Sunday 1 December 2013

Breathe

A cliff top walk to blow away the cobwebs, led down to Xlendi point. The salt pans waiting for the waves to do their stuff. I sat and watched for some time, feeling the spray on my face, aware that if I was too close I could be swept into the sea by the next big wave. It seemed the whole of life was on this point. After coming home I happened upon this piece below. How apt.

Suddenly, for whatever reason, while walking down a familiar path, you notice that the destination has become more important than the journey itself. Your urgency to reach the goal has pushed every precious step out of focus. You have been walking blindly, unconsciously, not really present to your walk, mesmerised by a future, disconnected and alone, walking down a familiar path.

The focus then shifts, from the imagined future scene of the movie of your life, to the present scene, here, now. From what is not present, to what is present. You feel your living body again, the thumping of your heart, the breath going in and out, the softness of the ground underneath your feet, the gentle breeze on your face; you hear the rustling of trees all around and the barking of dogs in the distance. You feel supported, again, connected to everything and everyone. Life has been exploding everywhere, but you were focused elsewhere, in some other time and place. You notice tension and tiredness all over your body, tightness in your shoulders and chest. You forgive yourself for neglecting yourself. You bring warm, loving presence to these neglected parts, and this allows the tension to relax and dissolve in its own time. You are relieved to be Home again, present to your walk. Your hopes and fears about the future pale in comparison to this immediacy, this aliveness.
You will get to your destination, perhaps. But right now, the walk is everything. Every step is reminding you how to live. Every breath is a little guru.
- Jeff Foster


Looking to Gibraltar ! some way off.


Looking to Libya.


The erosion caused by the sea reveals fossils and shells that had been hiding for millennium. Now waiting for a passer by to notice them.


A necklace of line and debris.


An intricate pattern evolves as weather washes away the sandstone from around what I guess is fossilised coral ??


A sea urchin shell emerging. Still held fast by the stone.


....and this carved into a massive boulder clinging to the edge of the cliff........Indeed.


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