Breathe Deeply and Relax! ~ January 23, 2011

I didn't go to the Center for Spirit Living today although it is on my list for next Sunday. One of my life lessons is to slow down, balance and take things step by step.

I began the creative cluster last Tuesday night and with that group came my new commitment to completing my morning pages every day. I have been consistent and as a result, "things" are happening. Synchronistic, spontaneous, spiritual, and interesting experiences are occurring with such rapidity I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. I find I am having to "cool my jets" because I am in fast forward. Sometimes it feels as if I'm traveling so fast that everything is a blur and I WANT TO SEE the scenery along the way. Do you know what I mean?

So much is coming to me at once and I need time to process everything. I need to stop, breath deeply and then breathe deeply again. My friend Kris says that I over analyze everything and that I "talk a point to death" and she may be right but this is my way of processing. We all process life differently and I think perhaps that is what keeps life interesting, at least from my perspective.

Kris, for all her crabbing about me, is a true gift from God to me. She is a dear friend and we met at a weekend retreat in Dahlonega, Georgia. The retreat,for Kris, if I remember correctly, was a gift from her daughter(s) and she came with a friend. Kris is from Virginia so it was an unlikely crossing of paths but as I said, I believe God brought her to me or us to each other. I was there to enjoy the retreat with my friend who was facilitating the retreat and I'd gifted the retreat to another friend so she could enjoy some relaxation, too. The retreat meant something different to Kris than it did to most of us there but the main thing that happened for me that weekend, was that our paths crossed and we became friends.

Because of that meeting, my life has been enriched in so many ways and I have had experiences that I could never, ever have conceived if I had not had that chance meeting. I won't go into all of the wonderful experiences in the blog today but suffice it to say, it has been EPIC!

Imagine being in the high Andes of Peru, in the middle of Lake Titicaca in a boat made of Torturo reeds by a Uros Indian. Lake Titicaca is supposed to be the highest navigable lake in the world at approximately 12,630 ft. The Inca believed that their first ruler and his sister emerged from a cave on an island in the lake, and that at creation the sun itself rose from the waters of the lake. It was a very spiritual place and I was there with Kris!

You know, you just never know what a day will bring. Each day is a gift. In 2003 the daily gifts were exotic and brand new and nothing I could have imagined. It HAD TO BE EXPERIENCED!
Today was not as exciting as day waking up in a lodge beside the sacred Urubamba River in Acqua Calientes at the foot of Macchu Picchu but it was a good day here in Buford, Georgia...and within ME is the memory of that morning I woke up, after a refreshing nights sleep with the window thrown open. I slept under warm, alpaca blankets with the sounds of the rushing river lulling me to a peaceful slumber. This is the view from my window. But my main point is that had I never met Kris at that retreat, I would NEVER had had this experience and many more just like them. She has been a friend and a mentor and a travelling companion and teacher...a true gift to me for which I shall be eternally grateful!

The morning after our night in Acqua Calientes, Kris and I rode in a bus, up a long, winding road to the very top of the mountain to see the ruins at Macchu Picchu. All the books I'd read, all the pictures I'd viewed and even a video or two did not prepare me for the actuality of Macchu Picchu. It had to be felt! I had to stand there with my feet on the ground, sacred ground and wonder how in the world those ruins got up there so far from everything and so high above everything. It was magical.
Words cannot adequately express my physical, spiritual and emotional experience there.

Speaking of a peaceful slumber, I'm writing this in the evening and it's about time for just that...peaceful slumber. So, I will wish you pleasant dreams and a start to a terrific week!

Namaste!