even though i’m a coach/counselor,
i’ve never been one to do traditional meditation.
but i set out one morning this week to take a meditative walk.
to see what nature could offer me.
to silence the chatter in my head.
to enable an opening for the answers to some big questions.
after a month in europe, i am back at my home base in the states.
it was an incredible journey that stretched me in many ways.
the trip included elements of both a personal and business nature.
i’ve been energized and inspired, and i now have more clarity going forward.
travel is enticing and inspiring and appealing and compelling.
except when it’s exhausting and irritating and frustrating and demanding.
i am currently on a fabulous month-long european journey with my husband.
i’m growing and adapting.
i am in france.
my days feel longer.
and my weeks move at a more delicate pace.
i go to sleep each night exhausted.
but happy and satisfied.
full of the exquisite culture.
full of the stunning landscapes.
last week.
new perspectives.
this week.
new friends.
people from portugal.
kind.
curious.
helpful.
proud.
warm.
experiences of a lifetime in the last ten days.
a subtle yet substantial shift.
as the physical world’s boundaries shrink, my inner world expands.
why do i travel?
one essential reason.
to gain as many perspectives as i can.
only one hour after arriving in portugal, a startling revelation.
a novel way to approach a key coaching concern, unexpected clarity.
.
one day last week i wrote this journal reminder to myself:
breathe.
take one day at a time.
reorder my priorities.
elevate the important.
fill my life with only purposeful endeavors.
begin anew.
i looked at the calendar.
ash wednesday.
how apropos.
lately i’ve been thinking a lot about lines of continuity.
those wiry overlooked threads in our lives
that remain the same from beginning to end.
despite the ephemeral twists and turns
that we as individuals might encounter along the way.
do you ever feel intense pressure from other people?
do you feel bombarded by insinuations?
(spoken out loud or simply felt.)
do you feel overwhelmed, overloaded?
with a deluge of . . .
the world is vast.
and i am forever finding my place in it.
i have found that visioning in the vast helps.
my vision board for 2015 centers around my word of the year:
ESPRIT.
and around ALL that this word conjures up.
