Do you have a feeling that your life would be better if only….fill in the blank?
Plants do best in certain soils, and so do we.
For years I had had dreams of west coasts and went on quests (literally!) to find this place that felt familiar. We drove holidayed in the Isle of Skye. We journeyed by train to Galicia in north west Spain and walked a self-created pilgrimage for 5 days. I have solo-camped on the Sligo coast in west of Ireland. You get the idea.
My life was going to be better when I lived in a smallholding with a view of the Atlantic.
Three years ago I attended a workshop given by Dr Sharon Blackie, author of If Women Rose Rooted and An Enchanted Life.
I nearly didn’t go. A very dear friend had died tragically a few days before. I knew I was in shock. But I also knew it was exactly the type of event we’d have gone to together, or at the very least talked about over a cuppa the week after. I gave myself permission to go along and participate lightly, even leave if it all felt too much.
It turned out to be an easy day to be there. The ‘turn to your partner and share’ activities were kept to a minimum. The participants were mainly women, mainly older than me and, like Dr Blackie herself, came across as reserved, gentle, introverted types.
The bit I remember about the day most was towards the end. We did an exercise, ‘if you were a landscape what would you be’? Mine was clear to me. A west-facing, Atlantic seaboard. A place where an Armada ship had sunk and crew had drowned. Rocks and beaches.
Contrary to my expectations of myself, I put up my hand when she asked if anyone would like to share. I told her how I felt in such a landscape. She looked at me and said,
‘There are only certain landscapes where we flourish, but for now bloom where you’re planted.’
I knew after this advice that it was time to get on with life right here, right now.
I have a view of a sea estuary from the room where I write – east coast not west but, hey, it’s the sea – an allotment and a veg garden.🙏🏼
I still holiday in those landscapes that I love: Mull’s up next in 2021. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll come across a ‘for sale’ sign on an eco house with a path down to the sea🤷🏻♀️😂.
For now though, let’s stop waiting for the ideal conditions to flourish, and bloom where we are planted.💐💐
Arlene x
arlenefl.com 