Are you living in the place you belong, with the people you love, doing the right work, on purpose?
A (loaded) question that was asked at the evening presentation form a workshop facilitator here at Hollyhock who is running a multiday series titled "Repacking Your Bags: Lightening your load for the good life". A really very interesting slew of thoughts and ideas and conversations have been coming up for me over this past first week since I arrived at Hollyhock...
But wait, let's back up some days. Amazing time I had riding the bus across Canada, stopping and visiting with friends en route. Culminating with bright sunny days spent cycling, swimming and eating my way around Vancouver with three familiar faces from my Ottawa days last summer. As far as cities go, Vancouver gets me. Something about it fits like a real good pair of Birkenstocks.
Next I rode my bicycle all loaded up once again to Horseshoe bay, where I ferried my way across to Nanaimo, and was greeted by two super special Otesha friends who have been working real hard at their newly opened community bike shop: Hub City Cycles. I was so excited for them, and to see that indeed the bike co-op is becoming quite a hub in Nanaimo. After some great harvest soup, a walking tour of town and even a race around town on two wheels and down a waterslide or two, I soundly slept and woke early to ride 120km to Courtenay. Here I was greeted by both a friendly bicycle cafe as well a friendly cyclist herself, whom I was so graciously hosted by. We had an absolutely delicious dinner as we chatted about bicycle coalitions, touring and environmentalism. My new friend even rode me out of town the next day en route to Campbell River, the ferry port which would take me to Quadra island, and further on to Cortes the next day. I had one more wonderful stay with super generous people, from whom I loved hearing about adventures in homeschooling, bicycling in Mexico, life on small town Quadra island, and crafting and selling their handmade bicycles (Click here to see more about their company).
Alas, October 1 came, and as a new month started, it was time for me to cycle home for the next month: Hollyhock education and retreat centre on Cortes Island. After some steep island hills and a bit of warm rain, some momentary confusion about why I'd chosen to come so far for something so unknown, oh, and a lot of almond butter, I arrived. And as soon as I met Andria, the volunteer coordinator, and she embraced me in a big hug, I felt that I had come to the right spot, purposefully, at the correct time. As I was set free to explore the property for the next few hours, and I saw the ocean, the unlimited tea bar, the hot tubs, the beautiful kitchen, the garden, I continued to feel at ease with my choice to come here. I met my fellow volunteers: 8 of us all bunking down in the same big house, all coming to Hollyhock from our own worlds, varying in age between 22-60. Each person is so interesting and we've been sharing really meaningful interesting conversations about the experience of life. I've been asked tough questions and having my eyes opened bigger and wider.
Besides all that I have been swimming in the invigorating sea, went on a couple hikes-one where I was bombarded and stung by wasps multiple times, I've cycled up and down the Cortesian hills, been to the Cortes Island market, made a local friend or two, I've stargazed and wandered in the garden, played frisbee and soaked in the hot tubs, meditated and practiced yoga, eaten so much delicious food; oh, and done lots of dishes, chopped some veggies, cleaned many rooms, and made many a pot of coffee and tea.
Gratitude has been filling me up this past week, and it seems fitting since it is the time where many folks give thanks for the harvest, for the gift of love and life. I feel very lucky to be in this place of extraordinary abundance, where I can pick apples from trees, walk into the woods in ten steps, fill my belly full of nutritious food at each meal, go within myself, and feel supported doing so, connect and learn from new friends, and be happy doing karma yoga through labour.
As I return to the theme that I started with in this blog post about realizing your life purpose, a theme which I am sure I will continue to come back to time and time again over the next weeks, and a theme many people come to Hollyhock to explore the idea of, I offer you another quote that fits so well within my life at the moment:
Besides all that I have been swimming in the invigorating sea, went on a couple hikes-one where I was bombarded and stung by wasps multiple times, I've cycled up and down the Cortesian hills, been to the Cortes Island market, made a local friend or two, I've stargazed and wandered in the garden, played frisbee and soaked in the hot tubs, meditated and practiced yoga, eaten so much delicious food; oh, and done lots of dishes, chopped some veggies, cleaned many rooms, and made many a pot of coffee and tea.
Gratitude has been filling me up this past week, and it seems fitting since it is the time where many folks give thanks for the harvest, for the gift of love and life. I feel very lucky to be in this place of extraordinary abundance, where I can pick apples from trees, walk into the woods in ten steps, fill my belly full of nutritious food at each meal, go within myself, and feel supported doing so, connect and learn from new friends, and be happy doing karma yoga through labour.
As I return to the theme that I started with in this blog post about realizing your life purpose, a theme which I am sure I will continue to come back to time and time again over the next weeks, and a theme many people come to Hollyhock to explore the idea of, I offer you another quote that fits so well within my life at the moment:
"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day" EB White
2 comments:
Hey Kayla! I always enjoy your blog posts, very thoughtful. I read a book recently that dovetails nicely with this one: A Guide to the Good Life, by (William?) Irvine. It's about the Stoic school of philosophy specifically and more broadly about philosophy of life vs. philosophical theory and how we got to the kind of weird point where the latter thoroughly dominates. The
Stoics were really into character building and awareness that possessions are ephemeral but not automatically evil. Here's a decent blog post about the book: http://renewablewealth.com/articles/on-the-resurgence-of-stoicism/ Check it out once you're back in library land!
Neil, thanks for the comment!! I read the article, definitely resonates with me. I already practice negative visualization, and adversity too - helps keep my feet on the ground and offer gratitude often. Here at Hollyhock there's a pretty stellar little library, I've checked for Guide to the good life, no go, but there's another one on Stoicism that looks alright. Thanks for reading neil!
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