The Bliss of Great Travel Preparation

This week I am getting ready to leave for vacation. I’m packing my bags, getting my ducks all in a row, defining my intentions and emotionally preparing for a couple weeks on the road.

Preparation is an important part of any journey, whether it is an actual physical journey, or a journey of the heart. How we prepare for something sets the tone for how the experience will be for us.

Sometimes it’s OK not to prepare, to just be spontaneous and on the fly. But even that requires a certain level of preparation to be open to the flow of the experience.

How do you prepare for journey’s? Are you methodical or chaotic? Are you a list maker, or can you keep it all in your head? Do you ask for help, or try to do it all yourself?

Noticing how we engage in certain situations provides clues for how we might best show up in other circumstances. The area of preparation is ripe with possible insights.

Take a moment to consider how you might prepare for your next journey; whether it is traveling home to see the folks, embarking on a new exercise lifestyle, embracing the brilliance of your soul, building your business or learning how to slow down. What are the essentials you need to pack? Is there a new way to prepare that will support you better in arriving at your destination?

Me? I’m a list maker. And I lay out all my clothes on the bed, seeing how many I can mix and match to create numerous outfits with the least amount of clothing. I’ve learned over the years that I tend to wear the same favorite things the whole trip, so there is no need to bring my whole wardrobe. Books on the other hand…..well, let’s just say I always bring a few!

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” - Cesare Pavese

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber

“Not all those who wander are lost.” - J. R. R. Tolkien

(This post originally appeared in July 08, at gaiagirlmargie.gaia.com-since it applies so well to this week, I decided to take the easy road and not write a whole new article. Another trick for great travel preparation-decide what is really important and make it easy on yourself!)

Sustaining Long Term Relationships

You grew up together. You went to school together. You have known each other a long time and no-one knows you like they do. You met on vacation and have stayed friends ever since. You used to be partners a long time ago and now you are the best of friends.

We all have those special people in our lives; true friends we can’t imagine not being there, and that have been with us for a long time. What makes these relationships last longer, and others come and go so quickly?

This morning I was doing an interview with Sharon Michaels on Blogtalk radio (I’ll post it as soon as it goes live!) and I was talking about my work around encouraging sustainable lives, relationships and environments. It seems to me that sustainability needs to be looked at differently, from a broader perspective. As the world looks at planetary resources, and creating energy in environmentally sustainable ways, so to do we, as individuals, need to do the same. We must continuously ask ourselves-is what I am doing producing energy that is renewable, or is it depleting my resource?

Back to relationships. My theory is that those relationships that last and last are the ones that consistently and constantly provide renewable energy sources. They feed us in ways we need and want. They lift us up and hold us up. They provide the kind of energy that helps us to grow and learn and evolve. They give us that freedom to grow, and don’t abandon us when we need a little extra push in our lives. They’ve got a back up energy supply when our batteries are running low

Take a look at the special people in your life that have been there for awhile. Check out my theory and explore how those relationships give you energy. Now take a look at the ones that don’t feel so good, that maybe you need to let go of, or that you are hoping would go away on their own. What’s the difference?Do you have more relationships that produce energy, or more that deplete your energy? If the latter is true I encourage you to begin the process of letting go of these destructive dynamics that only serve to bring you down.

Speaking of long term relationships, I am in the midst of preparing to head up to Utah for my 30th High School reunion!! Hard to believe so much time has gone by. I am really excited about connecting with old friends, rediscovering classmates in ways I have not previously known them, and bringing my full authentic self to the table. It’s funny. As I communicate with some of them, most of whom I have not seen in years, it seems as if no time has really gone by. The essence of these amazingly gifted, smart, funny, and wild old classmates, and friends, is still the same. I feel the energy within myself build up as I imagine the way renewed connections will nurture, feed and inspire all of us. The fun factor alone will probably produce enough energy to fuel my car all the way back home!

While we don’t all stay in touch, all of the time, I know that this group of friends will regularly be a touchstone in my life, a place to come home to and a way to remember with great reverence where I have come from. They witnessed, and accepted me, as a naive, skinny, rural teenager from the East Coast, who was far from home and had no clue what she was stepping into for her senior year of High School. There is no doubt they will do the same for this just-a-little-bit-wiser, not-so-skinny, menopausal women, who knows that home is where your heart is.

Retreat Bliss

Hard to believe a whole week has already gone by since my last entry. Where does the time go? Sounds like it’s time for a home spa treatment to relax and unwind from the week.

Being a Retreat Coach it’s only natural that I strongly advocate the idea of retreating. Think beyond an expensive spa or long weekend retreat, although those are really great and certainly you are worth it as much as anyone! What I am thinking about is the concept of retreat as a way of life, as an attitude, a way of being. In other words, retreat can happen at anytime, in a variety of ways. All you have to do is recognize, and claim, that retreat is what you are doing.

A quiet moment in the garden. Closing your eyes at your desk for a few moments. A long hot bath. Time out in nature. Candle light. All these moments can be turned into a retreat that refreshes your mind, rejuvenates your spirit, and calms your heart.

I recently came across a great little book called “The Busy Women’s Home Spa Book” by Liz Wilde. Liz is also a Life Coach as well as a beauty, health and well-being writer. This book is fun, and easy to read. I got refreshed just looking through the pages at all the beautiful photographs that look so inviting!

She suggests that the rules are simple for what you could do every day that would make you feel-oh-so-good and what I would suggest is integrating the idea of retreat as a way of life. Your habits need to be: simple, give you energy and be things that you want to do! Easier said than done perhaps, and remember, you are in charge of your own life. Choosing to be relaxed, healthy and happy is up to you.

Here are some ideas for leading a retreat oriented life.

• Take time to find stillness and quiet every day, even if only for 5-15 minutes.
• Indulge in self massages
• Turn off your television
• Stretch and move your body
• Spend time in nature; reflecting, observing, just being
• Laugh often
• Get to bed early
• Eat healthy, organic foods
• Use candles and turn mundane events into special ones
• Take an “emotional health” day off from work
• Dance wildly in your living room to music you love

While all of these suggestions might look like every day activities, when you do them with the intention of retreat they become so much more.

As for me, I am going to get off this computer and go try Liz’s Easy Relaxing Face and Neck Massage recipe, before meeting friends for a silly game of miniature golf (laughing is essential!)

Celebrating Birthday’s

Today is my birthday. 48 years old.

First thought: Can that really be true?

Second thought: I don’t feel 48. (What exactly does 48 feel like?)

Third thought: Oh dear!

In some ways it feels just like any other day-except that I got tons of love messages on Facebook, a girlfriend arrived waving a bouquet of white tulips, I got a fabulous massage and taken out to lunch by another friend, and I’m being treated to dinner by my sweetie tonight.

However, the morning didn’t look like anything I anticipated, the things I most wanted to do got neglected, I’m yelling at myself for that chocolate brownie at lunch cause I have a super sugar hangover happening and feel like crap, and my to-do list didn’t get touched.

Of course this is a great opportunity to love myself unconditionally, practice letting go and embracing what is, and looking for the gift therein. After all, it’s my birthday, gifts are a part of it, yes?

Birthdays usually cause lots of reflection and renewed commitment to my goals for the year. Since my birthday is in mid May it”s perfect timing for that. But here is the truth. I don’t really feel like doing that today.

Today I just want to have fun. I want to be surrounded by all my friends and feel their warm hugs around me. I want buckets of laughter and tons of silliness. I want to skip and play. I want all my cares and concerns to go floating away. I want to feel free and unencumbered in my body. I want  be a kid again.

48 years. That’s a bit of time. I know I am entering into a profound and powerful period of my life. Actually, I am looking forward to it, and just the other day as I contemplated the arrival of this years birthday, I began to plan for my 50th (and a grand one it will be!). It’s just that it is really hard to believe that I am here already. Stop the ride, I want to get off for awhile!

I pause for a moment and gaze out the window. There is a delicious play of light filtering through green leaves, and the hummingbird is at the feeder. Colorful prayer flags on the fence flutter in the breeze while the sun catches a crystal and sends rainbows across the room.

Suddenly it occurs to me. I am 48 yrs young. Amazing! Wonderful! How lucky am I? I’ve still got 1/2 my life, at least, to live. When I am 100, (I’m planning on getting to 105) 48 will feel like a kid! So, what am I waiting for? It’s time to play!! And, it’s my birthday. I’m sending those cares and concerns packing, saying to hell with the to-do list, transforming this morning to a growth opportunity, and stepping deep into the gratitude for all the gifts in my life, especially for friends who show up waving flowers and give super loving massages.

Happy Birthday to me. Hold on, we got one amazing ride coming up!

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