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| Sunrise on Malindi beach, Kenya |
Of course, I know that the sun is doing its breathtaking 'sunrise show' every second of every day somewhere on the planet and will do so until the curtains close on life itself. But when you wake and see this from your bedroom window, the awesome-drama and the dazzling splendour of the rise of the queen-of-the-heavens, you see it as if for the first time.
Yesterday, when we woke to this dawn view we were stunned into silence and simply reverted to involuntary responses like 'gosh' and 'amazing' - which were totally pathetic and excruciatingly inadequate in every way.
Then I remembered the time when I had been in a similar state of bewitched wonderment and adoration. It was back in 2009 when I travelled to India with my dear friends Caroline, Colin and Helen. Our travels brought us to the southern-most tip of the great country, at the sacred city of Kanyakumari. Here I was been hit by sun-stroke and Helen had nursed me through a grim night. I still felt rough and ragged when my intrepid pals rose to greet the dawn the next day but I decided to drag my limp body to the roof top of the hotel for this city morning ritual. When we arrived in the shallow light we looked around and saw many hundreds of human silhouettes on every available roof space and down on the beach....waiting....waiting for the birth of a new day. And, as the glory began to rise in the east we watched in sublime wonder and intense humility, not really understanding what we felt or what it meant for us.
I felt many emotions that day, as the sun rose to greet us, and one thought has stuck with me - in celebrating the dawn we are in effect celebrate the chance to start over anew each day. And that morning we blessed the dawn, we blessed each other and somehow felt fresh and clean and restored deep within.
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| Eddie shows me how to hold a sea urchin while it wriggles |
After the sun got settled yesterday, a head popped over the wall near where we were sitting meditating on the morning sky and a chirpy chap called Eddie offered to take us out through the shallows, using his local knowledge, to the reef (about half a mile out).
We agreed, for a small fee and headed off.
But it wasn't long before I started to feel anxious and thought, 'Heck, this isn't my thing at all. How do I get out of this excursion?'
My feet felt uber-sensitive and winced at every tiny piece of sharp coral and was alert to every tickle of foot-eating weed. Panic gently rose (my Cortisol button got activated).
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| Scary, pokey-thing!!!!!!! |
Then suddenly I heard Eddie's voice saying, ''Give me your hand. I know the way. Put on your flip-flops. Trust me". So I took his hand and followed at his side and leaned into him when the water got chest deep and trusted him. And along the way he showed me how to focus on the path ahead and find sea treasures like urchins and sea-cucumbers. And when he felt me gripping his hand hard, he sang....and I sang... and joy flooded my heart and I knew I was overcoming my fear.
And as I relaxed I lifted up my head and I saw that we were with the fishermen, who knew the oceans like no one else.... and one even found me the most unbelievable starfish....and I was in awe...again.
I realised, as we begun the long wade back to the shore, that my fear could so easily have denied me the joy of the trip to the reef and the opportunity to overcome my cortisol-rush... that was not needed. And I was reminded of the importance to stay Daring Greatly, in the little things and in the larger challenges of life.
'Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway' - John Wayne
'I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but triumph over it. The brave man/woman is not the one who doesn't feel fear, but he who conquers that fear' - Mandela
'Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go' - T.S Eliot
Namaste
-JB
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| Out on the reef with the fishermen - Malindi, Kenya |
