As I write this blog, I’m looking out my home office window. The sky is a lovely mixture of pale blue, white with predominant strokes of grey.  The clouds form a montage of pale hues. Below is the sea, a grey and very faint turquoise. The tide is halfway out.  There’s a calm about the weather today.  I heard on the news this morning we could be in for thunder and rain showers so I suppose this is the calm before the storm.

So different than yesterday’s sky.  I could see the coast of France clearly in the distance reminding me that I although live on a tiny island, Europe is at my doorstep and for that I am grateful.  J’adore my trips to France.

I remember an ex colleague of mine couldn’t understand why I liked living in Vancouver or San Francisco.  He said, “Everything is so far away from the West Coast!“ I thought it was such an odd statement because there was SO MUCH to the West Coast with easy reach to Hawaii, Mexico and the neighbouring Provinces or States depending upon what side of the 49^th parallel I was sitting.

But now because I live in the UK, I understand his perspective.  It’s a one-hour ferry ride to St. Malo, France.  From there I can hop a train east to Paris or south to Bordeaux or anywhere else in Europe that I fancy.  It’s a 35-minute flight from Jersey to London Gatwick and London is 30 minutes further by train.  Travel here is easy with a plethora of  destination choices.

I absolutely love the history and architecture on this side of the pond that I just didn’t see in my former life.  The house I first lived in when I moved to Jersey was older than Canada!  It’s funny; my step kids seem to prefer the modern architecture of Vancouver. Although I absolutely adore the mountains, forests, oceans and lakes of the Vancouver surround, I much prefer looking upon the parliament buildings of London, St. David’s cathedral in Rome, the Louvre in Paris, Schonbrunn Palace of Vienna….and I could go on, but you get the picture; modern architecture is not my thing.

My wanderlust doesn’t stop with Europe or the UK although I’m very excited to be visiting Edinburg, Scotland later this summer replete with its kilts and castles.  Being so close to London airports there is an enormous choice of city breaks within 1 or 2 hours.

There is indeed something to be learned and appreciated everywhere in the world I go.  It’s the experience of a destination that means the most to me – the people, their customs and language, their spiritual bent and even their humour. There are places that appreciate sarcasm and others who are offended by it.  Some people eat snails, insects and snakes. A lot of people don’t know who the prime minister of Canada is.

It comes down to our point of entry into this world and the conditioned perspective that grows from those circumstances.

My mom used to call me a gypsy because of my insatiable curiosity for the world and endless need to travel.   It is through travel and discovery that I learn the best.  It is through experience that we grow and I never want to stop growing.  I believe that I am an evolving soul so experiences are something I value greatly. I see too many people limiting their experience through fear and that saddens me because growth is the point.

And because I couldn’t say this any better, please allow me to quote Dr. Robert Anthony:

“Your number one priority in life is the EXPANSION OF YOUR AWARENESS.  By expanding your awareness, you will remove the “mistaken certainties” that have been keeping you from being the self-confident person you would like to be. You do this by:

Ceasing to automatically and arbitrarily defend your personal viewpoints of “right” and “wrong”.  Defending them keeps you in ignorance by blocking the reception of new ideas.”

Every client who has worked with me has heard me say, “Being right doesn’t count.” That little ditty is from my beloved mentor who has left this world.  I am so grateful for his lesson.

Righteousness, or the need to be right, I have learned stems from deep seated insecurity from my perspective.  Imposing one’s ‘right way of thinking’ often results in a breakdown of communication. It is truly a rapport breaker and the seed of conflict.

You may be right but it may be from a perspective that is not shared with others.

It’s not only our relations that suffer with defending our “rights” and “wrongs”, we also suffer because we’ve chosen to filter out so much of life around us.  We stamp out the wonder that we enjoyed as a child.

I remember me at 3. There were pansies in our garden. I thought they had faces so I spoke to them. Me and the pansies became great friends. I would spend hours with them happy as a lark.  I still smile every time I see the face of a pansy!

Is it time to get reacquainted with your wonder? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wod-MudLNPA