One of those wierd nights.......

..... after a hard couple of days at work - mind buzzing tonight!!!!

I feel that I have so much going on - in so many 'levels' - of my life - it feels a little bit overwhelming - but also tonight it feels more than a little bit wonderful......
I have struggled a bit with the day to day- since Colombia - jet lag combined with going to Barcelona - plus understanding (or trying to understand) where I have been - plus work - and good work - but also quite heavy and draining......

Yes - it has been heavy and draining - these last 10 days....

But all good!!!! Today has been a hard day - yet several times I have heard very strong messages about the need to stay positive - it has been wierd as none of them were directed at me - but over-heard snippets between others, on the radio and about somene else....

... but their message was about the importance for me to stay positive.... and happy...

.. which I am not finding easy.... but beloved blogg - yes I know it is what I need to do.... to be positive - for if I am not - all I get back is negativity.... wow so true!!!!

OK - so am knackered - good recognise that... am happy - though it is not the easiest state of mind to be in!

But yes I CAN - and AM beautifully positive - only way to be..............................

Turning around and off again!

Feeling a bit rushed - haven't really found my feet and I'm off again tomorrow  - but it's OK - felt quite wobbly yesterday but tonight feel good - though I know I'm still a bit jet lagged from Colombia as I feel wide awake now at 11 - but know I will struggle at 6 tomorrow morning!

The important things are good - my Mum, and my boys - Jim and I had a truly delicious tea tonight - we decided it was the best meal I had cooked for a long time - pretty cool hey! And I talked to both Rob and Alex - and have touched base with others close to my heart - so good.... But I also recognise that it will take a while to come down to earth after the last three weeks  - but as I'm off again tomorrow I know I'm not giving my self much time to process one set of feelings, thoughts and emotions before setting off in a completely different direction.

So that's a clear thought - and writing that has made me know that I need to consciously stop - when I can  - in the next few days - and  take the moment to clear all the busyness and just be me.

OK I can do that!

I love my blogg because it helps me think clearly! I can meditate most anywhere - and that's what I must make time to do - just go to my heart space and take the time to just be..... nothing else - just be me - here and now - and you can do that anywhere!

Buffff!!!!! Isn't being just beautiful...................

Leaving Columbia...

.... I have been amazed by the beauty of this country and the warmth of my welcome which has continued over the last lovely week. We have been travelling - driving on roads - an adventure! Staying in old villages with dancing horses and moto rickshaws providing street performances in the evenings - meeting people and hearing stories - walking on high paths through green lush countryside enchanted by birds and insects of many colours - enjoying such richness with an open heart and great pleasure - but now I must go home.....

Like the best holidays you get to the stage when you know it's over and it's time to go home and you must start closing off from this world and begin to prepare for the return to the old world.... but like the best holidays and best adventures - I know I go back a different person - my heart is full of immense gratitude for the wonderful time I have had - and I have learnt so much - about myself and my journey and I am filled with great happiness - how amazingly lucky am I?

So a shower, breakfast, a drive around the lakes of El Pinol then to the airport......... then home.

.....still pinching myself!

I did actually pinch myself yesterday as I couldn't really believe where I was and what I was doing! Being away from home always means you reflect more - but I live in astonishment at where I am and what I'm doing - but to be in Columbia, speaking in Spanish - to 400 people in a huge auditorium at a conference which was arranged just for me - was amazing. But the wierd and wonderful thing is - that I am just so at home here!

Tonight I'm at Ana's and Pablo's - we're all pretty tired after the last couple of very hectic days - Ana has gone to bed with the beatifically content baby Fidel and the mariposa hermosa (beautiful butterfly) Simona. Pablo has to finish off a video for Monday - so I am just relaxing and reflecting on the last couple of wonderful days. I am also very excited about the next week of my holiday - which starts tomorrow..... how did all this happen??? No idea - but it's wonderful and I'm revelling in every treasured second of it - with a heart just full of gratitude and love.

Wow moments!!!!!

I'm on my own in Raul's flat in Sao Paulo - he had to go to Brazilia - and I leave for Medellin tomorrow morning - so I'm sat in the front room watching as a storm cloud full of rain rolls in - the flat is on the top of a hill and on the ninth floor - so you see over a part of the city - it is a very big city - so only a part! And I have just watched the rain coming - rolling over the high rise blocks of flats like a grey blanket of mistiness with lots of wild wind banging noises - and now it is really starting to rain - like a huge breath being exhaled - a magical soft noise - the soft sound of the grey blanket! As the windows are always open the freshness of the rain is all around me. So a beautiful Wow moment - life is sooooo amazing!!!!!!

Loving Brasil......

Have been here for a few fantastic, wonderful, jam packed days of Carnaval, parties, meeting and connecting with amazing people and children.... and lots and lots of dancing! This is a holiday and a half!!!!

Yesterday we went to a Samba bar and we drank beer and ate traditonal food and danced to hours of wonderful music - I was in my element.... I am not able to really talk with many people except when Raul translates - as I find Portugese very different to Spanish - but it didn't matter - I have loved listening and focusing on the conversations as you can see much without understanding all the words - that has come out of the last few days very strongly to me. When we understand the language I think we can make assumptions about what people are saying and don't really 'see' them when we are talking...... and of course the language of dance is universal! I think it's my first language - next time I fill a form in which asks Which languages do you have? I think I'll say Dance, English and some Spanish.

The day before was truly extra-ordinary - I was very honoured to be welcomed into a community - meeting open hearted people who work with passion, commitment and politics and of course children...... it was so inspiring... I am crying as I write this - I loved the honesty I met - truth seekers... the difference between 'Working with passion and soul' and 'Doing a job' is huge. It is something that the distance of being here is really showing me...... why do we do anything in this life unless it is with passion and soul?

Bufff - big thoughts here - but beautiful ones! So my journey in South America continues and I will do my very best cherish every precious second and to live every moment with total passion and soul - as it is the only way to live!

And oh yes - I was in the Carnaval!!!! X9 Samba School in a truly mind blowing costume, dancing in a block of about 50 people dressed like me - there was about 50 Blocks and floats in the X9 school parade - truly wonderful experience - my friend Raul has welcomed me into his life and world, for which I am truly grateful - how blessed am I!!!

Getting ready to go to Brazil....

Joyously excited about going to Brazil and Colombia - on holiday - though with some work in there - but with my life and job it isn't possible to separate the two! Have spend all weekend cleaning my flat and doing a Prezi presentation in Spanish - and having Gilly and Jim for tea tonight and sorting out my summer clothes - and getting excited!!!!

Spoke just now to someone about the feeling of change and movement in my life - which I also think is happening in all our lives - I also talked about having a very strong feeling of moving on -  and of certainty. It's a bit weird really as I have this huge feeling of certainty - a profound sense of knowing that I am doing what I should be doing - using the happiness litmus test as I go along - but also a beautifully strong feeling of not actually having a clue of what I'm doing or where I am going - delicious!!!

I think I am increasingly childlike in this - several people have called me childlike recently - childlike - not childish. I read the other day: 'In general, Children see the World through Eyes of Courage, Adventure, Fun, Wonder, Fascination, Love, Compassion and Fantasy.' If that what  being childlike means then I am all for it!!

So on Wednesday I'm off on an adventure - how very exciting is that!!!!!

happiness is....

... spoke to my Mum tonight - didn't get over because of weather - but phoned her - and she was happy (good day) Read my blogg of yesterday to her over the phone - and we both cried - lovely healing tears of love - proud of both us!

... and we both had a bouquet of Evie & Michael flowers smiling in front of us  xxxx

Happy to blogg.................

.... in fact I have been looking forward to it all day - in that nice warm - close to the heart feeling - this evening I will sit in my cosy little flat and blogg!!!

Have had a truly beautiful day - apart from driving my Mum back on icy, slippery roads - horrible - I do NOT like driving on icy roads!

But a lovely Saturday - 'a memorable day' - according to my Mother which is special.... She is finding it so hard at the moment - selling her house - her home of 55 years - and passing on all her furniture and most everything else - as she now lives in a single room - moving on ..... so very, very hard.........

It was decided a few weeks ago that I would have Evie and Michael round for lunch on this Saturday - and this grew to include my Mum, Jimmy and Florian also came - (with Rob on Gplus and Alex on phone!)... wonderful technology!

So today I made a lovely lunch for 6 of us in Liverpool - steak and kidney pie, mushy peas followed by rhubarb and ginger crunchy crumble and custard - very British! And as my Mum said very memorable.....

Writing my blogg is all about me thinking and reflecting - and I have been thinking tonight - and looking back over my blogg to 5 years ago when I was a widow of 4 months - where my Mum is now ... and looking back IT WAS SO HARD!

My Mum is amazing - we were telling her after lunch - how inspirational she is - and she is - truly inspirational....

A year ago she was living her life - getting older with my Dad but living at home, and getting on with her life - I think I could see how fragile it was - but I don't think she did..... then 8 months ago a tsunami hit her ... starting with my Dad going to hospital after Jim's 21st.... her own major surgery.... my Dad running out of energy.... her breaking her hip.... my Dad's death, funeral and then her move home to Abbeyfield..... a tsunami indeed my lovely Mum - and as we told her today – she has come through all this change extraordinarily.........

She is now living semi-independently (in a home she set up and nurtured for over 40 year ) living an active life - in London last week for Bryony's graduation, holiday booked for July - cruise to Norway (with Fiona, Evie and Jenny) - just living her life - 91 and amazing - yes my Mum is truly inspirational!

Tonight I looked back on my blogg to where I was 4 months after Chris's death - I remember with heartache that January - Good Days and Bad Days - I was just living day by day... and it was really, really hard - but I also see that I was moving on.....

'Final thought re the Good/Bad Day thing - I do feel very loved - and how lucky is that - I was loved by Chris for 35 years and I continue to feel very loved now - after he has gone - so again how lucky is that - to feel loved is to feel special and that means you can cope with the Bad Days. ' Posted by Tricia Alegra Jenkins at Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Reading that makes me so proud of myself !!! I was in a hard place but I was holding on to the positive and moving on - on my own, but with love - moving on - painfully but also joyously ..... bufff ... my Mum and I have a lot in common xxxxxxxxxxxx

holding the space - buffffff....

Productive days - now gone..... leaving me knowing that  I have so much to process from them..... I have literally not stopped for 10 days - since the Thursday before last when I picked Rene up - til tonight when I dropped Steph off at the airport... wonderful, beautiful times, special, rich and so, so, so full .... hard work though - with all sorts of things happening to, with and around me...... and tonight I am finally letting myself be tired...... and I am ....  haven't been able to do so up to now because I couldn't!

I have been thinking about what I have done - and it sounds a bit weird - but I have been 'holding the space' ... not leading or coordinating but 'enabling' not quite the right word - but 'holding the space' for 50 people to come together - to see, hear and feel..... to reflect... to be open...... and to create...... we worked together to pull all this energy into something....  to glimpse a sense in the day to day - of how we can change the future .... 

Where I am now - is that I can see that what we did - we pulled our creative energy together - and we fused it into an 'arrow of intention'.... I love it - when we see - individually and collectively - when we see - we can shape the power of our shared co-creativity - we catch flashes of our ability to change the world through our recognition that we can!

Love it - need to process it - glowing with recognition that I am just so blessed and wonderfully deliciously tired - but am also not tired - actually feel really, really electrified.... buzzing..... joyous.... wow how happy am I - I AM xxxxxxxx

gearing myself up......

.... for a very, very busy week.... in fact it has already started as was in London yesterday with some kids, making a video and having a lot of fun, and Rene has been here since last Thursday.... birthday celebrations which were lovely - day in Chester with Margaret and Rene - visiting my Mum and Jenny - lovely days....

... and now the SiS Catalyst family are coming from around the world for 3/5 days.. wonderful and I must become very focused..... spent time this morning mediating on getting rid of any negative energies that had become attached to me - so feeling very peaceful  - computer putting this to the test by closing down on me all the time - think it may have a virus - technological negative energy!

But I know I need to be really focused and to do what I do - never certain what exactly this is - but know it when I am there....... it's like my whole being focuses - I come from a very, very high place - feels like I'm up above the world........ and then I focus.......  it's like all my attention swoops down on something really, really tiny but totally clear - like looking in a microscope and pulling it into focus - but from the stars!!! Then I am deliciously clear - at least in my mind - don't know if everyone always comes with me - but sometimes they do - and I can feel it and they can too - that's just so beautiful.......

So a busy bonkers week - of swooping from the stars and focusing - now to wake up Rene, pick up Steph from the airport... it's begun like all things with small things - the important things in life.

Quietness

Tonight is quiet - I'm in the flat - in silence - just having had my tea. This evening I was working with a group of kids that I am going to London with on Monday - we worked with Raul via Skype in Brazil - it worked but not sure how! Then food shopping - so it was late when I got in. I am writing this with a very strong feeling of the lull before the storm - as the next week or so will just be sooooooo busy - but a wonderful feeling of anticipation and excitement. I have also such a lot of things to do..... but that's good and I am so fortunate to be able to do what I do - whatever that may be!!!!

Rene is due tomorrow morning - just heard from her - on a plane in Seattle in a blizzard being de-iced before taking off for Amsterdam - technology takes my breath away..... Then SiS Catalyst family and friends will appear over the next few days - probably over 40 by this time next week - numbers vary as have had a flurry of emails today from people who didn't let us know they were coming - lots and lots of things to do... but also a beautiful feeling of a natural unfurling of what is meant to be... my life is truly delicious - not sure what I do - but I just do what 'feels' good and then go with the flow! Bonkers but beautiful!!!

Then tomorrow is my birthday - which is delightfully uneventful and unspecial - to be treasured for that - birthdays can be quite hard - I am however going out for dinner tomorrow night with a remarkably large number of wonderful people - wow I truly am extraordinarily blessed and very grateful for all the amazing people in my life xxxxx

making intentions.....

....it's the middle of the night and I have been awake for ages - don't feel unhappy but just don't seem to be able to sleep... have been thinking and setting my intentions... love it!!

Love the process - the pulling together of the whirling thoughts and ideas which swirl around all of us like a snowstorm of tiny diamonds - and then focusing in and shaping something tangible out of this..... identifying form out of the glittering fog - making it solid as a thought - an intention - then seeing clearly a path of action which leads from this..... but also knowing that the course of action many times means walking forward into the unknown - not having fear - just taking the first step. Feeling what to do rather than thinking or knowing what to do - following the road that my heart leads me to - using the happiness factor as my compass!

Sometimes it is a very quick process sometimes it takes a long time - looking back I think years!!

My intention tonight is to become a master of the process and to do it more consciously.... well now I have set my intention - I need to sleep - maybe to dream......

so excited..............

.......it's a new year and so many things are starting to happen - I am just so excited!!!!

Not always able to focus on everything though - do feel like my ability to focus is like a great big on/off switch - I'm either completely focused and give that 'thing' whatever it is - my complete attention - or have this kind of 'can't be bothered' sort of feeling.

I am thinking a lot about what makes me happy - and I suppose this is linked to the focusing thing - if it makes me happy I focus on it - give it my full attention - if it doesn't - I can't be bothered! Must make working with me a bit difficult! I hope not but I think I must be a bit unpredictable - but happy!!!

I heard  from someone the other day who said it was a good idea to start every day thinking about three things that will make you happy that day - and to ensure that you do them, then to increase the number of things!!!!

I am at the moment just joyously happy - having booked my trip to Brazil and Columbia - meeting and staying with wonderful friends AND I'm going to be IN the carnival parade in sao Paolo - how absolutely mind blowingly cool is that!!!!! I have no idea how I have ended up having such a magic  life - I suppose focusing on what makes me happy is a good start and I also feel so incredibly appreciative and grateful and very, very blessed - wow wow wow wonderful!!!!!!!!!

2012.......

....... has started - feels like I've just turned round and I'm in 3 days into the year already - weird!!!!

Had a beautiful New Year - very quiet, very personal with Fiona, Ian, Becki and the lively little Aidan but very, very lovely.... it is so good to be close to family - feel that I am increasingly enjoying just being close to friends/family - and I do feel that all the people that I connect with regularly with - are just that friends and/or family - both - neither one nor the other - just close to me - and how special is that!

Blogged about this feeling before - and it is a very strong and growing feeling - a lovely warmth of connectivity....

So 2012 has started - I'm home - got back late afternoon and am having one of my - 'strangely restless' evenings - I usually get them when I'm going away - maybe I'm getting this one cos I'm actually at home! Probably because am going back to work tomorrow and know I need to prioritise what I need to do - where I need to focus my energy.....

I think that has what's been really lovely over the last couple of weeks - I have not been consciously thinking of work - just being with and enjoying friends/family - focusing and enjoying the reality of being together - I don't think I've talked about work for 2 weeks - how wonderful is that? - but at the same time I know that I have been thinking about it - not consciously but deliciously deeply - just hope that when  I go into tomorrow - it all seems beautifully clear!!!!!

Beautiful poignancy

I am at home after a week away with my three boys, my Mum, my sister Ann and her two children and a friend of theirs..... and the words that come to my mind are 'beautifully poignant'. Not certain why I chose this title for the blogg.....

There were 9 of us - my own and my sister's children - grown up but as yet to have children of their own - so we had hired a big cottage in Yorkshire and we were there together as family - the focus of which was my Mum. She was amazing - fantastically amazing, loving the presence of so many young people, all doting on her - her every wish a command. Much good humour, laughter, excellent food, fellowship and joy - but it was all very, very beautifully poignant....... on occasions painfully poignant.... My Mother's fortitude, playfulness and happiness was genuine and special - her constant recognition and understanding of how blessed she has been all her life, always very close to the surface.... but my Father's absence was very present and many times painfully so.....

I cry as I write this - and I didn't cry when I was away, but I think it is important to do so tonight - to recognise my own grief, my own loss of my beautiful Dad - a man I have spent practically every Christmas with for my whole life - I can think of 4 that weren't with my Mum and Dad - but that's all.... so a lifetime of Christmas's together - my parents having had 65 Christmas's together until this one..... wow!!!

I'm glad I've done this blogg as I couldn't understand why such a happy time should have also been so 'beautifully poignant' but now I have seen what I have written I understand why I feel like this....

So I am cherishing the specialness of our time away together, and recognising that my grief for my Dad is still quite raw - and that my Mother is truly inspirational - and what a wonderful family I am so lucky to be a part of.........

... and stopping off in Stacksteads and spending time with such dear friends on the way home - was icing on a special Christmas cake!!!

Maybe.......

....... the 'golden child' within myself just recognises the 'golden child' within my mother.......

Snuggled in on the sofa.....

..... gentle music playing - my little flat cosy and warm, a beautiful day - making a lovely lunch for my Mum, Jimmy, sister Jenny and Ali, (fish pie) followed by a short walk in the park - showing Ali Chris's beech tree, clear blue skies above the world, my Mum walking with Jenny - lovely, lovely lovely......... they've now gone home and I'm snuggled up on the sofa - feeling very loved and at peace with the world... I am just so blessed and so grateful for my wonderful life.

I talked about my Mum's amazing resilience to Ali earlier in the park, that was nice spending time talking to him - there is usually such a crowd that we don't really get to talk one to one, anyway we talked about Mum - and how she is such a 'golden child' -  she has gone through her life - doing good things - but also being very 'selfish' - all four of her daughters have had tragedies and sorrows and she was there for all of us, but she herself has had a truly 'lucky' life - and in many ways she was also protected from our hurt - she loved us all but I don't think she actually understood our pain - and why should she? It was our grief - she recognised it but I am not certain how far she was able to empathise with it.  That sounds harsh but I don't mean it to be - my Mum is an amazing woman, she has lived a good life - and she is now coping with the loss of her husband of 66 years  and her home - fantastically well - but reflecting about my Mum through my childhood and womanhood - is making me think.......

..... I suppose that's what it's all about - learning - and walking through the park with Ali this afternoon has made me think about one of the fundamental relationship of my life - that of mother and daughter - my mother and me as her daughter. It is also made me think about Chris's Mum.

Chris's Mum was a wonderful woman and there were times in my life when I was consciously closer to her than I was to my own Mum - I can remember that very clearly and also feeling sad/wrong to feel that.....  I am now very close to my Mum - and have been for many years, and the shared experience of Dad's death and the last few month has brought us even closer.  But I think that this relationship is (and has been for many years) based on my recognising her as a 'golden child' and loving her for being that a perfect 'golden child'. Wow - didn't expect to write that lot!!!!!

So I think I need to unpick this a bit....... I suppose I am thinking about what is love - OK quite a big question then!!!

But what is love? How much of it is what we think we ought to be? Do we 'love' people because of what or who they are in our lives? Or what we think they are? Or what we we think/and are taught to believe we ought to?

Not unpicking here - just knitting myself in deeper!

I suppose at the heart of this is - just that!!!  How much is what we love is actually from the heart - and how much is what we love  - is what our mind tells us to?

Bufffff - this started off as a nice afternoon blogg and is now asking the most fundamental question of our life - what is love? I need to reflect more on this - and I think it's been a question hovering around me for a while - what is it that we love? Is it the present, the past and/or the future? I loved Chris and my Dad very much, and I love my boys, my Mum, my family, my friends - but what does this mean? I love my life, I love my feeling of purpose in life, I love physically, I love the beauty that is everywhere, I love the music surrounding me (getting louder and louder) I love laughing, I love dancing.... I just love.......

Mmmmmmmmmm.... love is a one way process - unconditional love - means loving one way - and only one way - just loving - not wanting or needing thanks, recognition ... or anything in return... wow - I love it!!!!!!

Bratislava musings...

It has been a busy week - I am now in Slovakia, having been in Salzburg and tomorrow I go to Vienna.... Last night we partied and had a great time, the meeting and connecting does not even require a common language - though liberal amounts of good Slovakian wine helped!!

I am here with Raul from Brazil and it is just so amazing how when you look - you see the same things - just a different locality - and a different castle in the background! We, the human beings on this planet are just so similar - so connected - so one..... though so many of us are clinging on to our separateness, trying to find and emphasise our differences - the problem for them is we are not different - we are not separate - we are all individual sparks with the collective of humanity..... and I just love us!!!!

Global - local - Us - me - they are just two levels of the same thing. The more I travel, the more I connect with individuals just makes this clearer and clearer to me.... and the connections can be brief - a smile with a recognition through the eyes that we are connected - Bing - we are connected!!!! Or they can be built on a lifetime's friendship - but they are both just the same - the connection of us recognising ourselves in the soul of the other. I think the most important thing is to be open to the connection - because many of us walk through this world in fear of opening up to others and build walls around our hearts... I know I am increasingly open - I seek out the eyes and welcome the connections - and that's what other people see in me - and then I love them and they love me - and it just makes us both so happy - which of course is the meaning of life!!!!

So a day sightseeing in Bratislava - then have been promised dancing tonight - lucky lucky me!!

Taking care of myself?

I am at home (for a change!) and in bed - it is early in the morning - but still 2 hours behind Turkey where I have been for a while, so wide awake - though my body is telling me to stay in bed - to give it time to come to terms with a streaming cold. I am coughing like a hyena whilst holding close to me the amazing week I have just had..............

I think this will be a long blogg as I plan to do very little else today - well apart from 2 important emails - a walk in the park as an opportunity to see Jimmy and I have just remembered I have some work to do as well - and to  meet up with Gilly later.....

But what I really want to do today is to understand the expression '....take care of yourself'....'....cuídate' as these words have been said to me several times recently - and in my dreams - and I have promised myself to reflect on why and what they mean.

My friend Javier wrote on Fb yesterday:

'Vivir la vida intensamente, cada minuto, cada segundo, como si la vida se nos terminara pronto. Para que dejar que nuestra vida se pierda en medio de la mediocridad, la envidia, la ira y la sin razón? Dejar que los sentimientos fluyan por nuestras venas y cargarnos de positivismo siempre, nos garantiza una vida plena. VIVIR AHORA!'

Which I translated as:

'Live life intensely, every minute, every second, as if it could finish at any time. Why let our lives be lost in the midst of mediocrity, envy, rage and without reason? Letting our feelings flow through our veins and always being positive, will guarantee us a full life. LIVE NOW!'

And that's what I want/am trying to do - and being positive I should say 'This is how I AM living my life'

So what does that mean?

1. Living life intensely - cherishing every second, minute, day, every experience, person, things that I do and things that occur - I know I am doing this more and more - and this is also what my Mother is increasingly doing - cherishing every second of life with gratitude

2. Being grateful for every second, minute, day, every experience, person, thing that I do and things that occur - learning from my Mother.......

3. Moving to the next stage and making every second, minute, day, things that occurs a celebration of life - recognising and appreciating happiness......

4. I can see the next stage which is to live my life in ceremonial celebration....... know I'm not there yet but also I now know people who are doing this -  which means I can learn from them!

Cherishing, Being Grateful, Celebrating and then Ceremonially Celebrating - which of course all just means Being Happy!!!!

.............Same day still in bed - but I have been out and eaten a late breakfast with Jim, communicated with several friends via Fb etc, didn't walk in the park, didn't write the 2 important emails, but I have slept so I have taken care of myself.

Yesterday I talked about taking care on the way home from Munich with Raul - and this led to a discussion  about fear - I want to live my life 'taking care of myself' but I don't want to live my life 'in fear'. I have been thinking and I suppose I don't really understand what my fears are - yesterday Raul talked about healthy fear - linked to self preservation - yes being fearful of traffic is a good idea when crossing the road but if you take care and know the rules of the road  you can cross safely - but now my head is going round in circles - what actually is fear? Well I've just looked it up on Wikapedia:

Fear is a distressing negative sensation induced by a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger. In short, fear is the ability to recognize danger leading to an urge to confront it or flee from it (also known as the fight-or-flight response) but in extreme cases of fear (terror) a freeze or paralysis response is possible.

Suddenly it all makes sense  - Fear is negativity - and my fear is being negative in my life, being negative in the four stages I wrote about earlier: Cherishing, Being Grateful, Celebrating and Ceremonially Celebrating - but also I now know what I need to do - I need to find those areas of my heart and my mind where I carry negative feelings and thoughts and to recognise them and to love them and to get rid of them - Hurray - I finally know what I'm doing!!!!

Well this has been a very long and rambling blogg which has been on the go all day - but I finally feel clearer - it's all about positive and negative energies - in Turkey I discussed with many people my positive energy - I was full of it in Ankara - when I'm working I become very focused and simply glow with energy - positive energy. I was telling one person that I do not watch the television, read the news or listen to the radio - and he said quite suddenly and out of the blue - 'So that's why you are so full of positive energy.'  The news media is very negative it sucks away at our energy.

I have also been aware for quite a while about people who drain energy from me and others by their negativity - their presence and ideas blocking the positivism of others

Love it - it is finally all making so much sense to me - I need to take care of myself by becoming more conscious of negative energy - from what ever source - and then finding ways of not letting it drain me in anyway. I also now know what to look for in myself - negative thoughts and feelings - Wonderful!!!!!

Well it's now time to get dressed and go and meet Gilly - to eat tapas and drink wine - that's also taking care of myself!!!!

Floating down to earth.....

...... not certain where I've been but today I do feel more grounded than I have been for a few weeks - probably wont last - I am only here for 3 days and then off again! Part of it is the physical travelling which I do so much of, but also the last couple of months have been so turbulent - the death of a parent is a huge thing....

So very pleased that I went away to make my knife - have been sharpening it tonight - after I used it to prepare Sunday dinner for Jim - which I have to say was particularly good! But the time I took to make my knife was just so amazingly special - hadn't thought of it linked to my Dad until I was there - because when I arranged it was well before his death - but the timing was wonderful.

Still not certain of what has happened to me over the last few weeks - but am beginning to understand that it has involved profound changes deep within me..... tonight I feel much freer and lighter than I think I have ever felt - I called this blogg floating down to earth - maybe I should have called it - floating up - cos that's what it feels like.... well 3 days in the office then off again... love it - how blessed am I?

amazed by how much I have learnt!

........back home - keep fondling and looking at my knife - it is so very, very beautiful! Last week it didn't exist  - and now it does  - and what lessons it has given me  - the blade, the handle and the sheath - a real trilogy.

Making my knife - a story to be told - but also the sweat lodge - buff! huge stuff - living in a yurt in a real community - doing it's best to be totally sustainable - then on Monday going to the Welsh Gypsy and Travellers young people's conference - huge resonance - and then the cars - mine blowing up plus....  overwhelmed by it all tonight!

But most of all - I am just in awe of how much learning this huge rich mixture has given me.....

Journeying.....

Wide awake in the night - but in a yurt in a field on the edge of a wood - a full moon lighting the world and the sounds of the night birds. I am here to work with Tom to make my knife - as agreed at Spirithorse. I knew it was to be a journey and that is what it is....... I didn't know until I started how much of this journey involves my Father. I have looked back to this year and also seen how my week dancing in Spain was also about my Father... I danced to a deep and hard place enabled by the knowledge of his love for me.... that was special....

But now I am making a knife....... intuitively I brought 2 knives of my Father's with me - small kitchen knives that he had sharpened over the decades - and these were my starting point with Tom...... but as the journey has unfolded in this beautiful Welsh community - I have been taken back into my childhood - back to my Father - and to the many places where he lives in my heart.

I have made the blade - I chose to make it from a small file - heating it on the forge and hammering it flat on an anvil - then I grinded the top edge - and this morning I will work on the bevilled edge. This afternoon there will be a sweat lodge ceremony.

I feel I am walking this journey with my eyes open but with no idea where it will take me.... I feel that it is important to spend these few days honouring my Father, to work with a lovely man teaching me - in a way that I have been blesssed all my life - being able learn from my Father from my birth and then from my Chris - a lifetime of learning and - at the same time knowing I was loved by two beautiful men - what a blessing......

And now I have not got their presence in my life - but I will always have their love - tears stream down my face as I write this - and maybe it was for a deeper understanding of this knowledge that my journey took me to this yurt in a field in Wales.........

Bulgaria.....

It's very late at night and I've been out dancing with wonderful young people - love it - ESU students still working when I get back to hotel - have so much time for them.....

Have felt engulfed with their energy for the last couple of days - really, really special - tonight was also a night of connecting - letting myself go - with the beautiful energy of the individuals I was with - sounds bonkers but it wasn't that crazy - I just went where my heart took me - and they came with me! Also - though and this does sound a bit crazy - we have actually also done a huge amount of work....

Though  my work is pretty bonkers anyway - but doing it feels just the most sensible thing in the world!

Happy - plus dancing - perfect.......

Purity of energy..

My Mother is living in the present. She forgets the recent past very quickly and she does not focus her thoughts on the future beyond the immediate..... she is living in the present.

I think her beauty comes from the purity of her energy as she focuses on the present. She is also doing this with such an intensity - she is truly living in the present - and that was what I witnessed on Sunday - and it was beautiful.

I'm wide awake in the middle of the night - for a change! Thinking about the importance of living in the present moment......

... and the joy that comes with that.... and the energy that is involved with doing that. That's why I see my Mother's energy as so pure.

I still feel full of a whirling energy - doesn't feel totally peaceful though, still feels quite chaotic. Maybe I should focus more on living in the present - accepting that I have no past or future - only this one moment to be alive - and to be happy of course!!

Proud of my Mum..

Yesterday we went over to see my Mum in her new home, and I have been thinking about her all day - because she was just so magnificent!!

She is just starting to find a normality in her life after what has been a few weeks of the most turbulent change possible - the death of a husband of 66 years, a move from her house of 55 years, the loss of her mobility, because of the broken hip, which means she is still struggling to get around.

And yesterday when we left, she stood in the hallway, a little old lady standing on the threshold of a completely new life. Missing my father desperately but having such strength and determination that I felt like she glowed from inside, her blue eyes resonating such an amazing beauty.

..... and all she could say was 'I am just so lucky!' What a wonderful woman she is......

Waiting for Alex and Lara....

....I was just going to pick them up at the airport when I looked to see that their flight is delayed from Geneve - so I thought I'd do my blogg while I was waiting. It's Saturday evening and I have had a day catching up with myself - so I've shopped, cooked and cleaned - and am really looking forward to having Alex and Lara here for a week.

I also had Vanessa for lunch and a walk in the park - and made a Christmas pudding - my Mother always made several for all the family - so I offered to do it this year - you stir in all the ingredients together and leave them for 24 hours - before steaming the puddings - it does look a bit volcanic at the moment though - I also think it's too runny - but hey ho it's only a pudding!! We're going over to see my Mum tomorrow I'll ask if I need to thicken it a bit.

It's been good to be domestic today as I was feeling pretty bonkers last night - at the end of an exceptionally busy week - hosting a 2 day video conference with lots of people here as well as in Cairo, and then still lots to catch up with at work as I have got a bit behind, with being off around my Dad's death.  Strangely - even though it was really busy - the whole week left me full of energy - it was sort of crackling out of me last night - and I can still feel it now - my hands and feet tingling with energy... doesn't feel bad but does make me feel a bit light headed.

I was also awake quite a lot last night and I think that was linked to the energy in me - I just couldn't sleep - felt so very wide awake - nearly did my blogg but got firm with myself and made myself stay in bed - I should be really tired - not buzzing with energy!

Flights delayed another 15 minutes. Done my blogg - think I'll make a casserole before I pick them up - put some of this energy to use - crazy woman!!!!

Decisions....

... the awful night Chris died - I can so clearly remember being in the hospital with my sons - being asked to make huge life/death decisions - and saying 'What ever decision we make tonight must be one that we can look back on in 10 years time and know that we made the right decision'.

Tonight I understood that it not just the big life/death decisions that we need to be able to do this for - but we actually need to live with all our decisions - however small - and we need to be able to go back and look ourselves in the eye and to know - that at the time - we believed we made the right decision - for the right reasons....

.......who said any of this was easy!!!

Feeling restless.....

.... it's been such a busy few weeks - I feel like I'm coming down to earth in my own life again... linked to a restlessness which I'm not certain of the meaning of...

Work has been good - picking up the threads - aware that I have missed things over the last few weeks - loving some aspects... but not everything... restlessness present there as well...

It's Saturday morning and I am dossing in my bed - what a lovely feeling - eating cornflakes, drinking tea and writing my blogg..... but aware that behind this peacefulness is this sense of restlessness... funny how the blogg crystallises ideas in me - as when I started writing I didn't know that I am so restless - but now it has become a very strong feeling - and I'm really trying to think through what it means!

I suppose in one way I have time  - after the last couple of hectic months - I am on my own again - Rob's gone back to Croatia - and although I'm going to see my Mum tomorrow - the frenetic pattern of hospital visits and funeral arrangements etc have finished - so I have time to feel restless.

Should make the most of it - as a complicated Study Visit starts tomorrow and I will be rushing around for several days with that - but I love that sort of thing and thrive on it!

Had a lovely night last night - Deirdre and I - honouring and remembering, with love, our Dads -  we'd got dressed up to go out but in the end we didn't make it - we talked a lot about the way things conspire to happen at a certain time - like my Dad's death - extraordinary sense of things coming together in perfect synchrony.

So maybe this restless feeling is just a part of my preparation for the next things that are going to happen in my life - but the one thing I do know is - I have no idea what they will be .... and isn't that just so exciting!!!!!

Living in amazing times.................

... and we are - surrounded by this huge global maelstrom of changes.....

Yesterday I was given the analogy of us being poised on the edge of the biggest waterfall imaginable - where we can be frightened, prevaricating and procrastinating - waiting in indecision until we are dragged under with the tow of the water to be smashed by the rocks and the debris - or where we can just get on with it - getting on the nearest raft, without fear, accepting where we are  - and then to just love every second of this amazing ride..................... know which one I'm going for!!!!

Fearless - just love it - doing my best to live my life totally without fear and enjoying every second of the roller coaster!

OK where am I? At home Robbie still here - out with friends tonight - a joy to see my son happy - my Mum moved into her new home today - still landing - not quite settled but moving on - and finding pleasure - wonderful - Jim and Rob going to see her tomorrow.

Me - well I'm happy - recognising the huge changes - climbing on the raft - and doing my best to enjoy every second of the ride!

You know what.......

.....it's been a pretty tough week!

Back home after a conference in Brussels - very pleased I went - confirmed to me what I know which is good - message on my phone from Jenny saying she moving Mum on Tuesday to Abbeyfield with 6 week care package - so that's great - will go and see Mum tomorrow.

Feel a bit overwhelmed tonight - it's been a hard week! - I also had such a strong feeling of change/tranisition as I came back in taxi from Liverpool airport just now - I can see I'm moving on - just like my lovely Mum!

Way to go - accepting and embracing change - only way to do this..........

Rumi - says it all....................

After I had written my blogg - I meditated and next to my altar was a beautiful calender of Rumi poems that a dear friend had given me, and because I have been rushing around so much - it was still on August. So I turned it and this was the poem for September 2011..............

 

Your grief for
what you’ve lost
lifts a mirror up
to where you’re
bravely working.

Expecting the worst,
you look, and instead,
here’s the joyful face
you’ve been wanting
to see.

Your hand opens
and closes and
opens and closes.
If it were always a fist
or always stretched
open, you would be
paralyzed.

Your deepest
presence is in every
small contracting
and expanding,
the two as
beautifully balanced
and coordinated
as birdwings

Rumi

Thank you, with love and so much gratitude.

Joy and death.........

.........yesterday was my father's funeral - and it WAS FANTASTIC! It was a truly perfect day... and I wasn't the only one - saying/thinking this.... lots of people.... kept saying... what a perfect funeral, what an amazing life.... what an amazing man.... how lucky was he... how lucky were we to know him, be part of this family, to have your childhood.............. all perfect and wonderful things to say at a funeral....

And it was perfect..... and we did it so well as a family - my 91 year old mother coming from hospital, using a wheelchair and a zimmer frame but coping so well... dignified, strong and really, really focusing on every word in the two services ... and she was just so beautiful.... trying so hard to do it right - and doing it so, so well.... Mum I was just so proud of you - and everyone felt the same - truly inspirational.......

All my sisters speaking at the Chapel -  not finding it easy - but standing up and saying just the right things - things which needed to be said.... and Evey and Becki - I was honoured to stand up with them - and so proud - of all us - my Mum, sisters, grandchildren, cousins, family friends - we just did it so well!!

OK - may be it's a bit weird to be quite so euphoric over a funeral - but it was just amazing - I also know that it was a very healing experience for so many of us... griefs which go back lifetimes, my father's death being a trigger - an opportunity for us to recognise our own grief - and to accept - to be grateful for so much - to feel the joy of being alive.....

Don't think I'm expressing this very well - because my overwhelming feeling is - and has been throughout this special time of my Father's death... an overwhelming feeling of deep joy......

We live in a world where the words 'joy and death' don't usually go hand and hand - however - my Dad's age and life has made this possible....  maybe that's why it has been such a healing experience for so many of us... because he was so old - and had had such a great life - we were enabled not to be wrapped up in 'sadness' about a loved one physically leaving us - and as a consequence we could really focus on our own 'grief' - which is such a personal thing - the legacy of lifetimes of hurts.......

Wow to recognise the 'griefs' within ourselves -  now that is truly healing - to recognise, to accept them and then to let them go............ letting go - nothing to do with saying good-bye to my Dad for one last time - but all to do with letting go those stored angers/pains/wounds which we keep from our childhood and before...... griefs which we inherit - handed down through generations.....

Special days indeed..........

It's now Tuesday evening and I will go back to work tomorrow - Alex going back to France, Robbie being around - here and London for a few more days - me - going to Brussels for a conference - Thursday/Friday - visiting Congeleton Memorial hospital - hopefully for the last time on Saturday - Mum set to move to Abbeyfield next week - lots of people for dinner on Sunday...

......so living my life - being so very grateful for being alive - recognising the joy of life, and the joy that my Father's death has given me and especially the beautiful healing that I have been privileged to witness........... but also recognising that people I love are in pain - feeling that grief and giving them love.........

Whirlwind.............

..........feel like I'm living in a whirlwind - but also strangely happy to be doing so!

It's become very autumnal and after last week's unusual sunshine - wild winds whirl leaves around in the air - way above ground level - swirling, whirling leaves... all separate yet all just tiny parts of the huge whirling movement of leaves.

Last Sunday  - I danced with leaves - 'Dancing Deep' in Manchester - Alex the teacher enabled us to dance with leaves - in our own unique way - and it was wonderful..... one of the clear 'thoughts' that I have kept all week is about the individual leaf - in the swirling whirling dance of all the leaves...

Through the dance I 'looked at/saw' some of the leaves really clearly - spending time - focusing my attention on those few leaves - as they were there within my consciousness/field of vision/hand.... and I was so very aware that these few individual leaves were just so very, very beautiful - each one having so many colours - hues from green to deep red, and being patterned and veined with perfection, each leaf beautiful, special, unique.............. and each of these individual leaves could also be seen as just part of a pile of leaves - something brown in heap on the floor - it was only when you looked at each one, with focus and real attention -  that you saw how beautiful each one uniquely was.....

I think that's what I feel like at the moment - part of the swirling, whirling mass of stuff - humanity - but if you look at me closely - like everyone of us - I am a beautiful individual - with my own colours, shades and hues, my own patterning and veining.... very special and very unique - like everyone else - truly amazingly beautiful - but together we can just look like a pile of nothing special.

The chaos and change we are living can also be seen as the whirling and swirling going on around us - I have had the wonderful opportunity over the last few days to stop and to look around me - and to see the beauty of those awesome treasures that are close by!!!

So what does that all mean - I am at home - 3 sons in the same country - though here and there - really enjoying their presence in my life... being together, talking, eating, sharing stuff - just wonderful to have them close by - I am so in love with my sons - they all three so different and just so wonderful!!!!

Tomorrow - over to my parents house - probably for the last time I will ever stay there - bufff!!!! - the  house of my childhood - then the funeral on Monday - wanting to get it right - know what I want to say - hope I can do it well - details - details - all the important things! My Mum close to my heart, the grief of my sisters..... but also taking time to acknowledge my own vulnerability and humanity.....

So many leaves swirling around me - but joyful, happy and doing my best to consciously recognise their - and my own - individual uniqueness and beauty.......................

massive changes....

.... am surprised at the depth of change that I feel happening in my life.... my Father was very old, it was not unexpected that he died – all be it that he was doing OK until only a bit over a month ago.... I have known for several years that he was getting very tired (of living)... I do not feel sad that he is no longer struggling to live... I am still in awe at the beauty of his death... but I am feeling something enormous happening.....

I have talked to many people over the last few days and a lovely dancer said to me on Sunday - that so many people she knew were going through big changes in their lives.... and that feels right.... we are all going through a massive change – in one way or another...

‘Enjoy life as a flow of change, chaos and beauty’ I have this in Spanish on the wall of my office – and I noticed it yesterday and it resonated with every cell in my body.... I think it’s 5 Rhythms... but it is just so right....

So it is the middle of the night – I’m not sleeping – drinking cocoa in attempt to get some sleep – wide awake but not unhappy – feeling the world and life changing around me – big swirling changes – but understanding that I must ‘go with the flow’ – give myself up to it totally and just recognise the beauty in the chaos!

Special days......

The days between a death and a funeral are always special.... busy ... always lots of really important things to decide... all of which are really small things - but of course these are the most important things in this life....... but also times when you are together doing nothing - talking with your heart open and receptive - able to get close - to reflect and to just be......  the technology enabling this happen across the world.... wonderful......

I have just loved the messages I have received - I lay on my bed yesterday and just thought - 'Just accept this love that is being sent to you..... just receive it!'... and I did - I lay there and just said ' I receive this love - thank you - it makes my heart so happy.' Because I know that I find it very difficult to receive love - to actually accept that people love me - because to do so means that I totally accept and love myself - and as everyone knows that is the hardest thing in the world! So how special is it that at this time I am making big steps in that direction - receiving love - shouldn't be that hard - but boy it is!!!!

Am at home - early evening after a day of planning my Dad's funeral..... sisters meeting  - then with my lovely Mum - sitting in this glorious sunshine we are having - trying to come to terms what is happening in her life.... and she is - wonderful woman -  choosing flowers........ being overwhelmed by much of it..... loving her daughters and one grand-daughter for being there for her today in the sunshine........ repeatedly saying - 'I am just so lucky'... her gratitude for her and my lovely Dad's life being such an important part of her - and our healing...................   how blessed are we to be close to this?

Wanting to be 'home' though this will not be her home of 55 years, but she is looking forward to being home (somewhere) to going on day trips, seeing primroses in Devon, going to the Lakes... she can see much of it... details to be sorted... but she is creating her new life.... and watching her do this is wonderful, inspirational and just so special.................

I will speak at my Father's funeral - at the Crematorium Service before the Service of Thanksgiving in the Unitarian Chapel - where his 4 daughters were married - wow he was so blessed my Dad... I talked today about what I will say... but I will spend time with my Mum over this weekend understanding what I need to say - for her and for us....

What we need to say to my Dad - is easy - 'We love you - thank you for being in our lives'

What needs to be said for my sisters and our family is not yet clear but it will become clearer over the next few days and nights (dreaming it)......

So I am tired... bone weary actually - but also really good.... beginning to take steps to really love myself.... bufffff that's not easy.... also know that you my lovely Blogg readers also care about me - otherwise you wouldn't bother to read all this stuff - so thank-you  - to know you are there - and I do know you are there cos there is something called 'Stats' (number of pages viewed - no idea by whom) - and it is wonderful to know you are there - I sound like my Mother - I am just so lucky, thank you for being in my life xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Today my lovely Dad died.....

.... and it was a truly beautiful experience - writing that - seems a weird way of putting it - but it was beautiful, it just felt right, well done, peaceful, joyous and sad........ and several hours on - I cannot think of it as anything other than a truly beautiful and wondrous thing - to witness - and to be a part of.

It has been getting closer for several days and the pace seemed to accelerate very rapidly near the end.... but like all these things - it seems a very long few days - it is always difficult to put time into boxes.... the days and nights seem to have stretched but also to have contracted.

My Dad did seem to have been released in someway by my Mum's visit on the Sunday - like she was giving him permission to die. He has always been there for her.... I think he has been staying alive for her for a few years now - staying in his tired and worn out body through the power of his love for her.

He also waited for his two older daughters to get home - leaving us less than 24 hours after their return. My sister Ann stayed with him last night, then I went up to the nursing home early this morning. They advised me to get my sisters there... and we got my Mum there as well.... so we were all there..... and looking back I think it was just about an hour after my Mum arrived - from her own hospital bed - that he died.

It was an amazingly beautifully sunny day and we moved between his room and this little garden  - at the moment of his death -  two of my sisters and I were with my Dad - and my other sister, her husband and my Jimmy were in the garden with my Mum. As we watched the signs of life fade from my Father's frail and tired body, I could hear my Mother's voice 'tinkling' in the background through the open window. The sound of his life.... my Mother's voice..... It was like a big beautiful wave of love filled the room and followed the sound out of the window....... pure peace.............

She was amazing.... accepting that it was his time to go - I am so grateful that we got them together on the Sunday - as I think she would have found it so difficult to understand had she not gone through that day.... and my wonderful son Jimmy was her companion as she sat for the last time with her lovely man of 66 years.... her youngest grandson being there for her.... she was so surrounded in love... she just kept saying - I am just so lucky..... and she was and is.....

She is not ready to go, she is full of life.... though having a broken hip and a faulty heart valve are cramping her style a bit at the moment... but her zest and enthusiasm for life are inspirational. I think she just needs to keep this momentum going over the next few days and weeks of getting her 'home' somewhere - which will probably not be her home of the last 55 years... but one step at a time, the next one is Rehab - and the funeral......

So my lovely Dad is no more in this world - it has been an extraordinary few weeks, very hard but also such a blessing - I am falling asleep as I type - so time for me to go to bed..........................

... relief......

... well that what it feels like - a real relief ....... maybe that should be a real release.... don't know - it's been a long hard day - and I feel very exhausted... but also very relieved.....  feels like something has been released!

... we did well - in fact we did it brilliantly - and we did it as a family - how wonderful is that?  We got Mum to the nursing home - that wasn't easy - but we did it - then we enabled her to talk to Dad - he didn't talk back but he did respond - and we were there - coming and going - laughing, reminiscing, being family, sharing tears, hugs and love - we were magnificent!!!

My Mum was magic - she got there and she couldn't understand my Dad - she didn't want him to be old and dying - and she told him  you're only 94!  Effectively - that's no excuse for dying - she wanted him to get out of bed and get on with his life - their life - she just didn't want him to die.......

We left them together.... we were together as a big/small group/s.... we came and went... all good stuff... all things that needed to happen.... and by the end of the afternoon it was like my Mum gave my Dad permission to die.....  she accepted the fact that he was going to die..... and being my Mum - she then wanted it to happen there and then as she had made the decision!

I don't know when it will happen - I asked him to wait for my sisters to get back and he said OK - I don't think it will be long myself.........

Then I came home and cooked a big chicken dinner for Jimmy, - it makes me so happy to feed one of my  sons and I also needed to eat something sensible - and then all the time we talked for hours on Skype and GPlus with his brothers - which was wonderful - we didn't dwell on the fact that we watched Chris die 5 years ago to the day - but we recognised it - we talked about the day with Nan and Pop and we just talked, laughed and enjoyed each others company - how magic is that - in three countries - via technology!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So tonight my heart is going out to my sisters - impatient to be home, my Dad hopefully hanging on in for them, my Mum alone in her hospital bed, sad but so resilient - inspirational.... my sons and family feeling bruised and hugely enriched by the day... and me ...well I am happy.... we did well, we loved, we showed our love - we gave it and we received it - and what more important thing is there in the world.......

My Mother

This is the photo of my Mother - that I held in front of my Dad yesterday...... today hopefully he will see her - this is hard.................

Conduit of love................

My Father is now very sick, he has an infection and although they are giving him antibiotics, he is very frail and tired, so I do not think he will be with us for much longer. Tomorrow we are going en masse to take my Mum out of the hospital to visit him, 2 daughters and 5 grandchildren.... I don't know if it will be last time they see each other - but it will be one of the last times they are together in this lifetime......

And what a lifetime - they met 66 years ago and married 65 years ago...... together longer than many lifetimes......they have both been very blessed and had happy, long lives, together in love - enriched by good health, children and grandchildren and now 2 great grandchildren..... they have so much to be grateful for - and I believe they are... and they both also love each with a depth that only such a union can give.....

I have been going from one to the other over the last couple of days - and looking in their eyes and giving them the love of the other....... how special is that - to be a conscious conduit of such a wealth of love.... but I suppose that is what I am..... a conduit of love... oh am I also so blessed!!!!!

This is also the fifth anniversary of Chris's death - which is obviously adding another layer of poignancy to this time... but it is also making even more beautiful and special.

My 2 older sisters are on their way home, Jenny hurt her ankle and was advised by a Doctor to stop walking, but I think that this was meant to be - because even in the time they have been travelling home, Dad's condition has deteriorated so much.

My Mum is healing physically, the little girl in her enjoying the attention of the visits by family and friends - but then she is very bored and fed up - again in a childlike way - when no-one is there. She does not have dementia though - she is very lucid and on the ball about most things - it is her approach to life that is childlike - living in the moment - I have no-one here - I'm bored - I have visitors - I'm loving the company.  She is also so very beautiful - I'm smiling all over my face at my Mother's love of life - she is just SO BEAUTIFUL.....

My Father has now lost his appetite for life - and everything else - and he is also very beautiful - curled up in bed - this frail shell - his body stopping working - though his heart is strong.... my lovely Dad... I cry as I type... he is ready to go - he has stayed so long for my Mum - his adoration and love for her - is truly inspirational.

So tomorrow we go early to take my lovely Mum to be with my lovely Dad for maybe the last time - or maybe one of the last times  - for them to meet in this life...... and I will now make some tuna sandwiches and a little pot of fruit salad - because as everyone (should) know - it is the little things in life that are the most important....

Wow isn't life precious...................

back home and happy to be so......

The work was good - in fact it was excellent...... hard and focussed - I think that is what I am good at - focussing - so we were not the whole of the SiS Catalyst family - but there was close on 30 of us - and we focussed - for 2 days - good stuff!

At the back of my mind the whole time - and wrapped up in my heart - were my Mum and Dad...... I was very conscious of my sister Fiona and Jimmy doing the hard visiting - trekking between the hospital and nursing home - feeling the day to day differences - the subtleties and nuances of their fraility and vulnerability - pretty grim stuff - so I was very aware that my being in Italy for a few days was not really helpful... but maybe - or of course - it was where I was supposed to be.

So I got home this evening and have put a hot water bottle in my bed - it feels very cold in Liverpool - but it's good to blogg xxxxx

long day....

This morning I went to work - then at 12 I left to go and see my Father in the nursing home to discuss what he wanted if he had a heart attack - resuscitation or not. We - my Dad, the Matron and I had a long and hard conversation - my Father didn't know whether he wanted resuscitation or not - but through the conversation I learn - he didn't want to be a nuisance – he couldn’t be bothered with living – and he didn’t want to leave us yet.........

Then I went to see my Mum who was remarkably cheerful considering she was still post-op on drips etc - a little girl in full flow, funny and doing really well – if not maybe well anchored in the real world..... then I went back to see my Father to tell him Mum was OK and to show him a photo of her on the Ipad – and then I drove home and sobbed as I drove – big shuddering waves of grief – so I stopped and had a lovely cup of coffee in a service station – and then I drove home to meet Jimmy off the bus back from Leeds and we went for dinner and talked.....

Tomorrow I go to Italy for a few days meetings – my wonderful sister Fiona will take on all the visiting – on top of everything else she is carrying - supported by nephews......she is the most amazing woman...

So I am feeling grateful and OK really - nauseous – but I think that is my body’s reaction to all this. Buffffff!!!!!

...........which of course means!!!!

......went to sleep on my blogg and woke really clear what is happening here - this is HEALING - wonderful healing - and very accelerated - and it's for all of us who are willing to step forward....... so that's my learning from last night!!

Learning - big time!!!

Trying to find time to stop in these busy, emotionally charged days to think about what I am learning - the interesting thing is that with so much going on - I can see other people's learning happening in front of me - and it's really, really wonderful to be able to do that - not sure if everyone else can do this - I must ask.....

Last night my Mum fell and broke her hip - and is now back in hospital (the same one - different ward!) She had surgery this afternoon and I have just been to see her - not a happy bunny - but a real fighter - planning when she's leaving - yes a bit tearful and sorry for herself - but with a childlike approach to 'getting better'. She will get better - go home - and..... she didn't go there - because of course my Dad is not there - he's in the Nursing Home - she had only 3 days of that one before she fell - this is a real whirlwind!!!!

But I can see my Mum's learning - she does repeat herself a lot - which probably makes it more visible - but she will say one thought - in various forms - but quite often - and then that will change and she will then repeat the new thought - so you can see the learning process quite clearly - and it is beautiful.

I believe that you live your life to learn - and that's what life is for - to learn - and of course at the heart of this is to learn to be happy..... Tonight I watched both of my parents tackling that full on - and for both of them from really hard places - and they both found much to be thankful for - and they both recognised their blessings and they both found moments of happiness which they shared with me - which makes my heart swell with love and pride for my two wonderful parents..... and my sisters.... and our families - and that just makes me very, very happy.......

Feeling the changes....

... there is clearly a lot of change going on my life at the moment... most visibly around my parents - Dad now in a nursing home - Mum coping but struggling on her own - Fiona and I doing well - but feeling the pressure.

But apart from that I am dreaming - livid and amazing dreams - not always remembering them - but living with some in my heart - as I can see/and feel them - big transformative dreams.....

Am awake now - 4.30 but think this time it's heart burn - fish and chips late last night with Jimmy - after going over to my parents! But also knowing that I have been dreaming again tonight..... So drinking mint tea - quick blogg - and hopefully some more sleep.....

Not unhappy with all of this - still feeling peaceful - though also have been weepy and emotional over last few days - and so tired!!!

Feeling loved.... don't feel alone.... am also feeling conscious of my sister's journeys running in parallel to my own - and now I think about that - my parents journeys as well -maybe that's who I'm meeting in these dreams! Hard work this transformation stuff!!!

Making decisions with my Dad

... tonight my Mum and I went to the hospital and my Dad made the decision to go into a nursing home.... it was his decision - though the alternative of a convalescent hospital a long way from my parents house was the only alternative.. however it was a decision that he made tonight.... it's now 2.30 in the morning and I can't sleep - I came home from the hospital quite late and felt quite sick and very exhausted... so went straight to bed... now I'm awake and still feeling rough - not certain if this is a reaction to today or just that I have picked up something - I hope I didn't take anything into a ward of frail and vulnerable old people.

Frail and vulnerable - is how I describe my wonderful Dad - a man who has been a straight upright man, all my life - I'm so lucky as I have a solid and special relationship with him - but now he is frail and vulnerable - but I am happy that he made the decision tonight - my sisters did all the work in identifying and arranging with the nursing home - but it was my job to be really sure that he was making the decision - it was good actually - he was very tired and talking was hard - but we had a laugh during the process - it was good to see his eyes smile - we were laughing at the inappropriateness of a sports convertible as a vehicle of choice for a 94 year old to get to a nursing home!!

I love my lovely Dad..........

Not sure where I am at the moment....

.... but it feels OK - in fact it feels pretty amazing - in a slightly weird and a bit spaced out sort of way! It feels like something has stayed from Spirithorse - a kind of beautiful peacefulness - which is slightly in contrast to my life at the moment - which could be a bit stressful!

My sisters Jenny and Ann are walking the Camino de Santiago and left on Saturday - they will be away 6/7 weeks - which is something that they have both wanted to do for a very long time, so that is special and important - and it means that Fiona and I need to support our parents - my Dad is back in hospital - and very frail - and my Mum is on her own and feeling lonely and depressed.

.............. and I just feel amazingly happy! I don't know quite why - my Father is getting closer to dying and my Mum is having to look at her own mortality - something that she has got to the age of 91 without doing before - so that is a bit of a shock to her system - she is actually just not going there - old age and death are for other people!! She is looking really beautiful, and has a child-likeness which is also beautiful..... she has also got an insight which I don't  think that she realises. For example when I talked to her on the phone last night - she said 'Your Dad's not really in this world anymore.' And she is right - he is not really in this world anymore - he is just so tired and frail - but very wonderful and caring - always thinking about my Mum - worrying about her.

I am filling up with tears as I think of how my Mother put her hand on my Dad's  - trying to connect in the impersonal awkward reality of a hospital bed and visitors chair.... and my Dad asking if my Mum had eaten soup - he talked a lot about soup - comfort food - worrying - then drifting away..... he is very old and very tired........... but my Mum just continues, talking, wanting to go swimming, wanting to go out and do things, forgetting a lot of day to day details but still so full of energy....

Energy - I have just been dancing and feel so very alive, awash with energy, buzzing and electrified with energy - though it feels a very peaceful energy - a calm and gentle energy - just a lot of it!!!!!

Perhaps I have to feel this good to do what I have to do over the next few weeks - or maybe people like me just feel happy and joyful - because it is where we are... I don't know - I do know I can see the pain, the grief, the fear and the longing - I can see it in myself as well as in others - I recognise it - but it is the edge - the point where joy/grief exist together that we live on - we just have to accept that and then decide which one to live with!

It all feels a bit bonkers!!!

..... and it does! 

Being back in the real/unreal world has been pretty hard - have talked to others - so know I'm not alone - which is always such a good thing to know..... 

I do think a lot at the moment - about what I know/don't know .... and know - that I actually know - very, very little - but also know that this in itself is so very exciting!!! 

But also know - that the unknown that we live in - is becoming more and more 'unknown' - yet more and more OK.

So what does this mean - well I'm coming to terms with being me - this working woman, mother, daughter, the woman of this world, with all that this involves... which does at the moment feel pretty unreal - but also recognising that this is also OK!

Think I am finally coming back down to earth after weeks in Peru followed by Spirithorse... whatever that means!!!!!!

Bufff!!!!!!!!!!! But remarkably peaceful!

Have just got back from the Cauldron of Plenty - Spirithorse - and not certain where to start....... My last two Cauldrons have been swirling mixes of chaos and huge events - feeling the real edge of madness and sanity - plunging into the maelstrom - and it all taking my journey forward in huge giant sized leaps.

This year was totally different - really, really peaceful, a beautiful harmony of belonging and clarity.... great, great joy.... but above all the happiness of family (the village)... of belonging - of loving and being loved - joyful but also really purposeful........ and I wasn't alone in my feeling - it was different for all of us - the last few turbulent years.... from well before I went to the valley - had produced a beautiful bud of clear intention...... and we were glorious!

This blogg probably makes even less sense that the others! It is very difficult to put into words - where we have been - to a place which is so deep and profound - way, way beyond emotion - a clarity of understanding which comes from a meeting of open hearts, in a special place. My overwhelming feeling is one of sense of purpose and clarity - which is a really good way to start a new working year... and it does feel like a new year, a clear start.

So physically very tired, with good reason - living life to the full!!!  Now back home - my little spare room full of a drying bell tent and damp groundsheet etc -  thankfully not too damp as it did stop raining most of today - unlike the previous three days and nights!

Clarity, gratitude and bursting with joy - though knowing deep in my soul the duality of this - how blessed am I - Always Happy...........

Home and happy

... and it's very late and I should go to bed - but am wide awake and buzzing after a lovely evening of talking on the phone to special people.... friends and family..... and hanging embroidered Peruvian things on my walls..... and coming back to this life.... and smiling a lot!!!

Got back early evening yesterday and after driving to the shops, and looking around the streets where the disturbances were whilst I was away, I went out to catch up with Fernando who has been here for a couple of weeks whilst I was in Peru.... which was funny.... and working today which was a bit surreal...  and then on Thursday I go to Spirithorse... that feels very good.

I think I have a lot to 'process' after Peru - at the moment everything feels a bit like I'm living out of a suitcase - with a bit here and a bit there, but it also feels happy - which of course is crucially important!

So I am happy, feeling excited about a weekend in the beautiful Pennant valley with wonderful people... that's special.... can't help but say it - as it's over-whelming - how lucky am I?

Tengo suerte - and it is just so true - lucky - but also grateful for all the amazing blessings that this life has given me. Wow - three camels, a llama, an alpaca and a vicuna now decorate my hundred year old Turkish carpet - bonkers but beautiful - way to go!!!!

Being recognised - is so wonderful

A short blogg as on phone - wifi - in a hotel in Aquas Calientes - the town closest to Machu Picchu..... the technology of both then and now - is just - AWESOME.

I am in awe and wonderment after an extraordinary few days - I called this blogg 'being recognised' and I have been - and am - and the joy is that I - ME - is also beginning to recognise - what others do... I love these - it's all so obvious moments - when your whole body tingles with energy and it's all so clear - wonderfully joyous!!

Another day here - and a night in Cusco - then we're of to Lima - I am excited.........

working in Peru?

.... how extraordinary! Tomorrow, hopefully Rene will arrive here in Cusco - her journey delayed by a day - she will be knackered when she finally gets here. Jim and I had another extra-ordinary day - a train journey from Puno to here - a full day of richness - that seems to be the word to describe Peru - rich.......

The other day we saw many condors - 10 at one time - sweeping lazily above and below us - just beautiful and special - then a day of boats and islands on Lake Titicaca - and now I'm in one hotel and Jim somewhere else and tomorrow the conference starts..... and of course I met a man on the train who is also going to the conference - with children links to Croatia and France - he's Canadian - so I will know 2 people - but suspect that I will link with several more. Am very excited about this conference as I know it is important to me - but don't yet know why - but of course that will become clear in time.

So tomorrow I must work - whatever that means - and do it in Peru - buffffffff!!!!!!

Being blessed......

......and knowing it. Jim and I are now well into our travels in Peru - everyday a rich mixture of sights and people - an amazing country - its history visible in its people and its landscapes - both extra-ordinary..... just love it... even more special to be travelling with my beautiful youngest son......

Got an email from a Peruvian friend yesterday which said - te lo mereces - which I translated as - you deserve it - refering to my happiness - I feel overwhelmed with emotion - how can I deserve to be be so happy and so blessed?

I am blessed and I am extraordinarily happy - how rich is my life? I must appreciate and be grateful for every precious second........

Today a drive through herds of llamas and alpacas to colca canjon, hot volcanic springs and hopefully tomorrow condors...... wow wow wow - soy bendecida y llena de gratitud xxxxx

Peru.......

Had just had 2 most beautiful days in Lima - life is amazing - you just never know what is going to happen - in this journey called LIFE!

Jim due to join me tonight - then we will travel around this extraordinary country - but the learning is about myself of course - am so happy!!!!!!!!

Strangely restless...

It's Sunday evening and I have had a busy weekend - but also moments like now - when I don't have anything to do - so thought I'd write my blogg!

Am getting ready to go to Peru - very early Tuesday morning and as I'm dancing tomorrow night I am all packed - a day in advance - unheard of!!! I should really clean my flat but it's half seven at night and I just can't be bothered - it's OK - I have done it superficially! Don't need to cook as had huge lunch with my parents - they doing well - it was really lovely being with them - they were both content.... good feeling - happy for me and with me....

Went to the dancers beach party last night - didn't stay all night - but it was great to dance outdoors - haven't done that for a while - since Turkey - and it was just fabulous to dance on the sand and witness the tide coming right up - and seeing the sky darken and the clouds glow... and just being outside - I do live so much indoors. Don't have a garden any more - but I do see the sky all the time from my convertible car!!!!! Unless it's absolutely pouring with rain - I have the top off! But I did enjoy being outside so much last night - should probably do it more often -and am sure I will in the future.

It's really interesting not knowing what my future will be, where I will go, how my life will pan out.... I am certain that there is another man waiting for me in the future, another lovely man - but when I will meet him, or where is from - could be anytime and anywhere! How exciting!!!!! I love my blogg - I write things without thinking - and am now smiling at what I've written - I think my future, my new lovely man and the outdoors are all linked - but we will see what we will see - I have an open heart and am just very excited about my future.......

My immediate future is a very, very busy day at work....... I worked so hard last week - not going to finish everything I wanted to - but had a good go - my office is also a horrible mess - but hey it's a productive happy mess!! Then off to Peru - wow - wow - wow - how amazing is that - I'm going to Lima and will meet some university people and then I'm due to meet Jimmy on Friday - he's in Austen, Texas at the moment - then we will travel - islands, Nazca lines, lakes and condors..... then ending up in Cusco where we will meet Rene - as we are going to a conference together - we've just been talking - my Montana sister - then the three of us will go to Machu Picchu together.. ... so holiday and a bit of work - but what a huge privilege my life is - utterly amazing......... I have no idea how I have ended up so blessed???

Thinking about that is what I do a lot - I suppose it's chicken and egg - I am lucky and I am blessed - and I can love and I do love - and I was wonderfully loved by one special man for over 30 years - so ..... and I continue to be loved and to love ... and am happy - very happy - a sort of glowing happiness from the inside - as I said - how blessed am I?????

Still a bit restless - excited in a holding myself sort of way - hehehehe!!!!!!!!!

Porto.......

Waking up in Portugal....... It’s a beautiful sunny morning and I am in Porto – after a pretty whirlwind week – last Sunday I woke in Cairo in a ridiculously posh 5 star hotel in a country of contrast and revolution.... still with me strongly that experience.... so much to learn from the desire/will to change – palpable and forceful like an energy in the air.

Then a busy week of Liverpool and Leeds, Alex’s graduation – emotional and charged with lots of Chris moments and reflections.... wonderful to see Alex and Lara together starting their new lives together in France... a ‘couple with furniture’ was how my Mother described them........ busy, busy at work with moments of sadness and witness of how hard it is for so many people to be happy in this lifetime.

It has also been a week of trying to eat/not eat anything which my Egyptian tummy bug agrees/disagrees with - it hasn’t agreed with much – apple juice, bananas and dry toast – it seems to tolerate – and it has been a week of eating out and dinners!!

My time in Portugal has been lovely, my hosts have been wonderful and I have learnt a lot. I love to visit other university models and for the first time in my life I do feel I actually have knowledge about something. I can see with some clarity an overview of how children’s university type activities are not only delivered, operate and are funded etc and also am able to reflect on how these fit into the university and educational systems and the role of key players etc – to see behind these to the level of acceptance of ‘change’ and the movement of energy around change....... ..... suppose that’s what I do now – to see and reflect and then to ‘know’ ...... it is amazing to have some knowledge – as I don’t think I have ever really felt I ‘knew’ anything..... I can’t remember details of names, events or facts but I suppose I can listen and ask questions and get a strong feeling about things.... bufff and then I don’t think - I just ‘feel’ – go with my intuition..... love it – bonkers but wonderful!!!

So it’s Sunday morning and I have shall have a leisurely breakfast of apple juice, banana and toast, might be brave and have some scrambled eggs as well! Then I shall explore the city of Porto... I have visited several Faculties and seen quite a few bits of the city and surrounding area but I shall just wander and see what I shall see ..... how lucky am I?

where I am now....

...is Leeds, staying in a B&B with Alex and Lara as today he graduates as Dr Jenkins! His Dad would have been so proud of him. Chris would be very happy and proud of all three of his beautiful sons, they are truly wonderful young men.

I suppose it is on days like today that I reflect on Chris not being here...... but the amazing thing about Chris was he often didn't do things, because he couldn't walk that far, but he was always so beautifully accepting of that - he never had to actually see, to be at things...... to appreciate them. For example he didn't go to Alex's last graduation, he was here with us in Leeds but my Mum and Dad went to the actually ceremony - which was a unique and very special occasion for them. So like everything because he accepted and enjoyed what he was able to do..... others had an opportunity which they wouldn't have had.......

My learning with Chris was huge... because I wanted to do everything, to experience things first hand, where as he could gain huge pleasure by witnessing..... Special, special man - how lucky was I to have been his mate for so many,many years? I don't feel him with me very often these days, but I do feel his peace constantly. I also know that my ability now - to accept and to enjoy the small things in life - is something that he taught me...... my heart glows with love.

It's very early in the morning and my body is still a bit wobbly dealing with something I ate in Egypt..... these things take time - it's teaching me patience! I had an extraordinarily wonderful time in Egypt - working in alignement with people who are embracing change.......... and they embraced me as an agent of change....... Remarkable!!!!! And I went to the Pyramids and rode a camel and was very, very happy......

Today the graduation ceremony then to Portugal on Thursday.......wow, wow, wow....I live in a whirlwind - but loving every second of this blessing called LIFE..........