Crashing into Penzance promenade.

No, not a car, the sea...

Good morning cyberspace. Up bright and early today to begin a dedicated forty day routine of practice, joining with people across the globe in the Winter Feast for the Soul. Lots of people will be meditating or doing spiritual practice, including 4 minutes a day for kids, each day. I'm hoping that putting my energy into this time will give me a good foundation for my practice the rest of the year and also that along with other people's intention I might help to bring more peace into others' lives and my own.

A rainy, misty morning with some intense waves crashing against the prom. I'm going down to co-op in a sec to get The Cornishman (hopefully he wont get me back) to see if there's any new jobs and check the classifieds for a new mountain/road bike. My last one was stolen from the bottom of Causeway Head, which was nice. I'm getting some waterproofs and gloves to do some flower picking near Long Rock next week if it's on.

On the topic of waves, I thought I would post the lyrics from the last song I wrote, 'Waves'. Written when winter was just taking over from autumn, just over a year ago. It hasn't got a lot to it without the music, but you should get the gist.

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Say hello to the trees
They are here for you
Feel the warmth of the winter breeze
It knows you

I saw the last leaves fall to the ground
And the earth welcoming
I heard the last cry of the night owl
As she spread her wings

The waves will come
And wash away autumn tears

Openness

My friend asked me what I think openness means to me, which I found difficult to think about at first. I eventually decided to write her a response and thought I would share it on here. It would be good to hear any thoughts you have!

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I think openness comes almost as an effect of being less attached to "the story"; past or possible future interpretations or holdings of how things are, outcomes or feelings and emotions that come with a particular subject. When we are not clouded by these things we can think, act, express and be with more reality and integrity. And sometimes openness might mean acting against the norm or rejecting certain boundaries/constraints in the form of society's neatly woven tapestry of conformities, formalities, concepts or expectations that we abide by or we're concerned about. This 'tapestry' can be one of the bricks to the wall that the ego builds to protect itself.

Mystery is presented to us in every moment. It's possible that part of the human conditition is that we habitually with increasing intensity numb ourselves to this mystery. Recently I have been thinking about this and how opening to the mystery or to the present can support my life in so many ways. What is it like to imagine in this moment that I had just been born, to see my first colours, hear sounds etc? You don't need to go as far as that to experience mystery, but it's not far from reality. I think there is little difference between being born and the present moment being born. It is simply a new experience; a cloud formation we have never seen before; a chance to feel a pain from the past as not pain, or as a strange feeling. So in response to the mystery I am able to become less concerned about "what if...?!" and more inspired to be open, to be generous of myself and my 'contents' with others.

What I actually get out of being more open, I am just exploring. I feel it might build on a kind of certainty in self-expression, a trust in my own expression of being and experience. Now I'm started I could probably go on more, but I think I'll leave it there. If I get any lightbulbs I'll add them later.

A couple of new songs to check out: The Gardner by The Tallest Man On Earth (from Shallow Grave below) and Vetiver - The Swimming Song (A Loudon Wainwright cover from Thing of The Past) but I couldn't find that online!

You've got to pick an olive or two.

Hello,

I'm not going to bother writing anything much this evening. I'm going to have a bit of rich cake in a minute as I left it a bit late last night! And an early start tomorrow.
Got out on the nets today (olive nets that is). Nice weather all day, enjoyed the picking and we filled 10 sacks that's apparently a bit of a record for them. Anyway a good day, forecast tomorrow not so good but we'll see.

I'll just write some stuff when I find a bit of time. And, by the way, I'm not just going to be droning out stuff about my day, etc all the time. I have got a load of stuff to talk about and discuss that I think about and write about often. The subjects and "insights" of my meditation day to day. The main thing is that if I throw a load of stuff up here then there is a chance, perhaps that someone may find a bit of it interesting/inspiring/whatever.

It feels important to lay bare things that are personal as a way of working on [in myself] and promoting [to other people] more of an openness with people, myself and to life - however abstract that might sound. I know that if I don't just share that kind of stuff and see what happens, I can't tell what possibilities will be hindered from developing!

So, cheers for now.

Καληνύχτα

When I know I've got so much to say

and I'm almost kicking myself,

but the mind is blank, the page is blank and my internet blog is ........

what else can I do but just

write something?

I landed in Athens on Thursday eve, before which flight I was sitting at Gatwick in a skimpy easyJet plane for around seven hours aside what was supposedly an "icey runway". I'm now in Harakopio, nr Kalamata staying with two local residents - Mick (my dad) and Gill (my step-mother). I'm hoping to start a bit of work experience tomorrow picking some olives, if the weather is better. We fitted in a half day taster helping a friend on Saturday, which was good. Whacking branches with sticks and all that.

Weather here is amazing. It's better than this year's summer in Cornwall, if you could call it that. There is a bit of rain and it gets cold at night, but most of the time it's bright and nice. It is kind of disorientating - I feel like I've time-travelled the seasons. I'm hoping to actually get in the sea later in the week, in mid-December!

So, to get you up to speed on the rest of my life (there's not much to say, don't worry)... I'll be looking for more work (preferably labouring) when I return to Cornwall (home) before or in the new year. Save enough to venture somewhere else for a bit and gain some more gardening/agric. experience, maybe wwoof-ing or kibbutz-ing or someth-ing. Then I plan to apply for a horticulture course, which could be one of two (FDScHorts or HNC Hort) at Duchy college, or somewhere else altogether that I'm yet to find.

After a short meditate I've decided I can talk more tomorrow. I'm tired and tea and cake awaits; interesting Greek cake. So, without formatting, spell check or any of my usual perfectionist tendencies, there you have it - my first post.

Good night