Spread your wings

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone, when the unknown becomes a better option than the known.

All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. Walt Disney  You have to take a leap of faith to realize the dream, and this is something that a lot of people aren’t willing to do. Ron Bramlett The challenging part is in the beginning. But I think the most important thing is to just do it. Start. Tom Szaky For He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life. Mohammad Ali

First, you leap, and then you grow wings. William Sloane Coffin

There is no going back.  Happy Trails Dylan

The times they are a changin

I like the night, without the night we would never see the stars. Stephanie Meyer

This week marked the passing and burial of HRM Queen Elizabeth. An icon, the like of which we will never see again in our lifetime. She exemplified stability, and lived a life of servant leadership guided by deeply embedded values of family and duty.  

Her passing combined with the hint of all quarantine measures for incoming passengers into HK being lifted soon is momentous. How fitting today is the fall equinox when day equals night. 

The metaphor of a circle symbolises the changing of seasons, stages of life, etc.  The opposite sides represent polarities such as dawn and dusk, birth and death and as the circle turns, (earth spins), we move from one stage to another. You can't control the perpetual forward momentum ..it is like a rollin stone.

Too often we fixate only on the light without appreciating the dark. Too often we try to control the passage of time without embracing the freedom of a few grey hairs or wrinkles.  

This week reflect on the polarities of your life, identify tension from when you hold on to habits and ways of being that may not serve you now.  Seek out the polarities and realise that Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony. Thomas Merton

Silver Anniversary

Outside the wind howls and the rain pummels the sidewalks as T3 batters our shores.

Today is the silver anniversary of the handover. Silver inspires reflection and helps release blocks.  Associated with Artemis, the Goddess of the moon, she illuminates the dark, knowing that Every cloud has a silver lining. John Milton

We all hope for the silver bullet to life after COVID. Silver purifies, heals and restores.  I invite you to turn to the light and reflect on the words of Robert Frost In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned in life. It goes on. Robert Frost

Ch ch ch changes

Change begins at the end of your comfort zone. Roy Bennett
 
Decades ago I broke a wrist in a dive boat driven by a madman. Since then I preferred sailing, rowing and motoring sedately.  Last weekend I completed my Royal Yachting Assoc Powerboat Level 2 training in a massive RIB with a 150 HP engine strapped onto the stern.  What was I thinking?
 
The last chapter of your life is yet to be written. Write the story you want to read. anon
 
Long ago I decided to live a full and conscious life. The opportunity presented itself, I rose to the challenge.  Was I scared? Duh. Was it a rush? OH YES!
 
As David Bowie says  
I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same

 It is up to us to Turn and face the strange

We know that the only constant in life is change and without change we can’t grow.
side. Once you begin, transformation follows.

Listen here to Ch ch ch changes by David Bowie

A time to turn inwards, to reflect

Every leaf speaks bliss to me fluttering from the autumn tree. E. Bronte

Today we celebrate the fall equinox, when the length of the day equals night. It signals the changing of seasons and turn inwards. We begin a time of darkness, of contemplation and of rest.

I invite you to reflect with gratitude and Find contentment by paying attention to what we already have. Anon Take a lesson from nature. Trees show us how lovely it is to get rid of old things. Anon And remember life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the air. FS Fitzgerald

Autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature. F. Nietzche.  Take this time to realign to your purpose and allow your inner light to shine as the sun recedes.

Listen to words penned 3000 years ago and brought to life by the Byrds, To every season turn turn turn…

When in doubt, change

We have no choice but to operate in a world shaped by globalisation and the information revolutions, there are two options: adapt or die. Andrew Grove
 
The power to change your life lies in the simplest of steps. Steve Maraboli
Recently we were gifted a second hand vacuum.  Until then I used a model my mother used, functional and bulky with a long extension cord.  Now, cordless, light and mobile. What once was a chore is a joy. 

The biggest part of the digital revolution is changing the way we think. Simeon Preston. Van Valen coined a hypothesis called Red Queen stating a species has to "run" or evolve constantly in order to stay in the same place, or go extinct. For me, change came accidentally, what about you?
 
Be only afraid only of standing still. Chinese Proverb

Lessons in the Clouds

Children spend hours lying on the grass gazing at the ever changing sky. Clouds float in the same pattern only once. Wayne Shorter.
Remember the excitement of identifying a shape and then watching it transform in seconds before anyone else could see it?

Clouds resemble thoughts.
Both change from one second to another. Mehmet Murat ildan

In yoga we understand the impermanence of life. Once we accept the inevitability of change we become like clouds.
They don’t overthink; they just drift. Avijeet Das
You are the sky, everything else is just the weather. Pema Chodron
This week I invite you to be fully present and take the advice of Gavin Pretor-Pinney
Having your head in the clouds, even for just a few minutes each day, is good for your mind, good for your body, and good for your soul.

Your sound track this week is Clouds by Zach Sobiech. Diagnosed with a rare form of cancer with months to live he chose to spend time with his family and compose songs. Inspired, last year Disney released a movie of his life by the same name.

Pivotal Moments

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. Neale Donald Walsch

As I was about to be led down the aisle the minister whispered in my ear ‘are you ready?’. Inside I screamed ‘You’re asking that…. now?’. Every step led me away from an old life and towards the unknown.

 There comes a moment in one’s life when you stop and think. What am I doing? That is the point where life changing decisions are made. AbhiShek Ranjan

This weekend eight gong CATalysts completed level 1 training. Congratulations for having the curiosity, courage and commitment to embrace change, to dive into the world of gongs where personal fulfilment, satisfaction and harmonic resonance lies. Go forth and play!

Our lives are a product of choices. Dr. Kathleen Hall  And for these students their lives will never be the same.

Inspired Sea

To find the pearls you have to venture out from shore. Anon.

In 1992 I established the Blue Water Company to sell my underwater photographs.   A confirmed thalassophile, I spent hours above, below or simply watching the ocean.  Lately I am Smell(ing) the sea, feel(ing) the sky, let(ting) your(my) soul fly. Van Morrison to find inspiration for the studio.

In 2005 W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne wrote Blue Ocean Strategy, using the metaphor of an ocean of limitless possibilities for what we have done in the past may not be relevant in the future.

This week I invite you To watch the water a man can learn so many things. Nicholas Sparks To invite change because Thanks to impermanence everything is possible. Thich Nhat Hanh. So that, As blue ocean water is a reflection of the sky, our actions are a reflection of our thoughts. Amal Gade.

You can’t stop the waves but you can learn to surf.  Jon Kabat Zin 

Blink and Turn the Page

In the blink of an eye, something happens by chance - when you least expect it - sets you on a course that you never planned, into a future you never imagined. Nicholas Sparks

With a blink of an eye we welcome the new year illuminated by a full moon.  The last decade is memorable for royal weddings, the rise and fall of regimes, presidents and terrorists, occupy movements, Brexit, unprecedented natural disasters, civil rights successes and failures and concluding with a global pandemic. (see lists here and here)

History is memory and memory is time, emotions, and song. History is the things that stay with you. Paul Beatty. We live within new paradigms and technology.  Our vocabulary grew, so did we -  challenges begat knowledge, adversity - creativity, strength - resilience.

Now is the time to turn the page, to turn over a new leaf. To make a fresh start by changing one's conduct or attitude for the better. Our lives are an open book filled with clean white sheets of paper waiting to be filled. The possibilities are endless. Joanne Fluke  So, Turn the page, and jump in. R. McWilliams  and let the next story begin. Suzanne Weyn

I've read the last page of the Bible, it's all going to turn out all right. Billy Graham