Tag Archives: happiness

I Keep Coming Back To Peace

Leave a reply

Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with all the things I want to do, all the places I want to see, all the things I want to say.  I live such a jumbled life with so many points of focus, and often I wonder what it would be like if I made one of them my priority.  But when I think of the things I love individually they seem hollow and unsatisfying.

It’s not travel that I love.  It’s the feeling of freedom and endless possibilities, of endless exploration, beauty and wonder.  It’s not jewellery that I love.  It’s the feeling of inspiration that looking at, imagining, creating and sharing beautiful things gives me.  It’s not being a massage therapist that I love.  It’s the joy of bringing a little more ease, relaxation and happiness to someone else.  It’s the undoing of tension and restoring of balance.  It’s peace.  It’s all about peace.

rainbow moonstone

Rainbow Moonstone

When I write, when I sing, when I do yoga.  All of these things are connected by my need to immerse myself in peace and share it with others. 

I often get caught up dreaming of a far away land.  I haven’t mastered the art of teleportation yet, so it usually leads to frustration.  I want to create a sustainable lifestyle for myself, doing what I enjoy.  If I didn’t it would be easy to save money doing temporary work, counting down the days, to go wherever I wanted to go.  But it would be temporary, and temporary isn’t enough for me.  Temporary does not bring me peace now or in the future.  Wishing time away, waiting to be happy, and then when the time arrives knowing that it can’t last.

I often get caught up dreaming about having a hugely popular website which would enable me to earn money while travelling the world.  Then my temporary dream would be permanent.  This new dream also leads to frustration though.  I see how much work it would take to get to that stage and imagine how long it would take me.  I have to do what I love NOW.

This brings me back to peace. 

The one theme in my life that unifies everything I am passionate about.  When peace is my focus I can do whatever I am doing and it feels good.  I can write about somewhere I’ve been and be transported back there, feeling more alive and joyful than words can describe.  I see all of the beauty where I am now and feel less desire to escape.  Possibilities open up as a result of this, pieces of the puzzle begin to fit into place, things flow more smoothly and I find myself a step closer to achieving all the things I want, even though I no longer desperately need them.

It’s not really the what, it’s the why.  I still end up doing all the same things, but everything becomes so much more fulfilling.  When I let go of fixed ideas about what I’m trying to achieve, everything is easier to do.  Life becomes lighter and things get done more quickly.  Putting the things I love into boxes leaves me feeling restricted by the limits I create for myself.  So instead of lots of boxes, or even one big box, I’m using peace as my container.  It’s an infinite space that contains everything I need and more.

I keep coming back to peace, because:

There is no path to peace. Peace is the path.

Photo: The Himalayas from the air

SHARE

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

FOLLOW
Facebooktwitterpinterestinstagram

Hampi- An Enchanting Indian Wonderland

Leave a reply

When I think back to my time in Hampi, in southern India, I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside.  It has so much heart.  Not the kind that knocks you over with its power when you arrive, but more of a gentle glowing that washes over you without you really noticing, until you’re feeling better than you have done for a long time and don’t know why.

Hampi was a world away from the chaotic towns and cities that we’d spent much of our time exploring.  A land of giant boulders and stunning temple ruins, with the most beautiful intricate carvings that tell enchanting stories.  The pace of life was leisurely, the air was hot and dry, and the landscape was barren yet alluring.

 

We were drawn to Hampi by the prospect of climbing the huge granite boulders, although once we were there the combination of the heat and relaxed way of life meant that I did more sitting on boulders, gazing at magnificent sunsets, than climbing on them.  But that didn’t matter in the slightest because my time there was perfect.

 

We had to wait until sunset to climb to avoid the blazing heat of the day.  I made it to the top of a few boulders and then sat, perfectly content, soaking up the warmth radiating from the rock.  The landscape looked less arid in the gentle evening sun.  The rocks took on a pinkish tone and the sparse patches of vegetation stood out against them, a deep rich shade of green.

The rest of the time we sheltered from the intensity of the sun in laid back restaurants with low tables and cushions on the floor, or wandered around the majestic temples.  Indian tourists outnumbered the foreigners, although there were plenty of both visiting the temples that had been built hundreds of years ago from the rock that surrounded us.  It was easy to find quiet spots to admire the architecture amongst the sprawling temple complex though.

 

We rented mopeds to navigate the local area and found ourselves at a nearby lake.  It was just us, the lake and the boulders.  The water was cool and refreshing, and it was amazing and slightly eerie to have the whole area to ourselves.  Other days we explored the ruins in the surrounding area on foot, walking far enough away from the town that our only companions were the goats that grazed on the land.

 

Hampi was the perfect mix of leisure and activity.  By the time we left I felt completely rejuvenated and ready to rejoin the mayhem of travelling through extraordinary India.

SHARE
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

FOLLOW
Facebooktwitterpinterestinstagram

When your mind is still you’ll find the answers that you’re needing easily

Leave a reply

A mouthful of a title.  It’s actually a line from a song I wrote that I hardly ever play.  Probably because I attempt to fit those 17 syllables into 6 beats which is tricky even for someone with my mad rapping skills.

This post isn’t about singing though.  It’s about inner peace.  Something we take for granted until we don’t have it any more.  Our minds are really really amazing.  We have so much potential, and when our minds are clear we have inspired ideas and know exactly where we’re heading.  But when we’re even a little stressed we feel somewhat less than the amazing creative geniuses that we are.

Unfortunately, for some of us it gets worse than this.  A lot of people are able to stop at the level of feeling a little stressed, and get it together enough to do what needs to be done.  However, if you’re like me and have tendencies towards ‘all or nothing’ thinking, a lightly clouded mind can turn into a raging storm in the blink of an eye.  Your thinking has become so constricted that you can’t even remember that all you need to do is JUST STOP THINKING FOR A MINUTE!

No word of a lie, it took me a whole day of bashing my head against a brick wall today before I realised it shouldn’t be this difficult.  I remembered times when ideas flowed easily and I felt highly motivated and capable.  I knew that I knew what to do, but my mind was going too crazy for me to see the glaringly obvious.

Sunrise on the Ganges river at Varanasi, India. Now that's what I call peaceful.

Sunrise on the Ganges river at Varanasi, India. Now that’s what I call peaceful.

So I released the straining and the fruitless effort and relaxed.  Almost immediately a breakthrough came.  I know in my heart that I need to make peace a priority, but there’s this little part of me that’s scared it will mean I won’t achieve anything.  So I need to honour that part of me too and be disciplined and focussed towards achieving my goals, while remaining very aware that the best way to do this is by allowing my mind to settle down and my creativity to flow more freely.

How about you?  What are your greatest barriers to peace?  I hope that me sharing this helps you to know that you are not alone, and acts as a reminder (I constantly need reminding!) that relaxation is a great aid to getting things done rather than a hindrance!  🙂

 

SHARE
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

FOLLOW
Facebooktwitterpinterestinstagram

Koh Lipe, Thailand

1 Reply
This is a photo of Koh Lipe I found on VascoPlanet.com because my camera along with all my other possessions got burned in a huge fire later in this trip, but that's another story! Very grateful for this amazing website which provides so many beautiful photographs for free. © Vyacheslav Argenberg, VascoPlanet.com,
http://www.vascoplanet.com/world/thailand/kohlipe/
Koh Lipe (island) photography.

This is a photo of Koh Lipe I found on VascoPlanet.com because my camera along with all my other possessions got burned in a huge fire later in this trip, but that’s another story!  I’m very grateful for this amazing website which provides so many beautiful photographs for free.
© Vyacheslav Argenberg, VascoPlanet.com,
http://www.vascoplanet.com/world/thailand/kohlipe/
Koh Lipe (island) photography.

My heaven on Earth.  I remember having a very clear feeling while I was wading waste deep in the turquoise water of this tiny Thai island that this really was paradise.  I swam parallel to the shore, long, smooth strokes, and thought about how amazing it would be to live somewhere that I could swim in warm clear tropical water whenever it took my fancy.  To have my loved ones enjoy it with me.  I felt blissfully blissfully happy at that moment and pretty happy on Koh Lipe in general.

I can’t vouch for what it’s like now – if anyone’s been there lately please do tell me – but in 2012 it was a magical place, a little pocket of calm in the midst of Thailand’s mad tourist trail.  Despite not being as developed as most of Thailand’s other gorgeous islands it managed to boast the largest selection of pancakes I have ever come across in my life.  I’m vegan now (with occasional slip-ups) so I’m glad I went when I did!  Honestly, I went in one cafe which had massive menu boards full of pancakes outside with various combinations of toppings, and when I sat down they gave me a menu with pages and pages more.  The even more bonkers bit was that the day before I’d been in Malaysia talking to a friend about what we wanted to manifest in our lives.  She was talking about wanting more clients for her business but I was more in the relaxed holiday frame of mind and all I could really think of that would make me happier was ‘loads of pancakes’!  I hadn’t even bought my ticket to Koh Lipe then and had no idea about the abundance of pancakes there, but clearly my subconscious knew exactly what it was doing!

I appear to have gone off at a bit of a pancake tangent there, let me get back to the point of my story.  The kinds of perfect moments I described where I was immersed in the soothing aqua-marine water are what inspire me to pour my heart into my work.  I create jewellery to reflect this magic and celebrate the beauty in life.  I aim to share as much of this peace, love and wonder as possible and I look forward to sharing in your inspiration too.

SHARE
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

FOLLOW
Facebooktwitterpinterestinstagram