A Love Note (From the Mountains of South Africa

Greetings from the mountains of South Africa.
I’m sending love from a late night evening.
Stargazing at a half moon with a river running and frogs making sounds.
Feet on the earth, breathing, appreciating, grateful for this moment.
Sinking in, 
Sinking into the breath,
Sinking into the body.
Sinking into this present moment 
and contemplating life and death and purpose.
Purpose for being here on this planet,
on this earth, 
at this moment in history. 
At some stage, 
We all ask ourselves, 
Why am I here? 
Why am I here? 
And what I hear is nature. 
The frogs, the river, the wind, my heartbeat. 
This body belongs to this earth. 
This body belongs to this earth. 
Someday it will return. 
For now, I walk above the earth. 
And someday I will dissolve into the earth. 
This body will return. 
All the atoms and elements will return to the soil.
So what I choose to do while I’m here,
Walking, breathing, dancing, singing,
What I do while I’m above the ground is a choice.
And when our choices are only to benefit ourselves,
it’s unnatural.
It’s not something that fully serves our being
or serves our higher purpose.
Each and every single one of us is unique, is special.
Each of us has our own sets of challenges and struggles.
And each of us has our own innate gifts, talents.
And when we try to be like others,
When we try to mimic or copy or walk and talk like others do,
We are not in alignment with our own naturalness.
And each and every single human being is unique.
We have a unique sound, 
we have a unique voice, 
Unique perspective, 
Unique experiences, 
Unique insights.
Do we give it space to grow?
Or do we try to be like others,
fitting in and not standing out, toeing the line?
Or do we dare to be different?
Do we dare to shine?
Do we dare to grow beyond what we have known,
what we have been told,
what we have been sold by society,
by the communities in which we were raised,
in the places that we grew, the places that we once grew? 
The beauty of this life is that we have feet and we can walk. 
We can move and change. 
Not like a tree who is rooted in one place
and who will live and die in that rooted place. 
We have feet to move, to step into the direction of more alignment, 
of more harmony, of more balance, of more resonance. 
I have heard it said and I’ve intuitively felt 
Before I even heard it said that humans are but walking trees.
These bodies are not ours to keep.
They are temporary.
But we can walk and we can move and we can step. 
We make choices in what we choose to believe 
and what we choose to do and what we choose to say and yes, there is conditioning and yes,
There is trauma and addictions and challenges we will face. 
But we do have a choice. 
When we slow down to take a breath, 
we give ourselves a little bit more space. 
We bring ourselves a little bit more into this present moment.
Now. Now. 
And now. 
In this moment, 
We can choose to move in any direction. 
Or if we can’t move our body for some reason,
in this moment, 
we can choose to put our mind on any different thought.
And while we think at times,
We do not have the power to choose our thoughts.
It’s only when we identify with our thoughts.
It’s only when we try to grasp and hold on to thoughts.
Many spiritual teachers say that thoughts 
are but passing clouds in the sky.
And we are not the clouds or the weather.
We are the vastness of the sky that holds it all.
So breathe. 
Bring your attention and your focus to your breath, to your body. 
And when inevitably, 
it gets called away by a thought or an impulse, 
know that you are training your mind
like you would train your body to be aligned with what you choose, 
what you desire, 
where you intend to place your foot, 
or your mind or your heart. 
It’s a choice. 
With our world filled with addictions and things that grab our attention, 
from notifications to apps to endless, 
endless scrolling and endless, 
endless screens, 
endless entertainment and sound and sights and smells that hijack our brains 
and our centers of dopamine 
and all kinds of foods and things that have been designed 
to grab our attention to where other people want them to be, 
to make them money or to make them powerful or to make them famous. 
The choice is yours, where you will put your attention. 
But you have to be aware of this body, this breath, 
this moment, and remind yourself that you are here for only a little while. 
Someday, this but your body will return to the earth. 
But until then, you get to live. 
You get to sing, you get to dance, you get to breathe. 
You get to do whatever you choose. 
And each choice has consequences. 
And each choice has lessons and growth points and challenges.
But do you commit to that journey? 
And when we can ask ourselves how we can use our gifts, 
how we can use our talents, 
how we can use our resources, 
from our time to our energy to our money, 
when we can remember that we came here with nothing and we will leave with nothing, 
Not even this body is ours to hold.
And we can ask ourselves, what do we do with what we have been given? 
What do we. 
What will we do? 
What will we choose to do with what we have been loaned?
Because it’s all temporary and all the fleeting gratification 
and pleasures that society and the media tries to sell us. 
They’re all but fleeting pleasures. 
True joy is found in places that only you know. 
For me, it might be different for you, 
but I’ve known the joy, the true, 
rooted joy of knowing the love of a dog, 
knowing the love of a child, 
knowing how it feels to love another human being, 
even regardless of the reciprocity or if they feel the same. 
I have known the joy of traveling to new lands 
and stepping into the unknown, 
the uncertain, 
taking brave steps to challenge what I thought I knew, 
to let go of what I thought I knew.

The joy of overcoming struggles,
struggles, challenges, hardships.
The joy of perseverance and moving in a direction,
of a dream, of a wish, and the joy of supporting someone else in theirs.
Some of the deepest joys have nothing to do with our own pleasure,
nothing to do with our own comfort,
nothing to do with our own gain.
I smile when I think of the joy,
the growth, 
the healing that I’ve seen in the lives of others,
where I have played perhaps a tiny, 
tiny role in their liberation and their growth. 
And them knowing that they are seen, understood, supported, 
that their life matters, and that they get to choose how they live their life. 
One moment and moment by moment, day by day.

Because each day we were stepping into the unknown
and learning to embrace each moment 
as it is without trying to change it or impose on it, 
brings a sense of trust, of curiosity, of adventure. 
I’ve heard it said that we need to stop looking for our purpose 
and choose to serve a purpose. 
That doesn’t mean that we have to work for an NGO 
or start a charity or give away all our money and live as a hermit, 
but in you, within you. 
Who you are is special, 
and you have specific skills and talents and gifts, 
experience that gives you a unique perspective, 
a unique way in which to reach people and to serve people, 
maybe even in the most, 
smallest and tiniest ways, 
and maybe only in the way that you live 
and the way that you choose to live 
and you choose to be with other people. 
I’ve known people at the gas station
or the petrol station or the grocery store to give me a smile 
or to be kind and change my entire day 
and remember them for sometimes years. 
We have lasting impacts on people, 
and none of us are perfect. 
We make mistakes. 
I make mistakes, 
or at least my brain says I do, 
or behaves in ways that maybe I’m not always proud of, 
or sometimes later I might regret or wish I could do over. 
And the past is the past. 
I can repair it if I can. 
Or I can forgive myself and forgive others 
who are also just doing what they knew how 
as best they could in that moment. 
So many are responding from pain and trauma and addiction. 
And the best they can may not seem the best they can. 
But can we let the past be the past? 
Know and acknowledge how it has impacted us or how our actions have impacted others? 
And know that we have a choice in this moment 
to step forward as we see fit. 
And when we carry resentment 
and we carry unforgiveness in our hearts, 
it’s understandable when there’s been a lot of pain 
and a lot of hurt. 
It’s not to sound cliche, 
but it is like carrying rocks around with us. 
Life feels heavy and dense and difficult. 
And so when I catch myself feeling frustrated or angry
or falling back into a mental loop or a story 
of how somebody treated me in a way I found to be disrespectful
or unkind or hurtful, can acknowledge it. 
And I can choose not to stay in that state or generate that state. 
Because sometimes I’ll retell a story 
and I’m just regenerating that feeling of anger 
and frustration and resentment. 
And that does not feel good. 
Because I could have spent that moment in joy and playfulness, 
in creativity, 
in creating the new. 
And it’s not a judgment on myself, 
because I’m experiencing what I’m experiencing. 
And I can also choose where I put my attention, 
where I put my energy, 
where I focus my words 
and my mind and my thoughts. 
I choose more and more, 
I desire more and more. 
And I’m choosing more and more 
to want 
to experience 
new things, 
new experiences, vision, 
and walk in the direction of those visions. 
To be playful and adventurous and creative. 
And I want to invite you to do the same. 
When you feel stuck and when you feel trapped
and when you feel hopeless or helpless, 
take a breath and listen to the sounds 
that you can hear around you. 
Nature sounds for me are so pleasant. 
And when I’m in the towns or the cities, 
it really bothers me hearing really loud cars 
or construction things that are really jarring to the nervous system. 
And I’m trying to also just notice I can hear. 
I’m grateful for my hearing, 
to be grateful, 
to just be alive and make choices based on there how I choose to move.
 It’s all a choice. 
And when we believe it’s not a choice, 
we’re stuck in a pattern of belief, of hopelessness and helplessness, 
pain or victimization. 
And only we can liberate ourselves. 
Only you can liberate yourself. 
Only I can liberate myself. 
Sure we can cheer each other on and celebrate each other but you don’t need to. 
You don’t need someone to come and save you and rescue you. 
You can stand and shine as a lighthouse for yourself and for others. 
I heard it said that just shine as and stand as a lighthouse. 
We don’t need to dive into the ocean to try and save and rescue people. 
In fact that’s not going to help anyone. 
It’s going to make it worse. 
We don’t need to People please. 
We don’t need to save or rescue. 
We can just stand and shine. 
Not with ego, not with pride, 
Not with any kind of hierarchy or judgment 
or feeling better than but just shining who we are, 
Being our unique selves, 
Not needing anyone else’s validation or praise or compliments, 
Just knowing in ourselves that we are living authentically authentic 
To ourselves as best we can. 
And as we continue to grow and learn 
We flower more and more in our authenticity, 
In our creativity, 
In our love.