Finding My Feet!

It's Sunday night and I have to leave the house at 5.15 tomorrow morning to catch a flight to Croatia, so on the move again!! I will be away for three weeks, back 2 nights, then away again for a few more days. This trip has also got several distinct element to it, two conferences and several meetings in several countries. However, I will also spend a few days with Rob, we are going to Sarajevo, the Bosnian pyramid,  Mostar and then down to the coast which will be lovely.

I have got that edgy feeling that I get just before I go away. Packing today, seemed complicated, not helped by the fact that I bought Rob a pair of shoes, size 15 (50 European size/16 USA) - they fill my carry on bag! I am also taking him a present of a hammock I found and repaired, this seemed a good idea but it hasn't left a lot of space for anything else. I also really like to travel light so I am only taking a very small suitcase and carry on bag. So today I had to pack with care - but given my lifestyle I should be very good at packing!

Went over to see my mother yesterday. She is sad, she is really doing her best not to be sad, however sadness is quite close to her at the moment. I won't see her for the next three weeks, but I do phone her a lot. I think she is lonely. She actually has a lot of visitors and lives in a lovely place with other people, but I think her loneliness - is her missing Dad. She is going on a cruise in July with Jenny, Evey and Ellen. They are going around Ireland and calling in one of the Channel Islands, she's really looking forward to that. I have said I will take her away to stay with my cousin Lizzy's in September. As one trip comes close, she likes to see her next trip taking shape - I must be my mother's daughter!

I have had a lovely and busy weekend, went drinking with Hector and Gilly on Friday, went to see my Mum and got my hair cut on Saturday, when round for tea and watched the Eurovision Song contest at Gilly's last night and then today, packed, and this afternoon took a group of people on a Shamanic Sound Journey. I was actually very nervous. We held the event in my friend Jude's apartment and it was a mixture of people that I knew through dancing and complete strangers. They all seem to get a lot from the journey which was wonderful but afterwards a couple of things happened which amazed me.

I have just written an e-mail to a friend describing where I am in my life. and I said I am amazingly blessed to be living the life that I am; with the growing conviction and understanding, that  I am absolutely in the perfect place at the perfect time, to be doing what I should be doing!

And it feels very true.

Wow!!!!!!!!!

But maybe I am just finding my feet.....................

Things moving quickly......

Life does seem so very accelerated  at the moment - the weeks just flashing by..... but also lots happening in my life.

Last weekend was significant in my journey. As a consequence of the Shamanic Workshop with Patricia White Buffalo I made the decision to be more public about my Sound Healing practice. As a consequence I have started to advertise what I do  - and have just spend the last couple of hours writing stuff for the web - and I will also turn these into a small leaflet - and I know a couple of places I will advertise - WoW!!!!

I had my first 'cold' client last Tuesday and will take a group on a Sound Journey next Sunday. I have also realised that I am a 'Shamanic' Sound Healer - wasn't clear about this until last weekend - but yesterday I did a Sound Healing treatment which included taking the client on a Shamanic Journey and then working with Sound - what actually happened was absolutely amazing!!!

I just love this work as it all comes beautifully naturally  to me - which sounds bonkers - and sometimes feels bonkers - but it also  just feels wonderfully true to me. I am a Shamanic Sound Healer - now who would have expected that!

This is what I wrote on my other blogg:

What is Shamanic Sound Healing? 

I use sound and vibration to work with the energy body. This includes drumming, Tibetan bowls, tuning forks and my voice;  each session is always unique to the individual or group.

Sound Healing involves the cleansing and releasing of energies, as well as receiving feelings of harmony, balance and physical relaxation.

The sounds and vibration of the instruments, and the voice, resonate with the physical, emotional, metal and spiritual energy fields, bringing healing and a sense of well being.

Shamanism refers to a range of traditional beliefs and practices and is based on the understanding that we are all connected. This includes the recognition that everything, including our Mother Earth, has a spirit and is alive. With this knowledge also comes responsibility. 

I am a Shamanic practitioner because I  also work within the Spirit world and this allows me to include these connections within my Sound Healing practice.  

I offer:

Individual Shamanic Sound Healing

Group Shamanic Sound Journeys

Now how about that!!!!! 

I have also had a lovely rich and full weekend, Steph was over from Belfast and we went to my Mum's on Saturday spending time with my Mum and Jenny -  and then last night as it was Gilly's birthday, Fiona also came round and I cooked a Gilly-centric Birthday feast and we ate, drank wine, talked, laughed and celebrated life which is always a good thing to do!

This week will be busy - have got behind a bit with work and tomorrow Gilly and I go to Les's Mum's funeral - 3 months after her Dad's. But this in itself feels to have a rightness to it - and I am glad to be going, though I will have to get a lot done in the rest of the week as I go to Croatia a week tomorrow - with lots of things to do like prepare a key note presentation!

But I will see Rob which will be lovely.

So another week flashed by - glad I found the time to blogg - as it always good to take the time to just be me - and to recognise where I am - and what I'm up to - even if sometimes I just have to laugh out loud at what I get to up - I wonder what Chris would think about this me of May 2013 - he would probably call her an 'old hippy' - like his three sons do - but you know what I think he would love her energy, craziness and her love of life - and for my part - I loved that lovely man - and always will - how lucky was I!!!!! How lucky am I!!!!!!!!!!!!! ...... and a Shamanic Sound Healer - get out of here!!!!!!

Looking after myself!!!!

It's around 9 on Saturday evening - and I'm in bed!!!! After a lovely supper, a very deep, hot and relaxing bath - my bed is warm and comforting, I have beautiful music playing, the room is perfumed by scented oil, I have a mug of chamomile tea and I have time to write my blogg - perfect! I am looking after myself.......

I have been very busy! Estonia was amazing - but exhausting  - I never got to work Monday afternoon - went to bed for four hours instead... it all caught up with me - went dancing Monday evening - Andrew Holmes an amazing teacher - beautiful dance - so very needed. Tuesday I was phoned up by the friend of my childhood to say her sister had died suddenly (age 55) the day before. Sudden deaths are always shocking...... I went over to my Mum's as I wanted to tell her myself - she was surprised to see me on a Tuesday afternoon and as I sat down next to her - she hung her head - knowing I was going to tell her bad news.... I keep recalling her posture in the chair at that moment - as she held herself in anticipation of something she didn't want to hear.

I then went see my friend and her Mother - both cloaked in shock at the completely unexpected death of an only sister and a beloved child. The human spirit is strong. Sudden death also bring to the surface the memory of other deaths - and I have spent a lot of time this week - remembering, listening and talking about other deaths - I think it is so important to do this - grieving is not a one-off process - it is important to talk - and to listen.

Wednesday I went to the Ballet - Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty - it was magical and I thoroughly enjoyed it - and last night I went to a Shamanic Sound Healing Event, which was a pre-cursor to a two day Soul Retrieval Workshop which I am participating in this weekend... that's why I'm bed looking after myself - because I need to do this.

I know I haven't processed Tartu yet - as it was rich and deep in learning - and I am also not really on top of all the work coming out of it - plus the rest - but that will get done. That's the work side of my life - the sound healing side of my life is so completely different - Alegra and Tricia - the two sides of me.

It was really interesting today in the lunch break talking to two of my companions - as I could just begin to see the connections and links  between what I do professionally and what I do personally - can't quite see me standing up to speak at a conference and getting my drum out - but hey who knows!!!! I love my drum - I have made a carry case for it - out of jacket I bought in a charity shop - took the sleeves off and made a circular lining from an old camping mat and some furry fabric - I've then decorated it - must say I am very happy with it - it had it's first outing today at the workshop and was much admired - both the drum and the case!

What do I think is the same about the two sides of my life is the effort I put into both - I think I work hard and put commitment into what I do - I also think that  I follow my intuition - and have done so for much of my life - more consciously now - but looking back I have ended where I am by following what 'felt the right thing to do' - and yes of course being very lucky!!!

So it's Saturday night - home alone in bed - and happy! Tomorrow another day of Soul Retrieval - so no idea where that will take me! Gilly coming round for tea tomorrow evening - Monday is a public holiday - so I will take my Mum to meet my friend and her Mum for a pub lunch and we will talk of connected lifetimes and death, so that's important.  Then lots of work and things to do..... feeling happy tonight and glad I'm looking after myself - and very glad that I've blogged - thanks for reading xxxxxx

Estonia tomorrow....

It's the night before I go to Estonia for a week - and also before a really big conference for me..... so many things coming together - it all feels a bit overwhelming tonight. Really busy day, lots of sorting and logistics - including  a Lufthansa strike on Monday......

a week later ..... just got back from Estonia - never published this because I fell asleep - was going to write my blgg tonght - but after a week in Estonia - amazing,  fantastic, great week -  am exhausted - so will put my feet up tonight!

Back - and feeling loved.....

I am often surprised by what I write as a title for a blogg - tonight  I know I'm feeling happy - but I didn't know that I was feeling loved - but hey that's a great feeling!

So am home - struggling to wake up in the mornings as the time difference makes itself felt, but feeling good - busy at work -  but also feeling very appreciative for the wonderful people I work with - some here in Liverpool - many across the world - I just love their commitment and energy. We want to change the world - that's a good starting point - even if the path is not always clear!

Decisions I made in Colombia - have now been put in action - have talked to all my 3 boys - and some colleagues and friends - and I'm now being public with the decision I made in Bogota.  I will retire from the University in 2015 and leave Liverpool - starting with a year in Medellin, Colombia - followed by who knows what!

Have loved the reactions that my decision has created - everyone thinks this is a wonderful idea!!!! Now that has come as a real surprise - but why I'm not sure. My life has been changing so much over the last few years - my comfort blankets have all gone - my lovely Chris - no longer here, my beautiful boys grown up and living their own lives - my life full of my work - my passion - plus a growing desire to do more sound healing work. So when SiS Catalyst finishes - I need to move on - my personal learning journey will continue - but in a different place - Colombia - am so excited!!!!

I love it when I feel so clear about a decision. I am going to leave Liverpool, leave this flat, send my last few family possessions to Rob in Croatia, have another round of giving stuff away - and then down to a suitcase - I will be off. I will have some kind of link with a university and my old work, I will write a book, become fluent in Spanish, explore South America, host visits by friends and family - and move into the next stage of my life - with whatever that brings!!!!!!

It is two years off - but I will tell my Mum that I plan to go to Colombia when I retire. I wont tell her that it will be for at least a year, but suggest a few months. This decision will mean I wouldn't see her - if she is still here - as she is 93 next Friday - but I will find a phone deal which means I can talk to her as often as I do now - it will mean that I wont be physically in her life - and that does have a sadness to it.....

We live in an extraordinary world of connectivity - but how much we connect is a choice we make.... I am also aware that I choose to keep in touch with some people - and treasure close to my heart those that make the effort to stay close to me......

So tonight I feel loved - because I am - how wonderful is that - I also feel alone - because I am - but that's OK too.... and grateful for the joy of being alive.......
 

My life is changing

I am still in Colombia - now in Medellin - and it feels extra-ordinarily normal. Which in itself is weird!!!

I am staying at Ana's - and her wonderful family - close friends now for several years, have spent the day working - sometimes with AB and Ana on our presentation for Tartu,  sometimes with colleagues in several countries via Skype and email..... my life. How did this happen? I am constantly amazed at where I am - what I am doing and the normality of it all.......

My time in Bogota was special - I was on my own for those few days and it gave me a time to think, reflect and unexpectedly make decisions about my future.... my life is changing and it was good for me to recognise this and to be clear in my thinking - love it  - as the clarity is giving me more uncertainty - but also really taking me into another world. But of course the connectivity of this world is the basis of this new world.

On Tuesday there was a workshop by an amazing group of people - all of whom are survivors of the violence of recent years Colombia, some of their stories were harrowing in the extreme..... I didn't understand all the details as it was entirely in Spanish but I understood enough, and felt enough, to be deeply moved  by their stories. They now dedicate their lives to telling their stories, particularly to children and young people at risk. It was truly extraordinary. They were truly extraordinary..... their humanity awesome....  beautiful and breathtaking. I am at a bit of a loss for words as it was so special - to witness their stories and to connect with them..... they have changed my life......

As we all do - changing each others lives by being present in each others lives.

So it is still early here - but we had a late night last night and will have a very early morning tomorrow - the big day of our visit! So sleep calls me.

My life is changing -  and I am conscious of that - pretty amazing stuff this living business!!!!!

Blogging from Bogota!

Well that's a cool title for a Blogg!

Arrived in Bogota this afternoon after a week in Peru - and a very late last night drinking pisco sours and  cuba libres with AB, Javier and strangely Jack and Sammy long time friends of Jimmy. It was a wonderful night - and a beautiful end to a very special week.

I have been asking myself all week - why am I here? It has felt very important for me to understand why my life's journey brought me to to South America. Yesterday AB and I spend the day - going over videos and interviews - and really reflecting on where we had been all week......... and that felt really solid and clear... the purpose for me being in Peru - being the learning..... and yesterday felt very positive and purposeful - I am living this blessed life to learn what I need to learn - and to do what I need to do.....

But today has felt quite different. Might be something to do with being more than a little hung over but it also feels like one of those next steps in thinking - just when you think you are getting somewhere - it goes to another level and it starts all over again! What AM I doing here in South America?

But here I am - on my own in the most beautiful little hotel - somewhere in the old town on Bogota. It's Good Friday and I walked through the City tonight watching religious parades in streets full of people, hawkers selling incense in Inca Kola cans, churros and all sorts of strange things that I didn't recognise.... then I talked to young woman about the reality of the education of her son.... that was good consolidated much of yesterday's thinking....

I am here because I am here - and that was the lesson of Peru - we are here to live our individual lives and we have the responsibility to do exactly that - to recognise and treasure every precious second of our existence..... easy for me to say? Yes - but am I here in Bogota in order to learn this lesson - or because I am living my life on this basis - the chicken and the egg question!

I do feel a profound gratitude and so I should!

Off again..................

It's Sunday night and I'm off again tomorrow for three weeks - tomorrow Amsterdam - Friday Lima, for a week - the a weekend in Bogota - then Medellin and then back to Amsterdam for an afternoon with Jimmy - to hear about his time in Qatar - he's there now.

Last weekend was wonderful - 18 family members in the Lake District - and it just reinforced my understanding of how amazingly blessed I am - as it was..... wonderful - can't think of any other words to describe it - every moment was precious. We stayed in two big wooden Lodges, warm and welcoming, walked three of my favourite walks, ate together, laughed together, swam and talked.... and were family together.... and it was just perfect. My Mum was so happy - been over to see her this afternoon with a big montage of photographs and she is still holding very close to herself - the memory of just how much she enjoyed it... and so am I!

My boys gave me a ceremonial drum which they had had made for me for my birthday - which I love - it has an eagle flying on it - and I have been playing it - I will use for ceremony, sound journeys and meditation - and as I have never had or been able to play an instrument before - it is very special to me - though I can't take it away with me this time.

Am feeling restless tonight - which is normal the night before I go away... thinking about what I need  to take with me ..... I like to pack light - but Amsterdam in March is cold and Peru is hot - and it is a mixture of work and holiday... very little space - which is good - but I need to focus on what I will need...

Went to Gilly's for dinner on Friday night and and had a liquid lunch with Pat and Nita yesterdayand have spent the rest of the weekend sorting stuff - I like to change and wash my my sheets and leave the flat tidy etc before I go away - I have also ended up tonight doing complicated music/audio book  related stuff between ipods/pads/phones etc - which always seem to take me longer than I expect! I have just seen that I have 15,395 songs in my itunes - so I can see why it has taken a while tonight to sort! And of course I have to work out my knitting for the plane journeys - currently takes up half of my carry on bag - but will leave the final decision on that until the morning!

So all of this is just displacement activity prior to going away - writing this whilst trying to work out what I have done to my music  - and seem to have lost my audio books - and it's getting late - and I'm tired ...... and am not certain if Icloud music will work on the plane - because there is no wifi... Ok time to go to bed!

Life is something else!

... but not quite certain what?

It's Thursday evening - I have just been out for dinner with my three beautiful sons and Lara - Rob arrived last Saturday and Jimmy, Alex and Lara today - tomorrow we all meet up with my Mum, sisters and family in the Lake District - 18 of us - 4 generations - supposedly celebrating my birthday - but basically just being family.... how blessed is that... to be us - I feel so humbled by this thought - how precious is this.......

We are going to Brockwood Hall, staying in two lodges, a place so close to Broughton and Eccleriggs where my Mum and Dad had their caravan for 18 years - so much part of my life - and my children's lives - a place where they ran wild, made dens in the woods, climbed mountains, learnt to swim, played card and just enjoyed themselves - a wonderful part of their childhood - my children have been so lucky too........

To be with them tonight was just 'precious' I can't think of any other word for it........

I am in my flat, Lara has gone to bed and the boys have gone down town - off to meet Jimmy's friends Jack and Sammy before they go off around the world for 6 months - wonderful young people - growing up and spreading their wings... people are amazing - we are amazing!!!

I was listening to my boys talk about their Nan tonight - they recognised her happiness, her love for life ... her wonderfulness - that's pretty cool - when  I told Lara that she and Alex were in in the other  house with Nan, she was so pleased - genuinely delighted to be staying close to Nan..... bufffff - that's getting me emotional - I can see this weekend will be just full of emotion.. but in a good way - just a joyous appreciation of the wonderful people in my life - bufffffffffffffffffff - feeling it again!!

OK - so I shall just do my utmost to enjoy every 'precious' (that word again) second of this weekend - to be thankful and appreciative  - and to count my blessings without judgement, conditions or expectation of anything other than the recognition of how lucky I am to be me...... 

To be alive is extraordinary - though sometimes it can feel pretty bonkers, crazy and scary - but hey we're here - we're alive - so let's enjoy every precious second of the journey!!!

time is going so quickly

It is extra-ordinary - but time is just flashing by at the moment!

It is Friday afternoon and in half an hour I will be off to the airport to fly to Belfast - I am staying with Steph for the weekend and then a busy week ending up in Edinburgh - all being well home next Friday - in time for Rob arriving on Saturday - my birthday celebrations continuing!

I was in London on Tuesday/Wednesday.... and something happened which was out of the ordinary. I had been at a Workshop on the Wednesday and it was good fun to be a participant not an organiser -  and I met a fellow Sound Healer - from Norway -  though the course was nothing to do with healing - however, the connection was strong - and we went deep quickly.

After the workshop we went for a short walk together and talked - deeply - but what happened next was very unexpected - I left and caught the tube to Euston station when  I had this overwhelming - not certain how to describe it - sort of wave of energy hit - it was very strong - I ended up wondering around Euston station in a wierd sort of state - all good - but very bonkers - and now I am still not able to really understand what happened.....

................ it's now Saturday at Stephs - I ran out of time yesterday - it's quite late and Steph and Kerry have gone to bed but I am feeling very wide awake so thought I'd finish my blogg!

Today has been lovely - we got up late and breakfasted well - then gently toured the beautiful Antrim coast - lots of laughter, love and the Giant's Causeway - special day - then we returned to Steph's and I did two Healing sessions. Both of which were wonderful.

Am very aware of the gap between where I am and where I might be seen  to be  - and possibly/probably am are quite a distance apart - and that this gap is getting bigger - I do feel I am living in two different worlds - though I am also aware that these two lives overlap.

I am also increasingly sure that I have to be open about this......... the fact that I am living in two sorts of worlds.

OK - so am living a truly blessed life - very happy, very busy doing what I believe to be the right things to do - and  at the same time  I am living this other  sort of alternative, bonkers and beautiful life!!!!!

Saturday night......

Have felt aware that I have not blogged for a while - tonight is Saturday night/ now actually Sunday morning/ quite late - after an evening with Gilly - eating tapas, drinking wine and talking deep - like we do!

Uncertainty/certainty is where I am at the moment - at every level - really feeling that I know 'stuff' but also feeling that I am at the being at the point of 'knowing nothing'.

...... but also knowing in my heart that I do know - way to go...... not coherent - but good!

How fast time is moving................

...... maybe it's just me - but I don't think so...... but time seems to be hurtling by at an extraordinary rate - and life does seem a bit of a bluuuuurrrrrrrr!!!!

Well - it's Saturday evening - after a big week for me - suddenly my future seems clearer - but also more unknown - so that's really good - and I am embracing that - holding close to me the preciousness of the 'unknown'. But hey - who knows anything, anyway?

Had a lovely day today -  spent time with my Mum - finally giving her the Christmas shawl I had knitted for her - which I had left in the suitcase in Croatia, The shawl is knitted from the most extraordinary gossamer soft, beautifully coloured wool - I knitted it over a few months - including the weekends I was on the sound healers course - it was really difficult to knit as the wool was so thin - and the pattern was bit weird - not going to use free download Internet patterns again!

However, the resultant shawl is actually very lovely. I had knitted it for her to put round her shoulders when she feels 'sad'. She's amazing and so positive but there are times when she just 'feels sad' - and I often talk to her about this - because it's OK to sometimes 'feel sad' - but she just misses my Dad so much.

This is the photo that I took of my Dad when my Mum was recovering from surgery in June 2011 - she was intensive care and Jimmy and I had called in to my parents house prior to going the hospital - I had asked my Dad to 'send Mum your love' and I took this photo into my Mum - and held it close to her. The Christmas before last I got it put on canvas (Gilly's suggestion) and she has the photo so close to her all the time - especially when she feels a bit sad. Today I told her the detailed story again - as she forgets - but she also loves to hear the story - about how my Dad is sending her his love though the camera. Looking at the photo - he is!!!!

Anyway the shawl is also linked to this - because I want to be with my Mum when she feels the loneliness and sadness - but am not, so had knitted the shawl for her to put round her shoulders when she felt sad. So it was a special time together today - as we talked - and we were together - and we both know these times are finite - so we were both treasuring the time together. Bufffff! the beautifulness of consciously treasuring our time together - if we could all do this with all our relationships - to treat and love everyone in our lives with the knowledge that our time together is finite, special and to be treasured - way to go Mum - what a lesson!

She was also particularly happy after Ann had organised a great visit to London last weekend. Travelling first class on the train, staying at Max's, revisiting the street where she had been born, lunch at Bryony's - she was just full of gratitude and happiness - and at 92 what more is there - but hey - at any age what more is there????

OK time is moving fast - but every precious moment is to be treasured - how blessed are we to be alive, here and now!!!!!!!!!

being me - part 2!!

Strangely I've started to blogg a couple of times over the last week - but not actually been able to pull together a blogg to publish - which is weird - and the first time I have ever done this - in terms of starting by writing a few sentences - and then just giving up and not saving/publishing the blogg.

OK - so feel I need to complete something tonight. It is Sunday - my birthday was last Saturday - and it feels like so much 'stuff' has shifted/moved on. I hadn't really anticipated my 60th birthday being such a huge point of change - but - it really, really has been - and this has also taken me by surprise. Probably one of the reasons why the blogg never got written - it just felt like so much was changing - day by day.

I have been thinking about what this change has been - and I now know it is one of certainty - I now just feel very clear about what and who I am! Wow never thought I'd be able to write that!!!!!! But yes - I do feel clearer about who I am - and loving the multi-dimensional aspects of this person - me! On one level being clear about me - who I am - but this recognition also meaning - that I am deliciously unclear - about what this will look like in reality. That sounds like a contradiction - but it's not.

New year - was amazing - a purification - a real getting rid of so much! Followed by the beautifulness of becoming 60 - and with that - such a joy and gratitude for being me - this amazing 60 year old - wise woman! Yes she is pretty crazy, bonkers and unpredictable - but you know what - who cares -it's great being me!!!!

It's been a surprisingly big thing reaching this next decade - and unexpected - this week has also been one of making decisions - about myself, my work, my future. I have no idea where I will be in 3 years time - in terms of what I will be doing, where I will be living, who I will be with -  3 pretty fundamental aspects of my life!! And decisions I made this week are all part of this process of change and moving on - AND JUST SO EXCITING!

But the clarity has been about embracing being ME - and the freedom of being open to - and up for change. I think when I was turning 30, 40 and 50 - this was unimaginable.  That's not to say I wasn't happy - because in many ways I was - and secure - as Chris's wife, the boys Mum - job was less secure - but I was happy being an educational entrepreneur - with all that involved. But now - I have a greater sense of personal freedom and with this the joy of embracing the unknown - and living each precious day as just that - a 'precious moment'.

I think much of this sense of clarity is about my personal sense of  knowing - and that is very much based on my spiritual journey - which has been such an accelerated roller coaster  - over the last decade - especially in the 6 years since Chris died. It has been funny reflecting on the last ten years - and going 'Yes - they've been amazing' and then thinking - 'Oh and by the way my beautiful man of 35 years died in the middle of that decade!' But of course Chris's death was also such a huge trigger for personal change and growth - and looking back - I am proud of myself - as I did end up growing so much as a consequence of what was such a potentially devastating life change - the sudden death of my partner of 35 years.

So I am now 60 -  and this has been celebrated in several lovely ways - I am so very blessed! Planning a future of unknowns - and embracing the fact that anything could happen tomorrow - way to go!!!!!

 

Being me.....

 .... and being 60!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am amazed at how old I am - not quite 60 yet - that happens on Saturday - and I have decided already that I will love being 60 - and NOT apologise for it!

It's funny 'cos I say to people - it's my birthday and I'm 60 - and they say 'I'm so sorry - you don't look it!'  - and I understand this - over the last few years I haven't  broadcast my age - mid 50's - late 50's - keep it quiet and maybe no-one will notice! But I have decided  I am proud to be 60 - recognising how lucky I am to be 60 - joyously enjoying being ME - who by the way happens to be 60! How amazing it is to be 60 - recognising that Michael never made 20, Jan never made 40, Chris never made 60 - my Dad never made 100!

Life is for living - every precious - to be treasured - moment of it.

So I will be 60 on Saturday - deliciously enjoying my life - of course I find some things hard - finding some moments require a big breath to walk into -  but overall having a ball!

Had a great conversation with Gilly on Saturday evening - after a perfect day - First Birthday Celebration - a muddy, laughter filled walk with Perri, Gilly, Rachel and boys.... mud, laughter, lunch, more laughter and eventually Gilly and I doing what we do so well - drinking wine and talking. It was a great day and a beautifully deep conversation.....

When I was in Spain I reflected a lot about our own 'unique life journey' - and how they can be seen as being like an individual drop of water in an ocean. I do see the journey of our souls as being on their very own personal journey - but all of us together being on a collective journey. Anyway on Saturday evening Gilly and I talked deeply  - reflecting on how our lives are so very different - though also very connected through our own shared histories - and as we talked it became clear to both of us how our own personal challenges are just so very different - but we also saw the 'ocean' which is our combined journey - it was a great conversation.

OK so now it's Tuesday - though it feels like Thursday - I have been remarkably busy this week! My Mum is good - talked to her just now - she has paid half of Jim's flight to visit Rachel in Qatar - and she is enjoying that - remembering her own time apart from her Jimmy - (70 years ago) and loving that she has enabled her youngest grandchild to be with his love - as she described it, in the 'ups and downs stage' of their relationship - by which she means living in the uncertainty of their shared future - but living their lives on the basis that will be together - inter-generational connectivity. That looks like a lot of words - but it is actually very simple - my Mum recognises the love of Jimmy and Rachel - and she relates it to her own love for her Jimmy - my Dad. Buffff - beautiful - love it....

So 60 on Saturday - my whole life ahead of me - and enjoying the 'knowing nothing' about what will be - but loving the reality that it could be anything!!!!!

2013.....

........ started on top of a Spanish hillside - as I 'danced' in the new year by taking a Shamanic journey with Grandmother Bear and Owl.

Now I definitely would never have written such a statement if Chris was still alive!

But that's what I did - I danced deep and I danced alone - and I danced the edge of being in a group but also on my own. I danced in the year I will be 60 - and I danced with purpose.

OK so what does that all mean?

The process was one of purification - and I feel very much that I have been on a timeless journey. Nurtured and cherished by Oya and Michael and the group of other dancers, challenged by my own journey - it was a special time.

I got back last Thursday to a flat full of Rachel and Jimmy - counting the days until they are apart for several months as Rachel goes to Qatar to stay with her parents soon. I went to work on Friday and the weekend has been full of visits, my Mum, a Gilly dinner and a Smiley afternoon - then tomorrow morning I go to Innsbruck.

The new year has started!!!!!!!

Christmas is over....

..... and it was very lovely and enjoyable - my Mum came over to stay at mine - there was 6 of us staying in this little flat - but it was really, really good - 2 of my boys, Rachel and Lara - attentively looking after Mum - doing crosswords, making lots of cups of tea etc and cherishing her. She was brilliant - loving every second, being appreciative of everything and everybody - my eyes have suddenly welled up with tears as I write this - she is such an amazing, indomitable woman - I don't know how many more Christmas's she will have - but it was a joy to share this one with her - she described it as ' beautiful' - which felt very special to me.

We all went out for a meal on Christmas Eve - Fiona's family, Gilly and the 6 of us - then we all went to Fiona's for Christmas dinner - Ian prepared a feast for us - and Aidan delighted and charmed his big cousins and great grandmother. He is such a special little boy. Then yesterday another family party with Gilly, Evey and Michael and Michael's daughter - lots of laughter, love and as Evey wrote in a text to me this morning - 'What a lovely day we had yesterday - what more could we ask for than spending time with your Mum, family and friends - priceless.' I'm feeling very emotional again - just full of gratitude...... mantra brewing - how lucky am I? It is also so wonderful to be with others who are also so grateful - Mum, Evey, Michael - special, special!!!!

So I am now in my flat - Jimmy and Rachel cooking prawn salad - the two of them cooking companionably together - Jimmy's music playing - just about covering the noise of the washing machine, sorting myself out before tomorrow. Alex and Lara hopefully on a bus somewhere between Madrid and Gijon and Mum back in Abbeyfield - it was lovely when I took her home this morning - she said 'this feels like coming home' as she was greeted on her arrival, un-packing her presents - with only a fairly sketchy idea of which come from who - but holding them all dear.

I go dancing tomorrow in Spain - am really looking forward to switching off and just dancing - I want to use the opportunity to process the last few roller-coaster months and to be clearer what my intentions are for the future year. I will be dancing on a mountain top in the south of Spain - I danced in the new year of 2010 there - and that was the big/all change year for me!  Tomorrow I will be off again on another adventure - with my heart open,  fearless and with no idea what is awaiting me - wonderful!!!!

feelings of change...

.....am at home - Jimmy, Alex, Lara and I flew home from Croatia via Budapest yesterday and got home to tea cooked by Rachel who was waiting for us - she couldn't join us at Robbie's as she still hasn't got her passport back. Funny to be part of a family that needs passports to visit each other!

They've all gone out tonight and I have been knitting - we managed to leave my suitcase at Rob's house - with several of both mine and his Christmas presents in it - bit bonkers - but I think we were all a bit hung-over after his birthday party - well it happened - it was quite funny - got to Budapest airport - about 3 hours from Rob's - opened the boot of the car - and realised!  I had knitted my Mum a sort of shawl/scarf of beautiful soft wool and Rachel a waistcoat of 3 pieces - and one piece of the waistcoat and all of the shawl/scarf are still in a suitcase at Rob's!!! But Lara and I went to the wool shop today and I have made my Mum a cushion for her back and tonight knitted a very quick scarf for Rachel from fancy wool - so I am happy!

Tomorrow I go and pick my Mum up and bring her here for Christmas - 6 of us in a tiny flat - it will be squashed but wonderful - tomorrow night dinner in a restaurant - Christmas day at Fiona's and Boxing day here with Evie, Michael and Gilly. Precious, precious, precious times. I sound like my Mother -  am just so lucky - she says lucky - I say blessed - but I think we mean the same - grateful to be alive and recognising the wonderfulness of that.

Realised that I had titled this blogg - feelings of change - then wrote about knitting...... but I do have a huge feeling of change..... it sort of feels like everything is different - but strangely when we were in Croatia - it just felt so normal to be at Rob's - which on reflection is a bit wierd - but in a few days time Alex and Lara will go to Spain to spend New Year with Lara's family - and none of this feels strange. So much change yet all sort of deliciously normal - people/family - so of course normal - people are people and family is family - love it!

So the change must be in me! Maybe - I do feel like I am living in some accelerated whirlwind - though also knitting - there's a paradox! Feeling in a vortex of change whilst focusing on the minutiae - but the small things are the most important and even though everything is so rapid - we are living in this - the present moment!!!!

OK - so I will continue knitting - then go to bed very grateful in having 2 sons and their amazing partners staying in my flat - having just been visiting my third son - to be picking my Mum up tomorrow and then to be having a family Christmas - then dancing in Spain - lucky/blessed - just grateful............

back home and changed....

I wrote the title of this blog a couple of days ago but never wrote anything after that - I think I probably fell asleep!   I got back Monday evening and it is now Friday, the days just go by so quickly and I have been very tired!

It’s been a strange week and yes I do feel changed after the last weekend of my course.  I have become more public about being a Sound Healer, telling some people at work, doing a treatment with my mother – that was lovely, she became very blissful. I have noticed that people are becoming more open to discuss consciousness, energy, spirituality – or maybe it is just me and my journey.  I don’t think so though - as when I have talked about it with others - they too have said that people are becoming more open with them as well.  I am being more open about the spiritual side of my life, to my family and friends and now some colleagues!

I am excited about doing sound healing treatments for individuals and sound journeys for groups, I just love it, but it’s also something that I am actually very good at - as it is something that enables my natural gifts to come out.  This sounds a strange thing to write and I don’t mean it arrogantly - it is just that the sound healing is my vehicle, it is the way for me to do what I am very good at. It was certainly something that I hadn’t planned, and actually could not have foreseen occurring. I have never thought that healing was my gift, and I never thought that sound and my voice would be something I would use as a practice/type of work.

I have been thinking about my future and I can see that this part of my life will run parallel with the other part of my life for a while, and then I can see the two joining in some way.  Not quite certain how this will happen or even when it will happen but it just feels very right to me that it will happen.

I was talking to someone last night on Skype, and we haven’t seen each other for a while although we have talked on the phone and she commented that I looked different.  I think I might look a bit different, and I certainly feel a bit different, in some ways more self assured, more at peace.

Exciting things are happening in my life, and I am being open to them when they occur which is such good fun.  Living without fear is really the most important thing to do, being fearless – love it!

Go away again on Sunday to meet my boys -  Alex, Lara and Jimmy in Budapest – and then we will all drive to Varazdin to stay with Robbie.  It feels like the family home has now moved to Croatia – how exciting is that. Cheltenham Avenue is having solar panels put on the roof this week - it just seemed the right thing to do and I’m glad that I’ve done it, although it did end up to be a very complicated process. So the family home has moved to Croatia although it temporarily abides in Travellers Court – we come back on the 22^nd and then my mum will join us for Christmas.  It will be a bit of a squash - six of us in that tiny flat – but it will be cosy - I am looking forward to it.

So the end of 2012 is approaching, changes are occurring across the globe.  I am ready for 2013, a different person to the one that started 2012 – a Sound Healer – how did that happen!!! I feel very blessed and I feel very happy and I know the two are totally connected.

feeling expectant.......

Early morning tomorrow I will be on way to Belgium again - for the last weekend of my course.

Have felt very 'strange' all week - not certain why - and I don't know if it is physical, mental, emotional or  spiritual - but I suppose it is a mixture   - the physical has involved me being tired - not unexpected after last week - but I have also had this sort of physical expectancy feeling - a sort of undetermined excitement - with the heart racing etc - not certain why - but a real feeling of restlessness.

The mental has involved a lot of processing of last week - ideas still buzzing around - great thinking - but again 'expectant' rather than concretely identified - but really feeling that I am so close to a big bang in my thinking - buzzing rather than landing! Wrote stuff today which was a really good step,

Emotionally feel pretty cool at that the moment!

I know the spiritual aspect of my life is beautifully enriched by the Sound Healing course and I think much of my expectancy is a feeling of excitement of where I will go during the next few days. Funnily I also feel this physically - tonight my hands and feet are just burning up.

Bufff - consciousness - mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually - the keys lie in our heart - time to reconnect them!!! Anything is becoming possible - way to go!

Things the same - yet things so different!

Well I'm back home - after another marathon - Sweden, Netherlands, Portugal.......

Feels like I am still landing - which is not surprising as I went directly from two very early flights, after about one hour's sleep, driving straight from the airport to my sister Jenny's for lunch with the family - which was lovely.... then home via the supermarket - and then somewhat ambitiously I made a Christmas Pudding!

Doing my blogg now - which I love to do - finding the space to start to reflect on what I feel tonight..... Well - I can clearly see that I am still as high as a kite from the experiences of the last two weeks!!!! And understandably!!!! But that in itself is good to know - recognising that I need to spend time focusing on landing.

OK - levels - work was great - very hard at times, very focused, lots of demands on my time, energy and abilities - and pretty constant, full on - days and evenings - breakfast conversation merging in full days of meetings which merged into dinners and very late nights - all interspersed with walks through the beautiful city of Porto - lots of good work being done whilst going up and down those steep hills between our hotel and the University rectorate building where we were based - special conversations.......

Wonderful work, and I can see so much more clearly after this last week - really starting to see what the SiS Catalyst legacy will look like, specifically, globally and also for me - this was a huge development in my thinking.

But there are other levels - deep, deep connections with others who understand - what a joy - what a joy - what a joy!!!!! As a consequence I did three sound healing sessions - which were all so different and yet each one was very well received - and they also gave me an amazing feeling of 'rightness' - I love doing them and it was a big jump between my worlds. The three sessions came naturally out of conversations - and it was good to have the chance to talk deep with others - not with everyone but with a growing number of people. Bufffffffffff!

The word which has been dancing around my thoughts all this week – and it is a word that has been around in my head for quite a while - certainly several months now – anyway the word is 'consciously'.

It was my intention when in the valley this summer - to be able to see more consciously - and suddenly I can see that really beginning to appear not just for me - but also for others.

OK what do I mean by 'seeing more consciously' – for example I had a beautiful conversation with my Mum at Jenny's today - we were talking about war/peace. She was born in 1920 - a peace baby 'Irene' - after the first world war – and was then the generation of young people caught up in the second world war - and my Mum said - the young people of today - they are more conscious - they travel, they use computers - they are more connected - this enables them to be more 'conscious of each other'.

I personally feel 'more conscious' of how I am living my life – consciously being happy for example. The shift I saw in myself this last week or so - has been to 'see' this change in consciousness - both within myself and crucially also within my work - for example working with global partners and witnessing their shared recognition of their similarities in their very different cultural, geographical etc etc localities.

Mmmmmm – lots and lots to think about, to reflect on – but now the call of a hot bath, a mug of camomile tea and bed with a hot water bottle in it – has just become too strong for me to resist!!!!!

Thank you blogg reader – my mind is just buzzing and it's lovely to get some of it down!