Love Letters

I recently found a box filled with love letters, love letters between my grandma and grandpa. They were married and within a week he was shipped off to boot camp in VA, then to Germany for the Korean War. The letters are amazing, the love that they shared via handwritten letters is beautiful.

"I sure do miss you darling..." he would write.

As this world of internet and social media overtakes all of our lives (seeing that I am "blogging"-a term surely foreign to my grandparents) I hope that we all take time to send a handwritten letter every now and then. If anything keep a handwritten journal, something that is tangible and can be held by generations that will prosper after we are long gone. I hope that one day someone will read my journal and laugh, snicker, and cry as the spells I cast in ink are brought to life, just as I have with those of my elders past.

Community

What builds community? What makes you feel as though you are a part of something? When was that moment of realization?

A Testimonial:

"I felt secure and safe, a feeling-in that particular time of my life-was exactly what I needed. I thought I was being hard and independent, that I could do anything. At the end of the day I felt the most at ease on my yoga mat, even with the unknown staring me down, I knew that I had support in the earth, my mat neighbors, and my yoga community. The best part... my yoga mat neighbors didn't even know the amount of support they were supplying (a testament that even if you feel tired and don't want to, for some odd reason, go to yoga class-your mat neighbors may need you there) Those "mat neighbors" will always be a part of my kula, they lent support during a very transformational time in my life.

So thank you to all of those unknown mat neighbors for sharing your energy."

Sending love to my kula... Who are your gurus?

www.k10yoga.com

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Wallpaper

"If these walls could talk..."
Often heard about old buildings and homes and those places that have a story. As I drove through downtown today I couldn't help but think of all the things that this old town has seen for the last few hundreds of years. Reminded me of our selves...


We all have a story. What if we were not afraid to let the walls of our body talk? What would yours say? Do you continue to plaster those walls with wallpaper and paint or are you willing to strip all of that down to reveal who and what you're truly made of in your most organic fashion>
Yoga and meditation can take us into those spaces so we can safely and with the support of our kula or community, get rid of that old wallpaper so we can live Now in the clean and new spaces of our lives.

Soul

Snoop dogg had soul plane, the south has soul food, there is the soul surfer, kia even has a soul crossover now but what really is soul? Is it a rhythm that shows up in music, is it an extraterrestrial being inside of our own bodies, is it just a car with a misleading name and how could any of those things end up in food?

I don't know the answers, but my thoughts indicate that there has to be a connection somewhere. Perhaps that is actually a clue, is soul a connectedness? Music connects people, the sea connects people, food connects people, cars connect people, and that drive inside each of us leads us to connect with people.

Just a thought for today... How are you connected? What connects you? What are you connected to?
A Little Song for you

Fly, Be Free

I want to be free, I want to fly, I want to follow my dreams and live... well I can honestly say that this weekend I was able to fulfill those things within my life. It was a crazy 4 days that I will remember forever. Complete with love, life, and spontaneous happenings.

From December 2011, I found this today. Let it be a reminder to always have your wings handy!

We are connected

Recently took a small hiatus and hopped a plane to Miami to meet up with my lovely friend and her family from the UK. I rented a car, we drove to Key West-stopping off along the way to eat chocolate chip pancakes, feed the tarpon, and kayak through the mangroves anxiously hoping to see the lady alligator but with no avail. Once in Key West I soaked up the culture of pirates, yankees, and cubans before directing the car in the ascending direction of mile markers. Then the massive storm it that threw me for a loop... whats this once beautifully scenic 7 mile bridge that now makes me feel like I am looking down the barrel of a shotgun... All I could see was black black and more black OH and when the lightening struck the water on both sides of the bridge I could see gray... and again yoga breaths come in handy! After way too many hours in the storm we made it back to the hotel and spent the next day relaxing on the beach to let go of the built up anxiety of such a drive.
I to soon had to embark on a return plane home, leaving my lovely new friends to aquaint with old ones back in NC. Time for my most favorite Barta Billfish Tournament 2012. It was a first for me to work the tournament as a non-resident, which meant I had a room at the trusty Inlet Inn (where growing up I sat on the balcony and told ghost stories with my dad of old scraggaly pirates that ran loose in the town) This was a whole new experience... to be just a few blocks away from where everything was happening was amazing. So after the event each night when we had our celebratory drinks I only had to walk a block and a half-genius!
The best part about this years tournament though was standing at the cocktail party standing amongst a group of people I have grown to love and adore more and more each and every year, hearing Tred Barta talk about living each moment to its fullest. To hear someone use those words and know know in your heart that you have been doing that is an amazing feeling. I hope that everyone gets to experience that feeling of elation at least once in their lives.

The entire week between Miami, Key West, and Beaufort held an amazing amount of humility and emotion for me. To connect with people who live far away but realizing they will always be close in my heart, and only a plane ride away is amazing. To know that I have truly lived the last year of my life is amazing. To connect with people I have known for years but to see them in a different light based on the previous years challenges and rewards is Amazing (with a capital a)

To have the eyes to see and the ears to hear when the sea whispers the intentions of life into your soul is a gift I always want to be in tune with. The sea has my heart. We are all connected.

Do

Where to go next, what to do next, what will I do?... Oh no, there it is, that word.
Do.

As I sit back and observe the battle of thoughts in my head where the left brain tries to logically work with my right brains creativity and the mish-mosh that sometimes happens in between (of which the balance to get me through a day is quite magical I must admit) Regardless... I am reminded of a little quote from one of my all time favorite movies, Across the Universe.

Dammit, Max! Get serious, for once! What are you going to DO with your life?

Why is it always what will I do? "What will he do", "What will he do", "Oh, my god what will he do", Do, do, do, do, do. Why isn't the issue who I am?

Because, Maxwell, what you do defines who you are.

No. Who you are defines what you do.


Thank you Max (right brain) for keeping Uncle Teddy (left brain) in line! ha
Anyway, my point being that life is not just something that you pass on through, for me life is something that takes some strategic effort... To let what you do be a representative of who you are... what if everyone that worked at some low end shit job let that represent who they are... okay so in some places this is the case but is that what you want to do with your life?

Express who you are, the rest will fall into place.