"Smell the sea and feel the sky. Let your soul and spirit fly."

"Smell the sea and feel the sky. Let your soul and spirit fly." - Van Morrison

I've decided that I'm not quite ready to talk about the start of the new school year, so I'm returning to the blog with a short video with some of what I did this summer. I soaked in the beauty of a PNW beach, spent time with people who fill my heart and my soul. I ate, drank, and was merry. My soul and spirit flew. It was bliss. 💓💓💓

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“Let your curiosity be greater than your fear”. -Pema Chodron

I’ve made it to the last week of my service. Over the last few weeks, I’ve had people in different spaces asking me for my words of wisdom, one piece of advice, lessons learned, etc. In all honesty, I feel like I need time away from here to process and get to a point where I can better articulate any substantive insights. That said, this quote from Pema Chodron has been dancing around in my brain for some time. I am so grateful that I took this journey—even with all of its struggles and challenges. There were many times when I could have given in to fear—of the unknown, of a new place, of a new culture, of my ability to deal with what was in front of me—but I let curiosity guide me rather than the fear. I stand now on the other side filled with thanks, some relief, joy, and excitement. Let me share some of what’s been happening lately in this era of transition… In May, my entire cohort from across the Eastern Caribbean came back together for our...

“The most valuable thing we can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of room, not try to be or do anything whatever.” ― May Sarton

I’m writing this on the last day of our spring break. We had two weeks off, and for reasons that are a whole story in and of themselves, I couldn’t travel off island. So here I’ve been—all too aware of the last time I had so much time off of work and how I ended up in a not-so-awesome mental space. But this time was different—I made a very deliberate choice to engage in “conscious escapism”. Usually, escapism is a mechanism to avoid dealing with reality and the feelings associated with reality. Conscious escapism, in contrast, recognizes the feelings and emotions followed by temporary solace in your activities of choice. For me, that has meant that every day I’m still practicing mindfulness and meditation, but then I just sort of “checked out” for the majority of the day by watching telly or reading. I did spend some time working on projects for my return to PLU because I’ve missed that work and it nourishes me in a way that nothing here ...

"Remember this, that very little is needed to make a happy life" -Marcus Aurelius

This u pdate will feature some brief vingnettes from the past few weeks. Logos Hope is the " world's largest floating bookfair" and was docked in the southern part of the island for about two weeks in February. I got the chance to visit with the grade 5 students and I'm so glad for the chance to see it. The entire o peration is run by volunteers from around the world. Our students were convinced that I was related to all of the white peo ple that worked on the boat, LOL. Galentine's Day Lunch with Alexis was a real treat. We traveled to the north of the island where all the posh things are, LOL. The photo is our view of the marina during lunch. As I was on the bus home, I was very thankful for the time with my friend, the conversation, the food. But in all honesty, I also started thinking about how nice it will be when I return home and meeting a friend for lunch won't involve a ...

One Wild and Precious Life

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