seed

Today I plant a seed

A seed of purpose

Set forth with passion

Slowly germinating into a plan

Found this picture with these words underneath it.

Perfect.

We are reminded of the power

And energy stored in seeds.

As Winter wanes

This energy will be

Manifested as new life.

www.gaiamind.com/seed.html

I run

Not everyday, and not at any record breaking speeds

But every so often, I get up early, strap on my running shoes and

I run.

It always seems like an uphill task, my running

Getting up is the first hurdle, next is getting out of bed on time

Getting dressed, after that it gets easier, and once I'm out of the door the battle is half won

The next hurdle is hitting the road. It helps when you have company doing it alone is tougher.

The first few steps, and then the breathing becomes heavy and the distance to be covered looms ahead seeming long and impossible.

I like the route that I run. It starts of slow and then starts to climb, just when you're getting started trying to convince yourself that you can actually do this you start to climb and climb.

I like to start out slow, hang on to those reserves so that they can serve me in the final rush to the finish. But with my route I sort of have no choice. I know that to finish I have to keep running and man running up those hills. Its the ultimate test. And I give up over and over again and the only thing that keeps me going is the fact that part of me keeps running. Even when I think I don't want to,

I run.

I see a lot of things as I run. Other people, running too, or walking, Places I've heard of and planned to visit, Nice neighbourhoods that I would like to live in, Drivers who irritate me. My temper is rather short at some point in my run. Tired, thirsty and with so much distance ahead of me to be covered, little things can really bug me.

Plenty of time to think though, and when I'm not thinking about how hard this is, and how tired I am, my mind crunches through other things and I clear out a lot of junk and before I know it, I find that I've passed that magic halfway mark and I know that I no longer want to give up and turn back, and my stored reserves kick in. And as if by magic my road stops climbing easing up into a gentle slope and then then its down all the way and I have to control myself to keep from flying and burning up all the stored energy.

Its exhilerating though and usually at this time I finally remember why I do it. Why I get up and run. My chest opens up and air fills up my lungs so easily. My limbs find new strength and my stride widens.

And running seems so easy, any memories of my struggle to get there are quickly erased and I find myself running for the sheer pleasure of it.

I run

and I run and I run and the distance to my destination just gets shorter and shorter and I guage how much I have in me and how much I have left and up my ante and push harder, go faster, but funny enough, I never totally go for it and use all I have left. I run until I get to those glass doors, jog in, get into the elevator, go up the stairs and jog into the gym get on the treadmill and then I slow down into a brisk walk and then slow down and come to a stop.

My wonderful body. Tired, sore, sweaty. An amazing huge smile on my face. A rumble in my tummy and peace, joy and exhileration in my soul. Every part of me reminds me that I am alive. And right then I know I can do absolutely anything. The breath comes in deep down and fills my chest and the energy goes right to the tips of my fingers and my toes. And I am so grateful for this powerful wonderful machine that I carry with me I want to fill it with nothing but the best. The freshest air, the clearest water and the most wholesome food. I am so in love with this me who kept me company while I ran, who kept running even when I wanted to stop.

I go down. Get cleaned up, grab my fruits, take a nap or go on to do whatever I had planned for the day. And I carry with me all the wonderful jewels from my run. My sense of self, my confidence, my appreciation for my body, my healthy glow and my knowledge that because I ran, my body is doing all that is necessary so that my next run will be easier.

Yeah, I run.

Not everyday. Not to break any records, nor win a prize, but

because it feels good,

feels so good.

And because I can.

wow

Fog

Woke up this morning to find a cloudy mist had fallen over my world.

It was such a lovely representation of my own inner fog and uncertainity. Nothing much has changed, the buildings are still there behind the hazy cloud that obscures them. And so my inner well of wellbeing still overflows even though this news that I have received has turned my attention away from it.

There is something beautiful about the fog if you take the time to see it. A lot of the time though we focus on the lack of clarity. We want the fog to lift so that things can go back to how they used to be and fail to appreciate the moment of beauty. This change that makes old things look new, this change that will soon go away and leave us looking at our old world in a new way.

For no matter how much we think that there is a certain way things have always been, things are never the same. They have never been. Everything is new, constantly shifting and changing. And every so often a fog will fall upon us to remind us of this.

Sometimes it takes a moment of not seeing anything at all to teach us how to see clearly.

This is my moment.

Finding clarity

It is good to be surprised
To have things turn out not as you expected
Much as we would like to have everything under control
This is why we get up in the morning
To experience something different
Learn something new

Once I had all the answers
But the more that I experience life
And face questions that I had never thought to ask
I realise that only the foolish think they know it all
Wisdom is not knowing the answer
But knowing that there is an answer
And being willing to find it

It is good to be silent
And turn off that voice that speaks inside
Forget all that you know and sit with a you
That knows nothing at all
To face a blank space were no words appear
Ceasing to know and starting to hear
And soon what was hidden begins to be clear

Clarity ~ Samantha Waki

light at the end of the tunnel

Thank you.

Mitsuo Aida

Because it has lived its life intensely

the parched grass still attracts the gaze of passers-by

The flowers merely flower,

and they do this as well as they can.

The white lily blooming unseen in the valley,

Does not need to explain itself to anyone;

It lives merely for beauty.

Men, however, cannot accept that 'merely'

...

You don't always have to pretend to be strong,

there's no need to prove all the time that everything is going well

you shouldn't be concerned about what other people are thinking

cry if you need to

it's good to cry out all your tears

(because only then will you be able to smile again)

The words of Mitsuo Aida, Japanese calligrapher and Zen poet.

unwritten

They're bubbling up inside of me. Words, feelings, emotions, insights, past, experiences, memories. And as I sit here I watch them take shape as I seek to lay them down in such a way as to leave a mark in those who come across them, a slice of who I am and who I am becoming. And an insight into something more. My reason for existence, my purpose. And my hope is that it will give you a glance into your own inner well of ideas. Shed a light on your own story and inspire you to go inside and pull out something beautiful to leave behind as a reminder to next person and the next person and so it goes.

My elaborate plan to take over the world. To shake all those slumbering souls and awaken them to the light within so that their moments, their lives, their little worlds can never be the same again. It is a big plan for such a little girl. And yet it is possible. Everyone says so. Every great person I look up to, all the greatest teachers who ever lived, and you see it in the eyes of new born babies, and impetuous little toddlers who are still too young to have had it taught out of them.

I'm here to take over the world, to fill my life with moments of joy and pleasure and spread smiles and love and leave my indelible mark on all I come across.

And so it begins...

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

positively african

I came across a message today that made me smile and feel good about being here, now. African and in Africa. It was a message of hope. One that could look beyond all the 'obvious' signs and see a future where the world would be able to look at us and look past our darkness and see the light than shines out strong and bright across our continent. It hard to put it in words and describe what it means to be African without sounding unusually political or separatist. In the spiritual world of oneness and love it is seen as backward to think of yourself as not part of the whole. And in many ways there is a collective oneness that unites us all. A common thread that runs throughout humanity. But Africa has long carried the burden of blackness for the rest of the world.

There is a darkness that we are born into that we seem to carry for the rest of the world. For the most part we carry it silently, our light is strong and our spirit unwavering so in the light of darkness we still shine. We carry the things that you would not bear to look at. And we hide it far away in hard to find places so that you do not need to see it unless you want to. And still we shine, still we strive. There is an inherent struggle against the weight of the darkness of the blackness. And while some among us are driven to shed it or run away from it, you always take it with you. And it is only when you acknowledge it, when you learn to see it, only then can you transcend it. For when you do see it you recognise it for what it is. Its beauty shines out and colours your world helping you look past the 'obvious' and see the truth.

On the days when the burdens weigh us down though, we hope for a day when it will be easier. When things will be clearer and when the light will shine more visibly and the beauty can be openly acknowledged. It is at times like this when it is good to see a message of hope. One that talks of a different Africa. The Africa that we all carry in our hearts.