192/365 Home. First Light.

Home. First light.

The winter sun shines on this photo { taken in Thailand a lifetime ago } by our front door each morning. Such a beautiful way to welcome the new day...

131/365 Through The Eyes Of A Child

I think this might be my favourite image from yesterday's rally.

This pure, resilient innocence is so beautiful. Look at those eyes. And that strength of character. May she never lose this awesome questioning spunkiness.

And the sister. So full of emotion.

Hoping their mama gets to see these images - I didn't catch her name but I'm sure someone in Byron recognises them!

127/365 Buddha Soul

Still lost in dreamy free-lens world...

Working on Myself | Lessons of Motherhood

Motherhood is a mirror.

Becoming and being a mother brings a dimension of personal need like no other. A need to face our own faults and flaws. Our deepest fears and our most repressed anger. Our silent hurt. 

It's hard to be responsible for another little person. No matter how much your heart bursts with love for them. We put our own needs behind those of this little person who needs us more than we could ever have imagined before motherhood arrived. They come to us so small and vulnerable. 

And then the day dawns when they are bigger and their bodies flow with energy and their intellect snaps with electricity and ideas. They run wild and free. 

And they don't climb into our beds every single night anymore. Instead, sometimes we climb into theirs to linger on soft nuzzles. And they don't need us to make every choice for them, though we might feel like we still want them to. 

In 1923 Kahlil Gibran wrote: 

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

More than 90 years later, as my own children grow older I can see the wisdom of Kahlil Gibran more clearly than ever. I have always admired this quote. But now I also see that although I am not their destiny I am implicit in their growth in a way that I maybe didn't understand until now...

That my own being, my own essence (no matter how hidden it is beneath layers and whether I know they are there or not) is creating energy and spinning threads that impact upon my children - and yes, my work, my family, my community - in a deep myriad of ways.

And so, I sit in the knowledge that I must continue to work on myself. In recognition of the subtleties and mirrors at work.

Breathe.

Heal.

Be honest with myself.

Embrace and let fall away.

I strive to be a good person. To be bold and brave, to act on my beliefs and stay strong even when I want to crumble. But still hold onto vulnerability and softness and compassion. To feel life and be life and at the same time to release.

These are big asks. It is a big journey. I hope I am woman enough.
Maybe you're on this journey too...? x

87/365 Om

Om Mani Padme Hum.

This was my late-night-realisation-that-I-hadn't-taken-a-photo save. 11:30pm. I rolled out of bed and picked up my camera with sleepy eyes, surveyed the darkened room for inspiration and quickly knew what it would be... the loveliest thing about being home - apart from being able to see your friends and family of course! - is having your favourite things around you. Travelling is so minimal, so spare, which is definitely one of it's joys but your home tells so many of your stories.

I could tell the stories about these two pieces. But it's almost that time again and my eyes are getting sleepy again and instead I want to share the Dalai Lama's translation of the infamous mantra. My own food for thought as I drift to sleep.

"It is very good to recite the mantra Om mani padme hum, but while you are doing it, you should be thinking on its meaning, for the meaning of the six syllables is great and vast …. The first, OM … symbolizes the practitioner’s impure body, speech, and mind; it also symbolizes the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha….
The path is indicated by the next four syllables. MANI, meaning jewel, symbolizes the … altruistic intention to become enlightened, compassionate and loving….
The two syllables, PADME, meaning lotus, symbolize wisdom….
Purity must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolized by the final syllable HUM, which indicates indivisibility….
Thus the six syllables, om mani padme hum, mean that in dependence on the practice of a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha…."

- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

x

20/365 Blessings

Offering blessings to the Gods. Ubud, Bali.

Blessed. Our final days with the Gyuto Monks of Tibet.

I don't have the words.

To do these sweetest of days justice.

Blessed. And to-be-forever-remembered.

So I am just going to let the photos speak. x

Wisdom

One of my latest-favourite bloggers, Mama-Om, has written yet another inspired post called The Path to Peace is Filled with Potholes (and I Lose My Way a Lot). Please read it if you have the time :)

{p.s. the image is my own, taken from a hot air balloon!}