Santa Barbara day one

so here i am. while i was flying to San Fransisco i realised how i slowly drift further and further away from Belgium..... Iceland-Canada-California-.... like a bird hopping from branch to branch, suddenly discovering the great height it's on. the thing is: if i'd keep on travelling the same direction, the same way.... it would bring me right back home! .... amazing. exploration and expansion into home.
i was happy to see the wrinkles in the skin of the earth again.... - once closer to the surface i recognised them as mountains. in a way this place has familiarities with my home in Iceland: mountains and sea - apart from this: no warm winds, no palm trees and beach vibes in the north. (well yes, beach vibes even in december in Iceland, for the brave ones.... i consider myself brave :-).)

conquering the Fortress America wasn't the easiest thing. i was thinking how remarquable it is that the 'New World' once, even not so long ago, welcomed so many different people from all over the world (or almost).... it's culture is even the fruit of it.... to turn nowadays in a place where the border people treat foreigners with suspicion and distrust. weird. both my words and my luggage got turned inside out. again and again. but i made it. i fought the battle.

so let's exchange my winter outfit for a summer one. i have been looking forward to the blossoming of spring, but i seem to have missed that part; i skipped a season in a matter of hours. flying from Toronto where the trees are still bare..... here they have a deep summer green as dresses! i realise my connection with spring, my birth season: its blossoming and flowers matches the fresh colours i love to wear and have around me.

ok, for now,
cheers,
S.

quiz!

so i have been wondering.....

my last six birthdays i celebrated chronologically in:

India

Belgium!

Denmark

Sweden

Finland

Iceland

so the question is, and i'm curious myself: where on earth will i turn 31?

guess and write me!

(you get a tip: it's happening on the 25th of next month, april, so a month from here, now, and about four months from the start of the Big Trip)

ps isn't it time for a tropical birthday?? (maybe South-America, Andrea?)

pps i had to do something to make you write me back ;-)

Sudden Move to the Sun

Dames en Heren, appels en peren................

de winter is terug in 't land maar dat kan me niet deren

(jaja, Ijslandse temperaturen)

because...

i'm flying to California on tuesday! Jippah!

I'm going to stay with a wonderful lady ~whom i haven't met yet~ in Santa Barbara,

and from there i will see

and from there i will fly

and from there i will hike and bike and say hi to the West of this continent.

A sudden though joyful decision.

Last year i wrote a paper for the Arts Academy in Iceland, talking about my love for water, especially the sea, and how i very often end up living close to the sea. Up till now this has been mostly the Atlantic Ocean, and a little bit of the Indian one. Now i will greet the Pacific.

I'll keep you posted.

Happy Eastern, Passover and all there is to celebrate.

x

Sarah

to travel, what's in a name

'A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving' (Lao Tzu)

Good morning everyone.
i just read this quote on a site i found by just hopping from one to the other, following the tread of inspiring words and views on life. isn't that the very same pattern of life itself..... like a drop of water carving its way through sand and earth and moss and stones, a journey of sinking in and surfacing.... so are we pulled forward by gravity and longing to move and be.... somewhere, somehow. i don't know if there is many more 'outlines' for what human life is 'supposed' to be...?

reading some of the above mentioned sites, i started connecting with my own fire, a desire to put in words what i have felt for such a long part of my life. i am very skilled in adapting myself. i remember, as a child, the sensation of observing how people act, and how i would naturally blend in with them.... which made it possible for me to be part of different groups without really belonging to just one. a cameleon-skill.
part of my life for the last years has been to let these different 'flows' of focus slowly converge, so i can gather myself in something like a river, with a more steady course. i am still pretty good in translating myself into well-known territory, adapting the picture of my inner experience into a language that is recognisable and 'fits in'. which is a skill again.

but now i see into my life and realise that i can be me. i don't have to effort to pour my substance into a well-known shape.

i'm a nomad in my very own way. my longing is for the Source. i have never known where i'm going but i learned how to walk by putting one foot after the other on the ground. i have no map but an inner resonance of subtle knowing is my compass. every question is a gate to new land, broader views and deeper experiences. what is it to be human, what is possible in a human life? i think that there are very very very few limits to who we are and what is possible. but the way is a slow way. even though we might travel with the speed of a rollercoaster, still it takes many years to make some small distance in the universe.

there seems to be a mainstream lifestyle, and alternative ways. but often i feel i fall even between the gaps of both. because the so-called alternatives are already some kind of agreed upon trails, they have some kinds of route marking and 'supposed to be's'. at least from where i am looking. walking without trail is the biggest relief for me. 'without' in the sense of: this is me, little drop of water carving my way, simply by surrendering to gravity and longing. to the deepest discovered layer of longing, in every moment. it's like mining: there is always deeper to go. i say simply because it's so simple, yet, i have felt that it takes a massive work and awareness of un-learning and longing to move. i have felt that, at least for some years during my twenties, i spent a lot of time on the un-learning of what i don't need. i feel that we're born with the major amount of potential that we really need as a human: creativity, awareness and motivation are maybe major skills to be fed and stimulated by our grown-up surroundings. it's like software development without stuffing the 'computer' with endless information on the way. let's add discernment, and connection. and off course there is practical skills to be learned.

i have felt for the last years that my home is where i am. so yes, i am travelling. but i'm living here. not to come, see and conquer. but because this is my place to be, blend, watch and take part. for now. i'm merely living. surfing Life, following Life, learning from Life.

i read in a Zen-book that we are just like a door in the universe. when we breathe, the door opens one way and then the other, over and over again. one way, the other. one way, the other.

moving slowly through the rabbit hole,
sincerely,
Sarah

ps let yourself be inspired. on http://www.soultravelers3.com/ you can find many links to similar sites of people shaping their lives in their own way. just like each of us.

love.

a beautiful little fairytale to see

http://www.infuzionweb.com/2008/12/12/you-deserve-to-smile

~ my fairytale has a castle, snakes and a prince, ladies and gentlemen;
it's playing day and night
in darkness and sunlight;
it's about a hero, a woman, even though we don't know yet if she is,
and her adventures in a far away country,
in dreams of wake and sleep.
she wonders about home
as she's fighting dragons in deep dark forests
even though the stars tell her to rest;
she's travelling many miles a day to find the grail;
she's a child and a queen,
she's
me ~
S