Make Quiet Time to Open up to Your Inner Wisdom

Secret Patterns of the World

For my international photography retreats I create printed journals for the participants which incorporate photographs, quotations, journal pages and creative approaches to image making. I like the idea of participants being able to have a container for their journey. Because there is always a creative component to my retreats I like to call them Creative Pilgrimages. Right now I'm  preparing the journal that will be used for Slow Photography: Seeing with Your Senses and your Soul which I'll be teaching in Orvieto, Italy for Adventures in Italy, in May, 2015. I found this wonderful quote from a TED Talk given by Pico Iyer which I'll definitely be including in the journal as Pico expresses so beautifully one of the reasons I love to travel.

I've always felt that the beauty of being surrounded 

by the foreign is that it slaps you awake.

You can't take anything for granted.

Travel, for me, is a little bit like being in love,

because suddenly all your senses are at the setting marked "on". 

Suddenly you're alert to the secret patterns of the world.

Pico Iyer

Petals and Blood ~ A Legacy of Poetry

This is a book of spiritual awakening and unfolding. Each thick glossy page is rich with images of Africa, Hawaii and the natural world. The poetry in the book speaks deeply to me, as in these words from the poem The Entirety and the Particular:

For we are all in this together,
in time and out of time,
and
blossoming is the birthright of us all.

Or these words from Occupy Your Heart:

Seize your birthright.

Let the occupation begin ...

Occupy your willingness
to never forget
who you really, really are,
ever again.

Be true to your heart's
deepest longing.

But even more than the poetry, it is the story of Gavin Harrison's life that touches me. A journey from South Africa to Hawaii, a journey from chartered accountant to Buddhist monk. A journey that includes living with HIV. In the book, Gavin says: "I will not be defined by this virus. I am greater than the journey I'm about to begin". By sharing his vulnerability with us, the stories in the book show how Gavin has made his life a deeply meaningful one, despite living with HIV since 1982.

Petals and Blood is a legacy of what has meaning for Gavin. He has dedicated the book and donated the proceeds from the sale of the book to Woza Moya Project and the Group of Hope in South Africa. As many of you know, Woza Moya Project is an organization that is close to my heart, and those that purchase the book are helping many of the beautiful young women at Woza Moya seen in this video to fulfill their potential (listen to the words of the song!)

I interviewed Gavin in July, 2013 when he talked to me about what inspired his poetry. He said "Perhaps the poems will raise the bar, opening us to the infinite possibilities we share, in living this very precious and fleeting human life - to live with love, kindness and wakefulness within every corridor of our lives." They certainly inspire me to live each day more fully, and I think you will find the same. I know these words from the poem A New Day certainly make me more mindful of my thoughts and actions.

May your heart release its gift

before thought and self-involvement

obscure

the limitless possibilities ahead.

And may this daybreak

midwife footsteps

unfettered by habit and repetition.

May you follow the thread of Love

winding outward from the silence

of your awakening heart

into the majesty of a world

anticipating your loveliness.

If you want to hear more about Gavin, listen to this November 2013 interview with him by Janet Conner in The Soul-Directed Life.

Make Time for Fun

Finding a Labyrinth in your Community

Why do I walk the labyrinth? I walk it because it is the simplest way I know to connect to my body, to stop my mind from constant chattering, and to become present to the moment. I feel more connected to myself after time in my labyrinth.

Your experience might be different, and the best way to find out what a labyrinth is all about, is to walk one.

I'm fortunate enough to have a labyrinth in my back yard, but recently labyrinths have sprung up everywhere, and you might find there is one just around the corner from you by going to the World-Wide Labyrinth Locator.

And if you want to find out more about labyrinths, I recommend you start with the book Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice by Lauren Artress.

I'd love to hear about your experiences in the labyrinth.

A Gift from the Labyrinth in Mirepoix, France

One of the treasured memories from my recent trip to France, was visiting Mirepoix, a beautiful Medieval Bastide town outside Carcassonne. I had been told I might find a labyrinth there, in the Cathedral of St. Maurice. What I discovered was that the labyrinth was not in fact a walkable labyrinth. It was a series of tiles measuring approximately 24 inches across and inlaid on the floor of a side chapel of the Cathedral which was not open to the public.

However, I was fortunate enough to find a photograph of the tiles displayed in the Church, and my timing was perfect, as one of the stained glass windows in the Cathedral was reflected in the glass covering the image of the labyrinth. An unexpected gift from the labyrinth.

The holy whole