’, and it meant so much to me. Some deep felt understanding between us, even when often unspoken, always produces a connection, which holds answers and links to what we are together, separate and where we come from. He knows what I mean when I talk about the land. He knows the feeling I speak so much of as if he feels it too and, I think, he does, in his own way, as we both had separated from our land a long time ago yet the yearning had never gone away. Does it ever leave you? Not if it is part of your soul’s tapestry.
Only this morning looking at pictures of Siberian nature it really landed for me that Scotland is as close to my ‘home land’ as I am ever going to get. I feel so at ease and comfortable there. I have called it home on many occasions and there are things that just make sense to me when I am there. Love makes sense, intense grief makes sense and tears of sorrow and joy that come every time I arrive and leave make sense. Within me there had always been a sense of separation from home, although well-hidden, which when young had not been processed and felt and this is what I have been feeling for the last few years. It is not simply a case of loving visiting a place, it is a case of ‘this is where I want to live and die’. There is nowhere else for me. It feels like an obligation to my soul and I now get what many immigrants had felt before me and many still do. I get what I have been doing the last few years in awakening my connection to a home once lost and never to be regained. My deep love for Scotland is my love for home.
Here are some pictures of Siberian nature. Perhaps, you can see what I see. It has always been about lakes and pine forests for me, deer, mountains and rivers, small villages and community living. As I write this, my heart aches. Ever since I came back to my house in the South, I have been in physical and emotional turmoil. It hurts being here and the feeling is so real like a culture shock and a need to acclimatise and fit back into the order of things that is here and not where I belong. I am left once again bereft, confused and heartbroken that gets harder to bare each year.
On marriage, relationships and partnerships
An annual trip away together always inspires me to talk about relationships, as valuable lessons can be extracted from an experience of being together in the same place for a prolonged period of time.
What I have learnt over the years is that the secret to a happy relationship first and foremost is a happy and balanced relationship with yourself. Secondly it is about being an individual and staying an individual in a relationship. It is not about changing yourself to mould into a version expected and it is not about changing in order to merge with another it is about staying as you are and growing into versions of yourself that you choose most beneficial. I often say the secret to me is ‘set each other free’ and all will be good. It is not about merging, but it is also not about separating. It is more about travelling along one another on a journey of life, but that journey is first individual and second one that is shared in life experiences, joint and individual, good times and bad. It is a companionship where one doesn’t feel alone, but also wants to be alone and should be allowed to should they need to and we all need time alone. Another saying comes to mind ‘let me be, but don’t leave me alone’.
To me it has never been about any physical attributes, worldly possessions, status or anything like that. It has always been about that look in the eye, that touch of a hand, the energy of a person and most importantly how they choose to live. It is about respecting and accepting that without needing to change anything. It is how one navigates their individual pass that is attractive, it is qualities that they apply to their day-to-day life and their attitude towards the wider world and themselves that leads us in wanting to be a part of their world. Choose consciously, choose wisely, never rush into a place where you could potentially lose yourself – that is not what life is about. It is about finding and keeping yourself, not giving yourself up or losing yourself without a trace.
You don’t have to be alone to self-actualize and grow. In fact it is way more interesting and rich when in a relationship, as partners often hold a mirror to us and we to them and it is a great way to learn about yourself and navigate your shadow and light.
A good relationship is one where a person is allowed specific conditions where to grow, flourish and accomplish their life’s dreams, aspirations and ambitions without feeling like that have to give anything up or sacrifice themselves for anything and I mean nothing. Working together on something – yes, sacrificing yourself – no. It is a place of fulfillment for both parties whatever they choose to do and as they go apart they also come together to share, rejoice and recharge from one another, if needed, perhaps, get inspired. Inspiration from another is also very valuable. It is about stepping into another’s shoes to see the world from through their eyes. That is fascinating and can be a transformative experience, as others see and do things differently often and it is not a bad thing, it can be looked upon as a platform to learn and grown. You can also ‘love it and leave it’ should there be aspects that you don’t resonate with and we all have those. Recognise your partner might also not like everything about you and neither should they. Accepting the whole is vital in a good relationship. What can be done together is cultivation of common or new traditions and values, combining qualities, strengths and weaknesses to generate a formula, perhaps, that is unique to your relationship. What I am talking about is working out what works and what doesn’t, adjust, mend and flow, most importantly flow through difficult moments whether individual or combined. Be kind! Kindness, as well as gratitude, can turn any dark experience into a lighter one.
Yesterday the day didn’t start well with some harsh words spoken, which I often react to on the inside as a block of energy, but I no longer hold on to it for longer than needed. A long time learning to let go now allows me to continue my flow without hooking onto things, words or actions. Later on, I chose to feel gratitude (yes, you can choose what you feel and how you act) and I was so grateful being driven by my husband in a car while I enjoyed a view out of the window of the wild land all around me. I reached out and touched his hand and he recognised it. Moments like this allow for things continue to flow without creating blocks and defences regardless of what had happened earlier in the day. I find these moments soothing and allowing. This morning an extra effort was made to get the day started on a good note and again with a smile I acknowledged that effort (another thing that should be present in a good relationship) and appreciated it, so the flow continued and grew into a wave of love, gentle embrace and connection that the two of us share whatever the situation. Checking in on the connection, whichever way you do it, is also important and that’s what I mean by coming together after going apart on your own business, always coming back together to re-connect.
Wish you a lovely day from Paradise
My paradise
I am back in paradise and there is no despair, turmoil or overwhelm this time…
This year I only feel joy, pleasure and gratitude for being here. I am being very vocal in expressing my appreciation of the land. I admire a very full in red heavy berries rowan by the side of a lake and revel in beauty of purple flowers. Simple yet so exquisite in its perfection against the very green that is everywhere. Everything seems so much riper, bigger and more beautiful in comparison to other places. It reminds me of my birth place in many respects where nature had also been very rich in its presentation and a way of being. I look at the mountains and I feel still and content rather than torn and in deep yearning, which I could never explain. The smell of the land, that particular scent I can always summon wherever I am, is still here, it hasn’t changed and I am glad of that. I take pleasure in observing every little house, weed, animal, tree and wonder how people live here with curiosity. I do feel jealousy quite sharply this time for the life that I imagine goes on here in this place of beauty and such peace and quiet. Stillness of the land is intoxicating and, I believe, it is exactly this energy that I align with the most, this is what I crave. Peace, quiet, beauty and isolation.
Walking through a Celtic rainforest earlier today I can feel myself melting into its freshness and moulding into its trees’ bark, inhaling the air of the forest, breathing with it as one. Rain gently washing my face and hair brushed back I feel free. Assured, grounded and humbled, very grateful for being able to feel the way that I do when I am here in this land and in touch with all the elements. It is a true blessing in my life here on Earth.
As another day comes to an end here in paradise I am content, calm, pleasantly tired and completely in love with everything this land is and everything that is in and around me today.
In waiting…
Feel unrooted, between places, between worlds. A sense of keen belonging is yet to land, for now I feel suspended in anticipation. Can’t say I like it.
Uncertainty, expectation, increased longing for what I don’t know yet. Feeling without a home is not a pleasant one. I have one yet out there there’s another one that sticks itself into my skin like a thorn every year. I am faced with a choice, on one hand wanting to abandon my current position but yet to attach to another. I feel ungrounded and in that space I do lose myself a little. Restlessness within is not a smooth flow but rather jagged projection on to everything and everyone. There is also an element of not being in control and that’s unsettling too. Waiting is another vibration that can present challenges. Waiting for what? Knowing I am waiting for something but what I don’t know and in that waiting I detach from one but yet to attach to that unknown and will I want to? Like losing ground from under my feet without knowing if whatever it is I am waiting for would catch up. Patience in that state becomes difficult and impatience sats in, which again manifests in rough outbursts of emotions and cold energy projection. It can be a dark place to be even amidst the sunshine, it is also lonely as difficult to convey the feeling that goes with it. I find myself wishing the sun away and wanting rain but it doesn’t feel rational or logical or even intuitively right. Confusing, searching, lost…
I recognise that every year this occurs as I prepare to leave my home in search of a home yet to be.
