Postcards from Peru
Home again. Hopefully normal blog service will resume shortly, but in the meantime, here’s a little something from my travels…
In the greenhouse at the Girl’s Home where I was volunteering, trying to teach food growing skills.
Cusco, home base for my month-long stay.
In the hills above Cusco, learning about Peru, her people and culture.
Stumbling across human history in the spectacular landscape of the Sacred Valley in Pisac.
It was a very intense trip, challenging on many levels. It’s given me a whole lot to think about, but for now I need to focus on unpacking and getting my life back in order here in Hobart.
Meanwhile, how have you been?
Weekend photo zen: priorities
Derwent Estuary, Hobart, Tasmania
Tell the people who matter how you feel.
(I have some phone calls to make)
Weekend photo zen: wild
North-western Tasmania, Tarkine region
Make yourself time to be wild and free.
Weekend photo zen: begin
Somewhere on the Tasmanian east coast
Don’t just dream it, do it.
Take that first step today and keep on the journey.
Create your own footprints.
Weekend photo zen: clarity
Laguna Cejar, Salar de Atacama, Chile
Reflect a while on who you are versus who you want to become, then find the path you must travel.
Acknowledging your faults will help you to master them.
***
I will be at the Hobart Sustainable Living Festival this weekend. If you spot me, come and say hi!
Weekend photo zen: explore
The end of the road, Tasmanian highlands
Never stop exploring, even in your own backyard. There is always something new to discover, both within and without.
Find out where that road leads.
Weekend photo zen: acceptance
Sunrise at Machu Picchu, Peru.
No matter how dark it may get, the world remains a beautiful and amazing place
(it’s been a rough news kind of week)
Weekend Photo Zen: shoot for the sun
Atacama Desert, Chile
Don’t be afraid to shoot for the sun. After all, it’s the closest star to aim for.
Welcome back photo zen: Lares, Peru
Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!
The shape of things right now
South Cape walk, Bruny Island, Tasmania
I’ve been making the most of my sabbatical, but now spring is here. Hello!
Weekend photo zen: Pedder
Lake Pedder in winter, Tasmania
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
― John Steinbeck
Finding my happy place
Do you have a happy place? Somewhere you can go when the world gets too much, a place to re-charge and reconnect?
I do, and I’m lucky that my very special place is practically on my doorstep. It’s one of the reasons I love Hobart so much and am loath to consider leaving. My happy place is Mt. Wellington, the dolerite peak that makes this little city so unmistakable. Hobart folds itself around the Mountain’s flanks, seeking shelter from the westerly gales that batter this latitude and drinking from the many creeks and rivulets that drip their way down the slopes and run through the gullies. The Mountain’s unmistakable silhouette can be seen from most every part of this little city, watching over the lives below.
Wellington is special, and not just because it’s an ecological treasure-trove (A Gondwanaland remnant, with wet and dry sclerophyll forest, temperate rainforest, stunted alpine woodlands and alpine heath-lands, it’s incredibly diverse). There’s a power to the place; a deep, quiet presence that sinks into you and reminds you that the world is so much bigger and older than your little griefs and anxieties.
I like nothing better than to lose myself in solitude for hours on one of the many trails that criss-cross the Mountain’s peaks and valleys. After a year of walking on the Mountain most weekends there are still dozens of new trails awaiting exploration, plus old favourites to re-visit and experience in different seasons. In autumn the rainforest is full of fungi in a riot of shapes and colours. In winter the summit may be dusted in snow and the woodlands wreathed in mists. In spring tiny wildflowers sprout unexpectedly from rocky crevasses, tiny jewels in a harsh landscape. In summer the views stretch out forever and every inch of Mountain hums with life… There are hidden waterfalls, arresting outlooks, vast alpine plains and craggy peaks to climb.
Wellington is the wilderness on my doorstep, and it calls to my soul. Every hour spent walking the slopes is time well spent, restoring my spirit and reminding me why these wild places matter. That’s what is so important about preserving pockets of wilderness: these spaces nourish us and help to keep us connected to the ecosystems we rely on. Wild places teach us how to be alone, how to reach the sacred inside ourselves and how to reconnect with our environments. My Mountain, it is love.
Where is your happy place? Where do you go to get away from it all? Does the wilderness call you, or are you refreshed by city life or the sea instead? What makes a place truly special to you?
…and if you ever want a walk on my Mountain, you only have to ask.
Weekend Photo Zen: Wineglass Bay
Wineglass Bay, Freycinet National Park, Tasmania.
My greatest ambition is to just be a good man. To be better than I was yesterday. To do no harm. To give more than I take. To never strive for perfection but to try to live and love more perfectly. Being a good man to my family, my friends and to my community is the greatest ambition I can dream of.
Seeking balance
Balance is an essential quality of living sustainably: prioritising activities and accepting limitations to reach your goals and avoid the pitfalls of over-commitment, burn-out and apathy. Balance is critical in managing our time, resources and health, maintaining momentum and juggling competing demands. It’s so damn important, and I’ve been so bad at it.
I may have the best of intentions, but I over-promise and under-deliver. I take on too many commitments, throwing myself into activities without allocating time to rest, relax and nourish myself. I lose sight of the big picture, expending too much energy on small stuff or prioritising things that really could wait. Depressingly, I still get sucked into the time-wasting void of the internet. I say yes too readily and I never, ever get enough sleep.
It’s a familiar pattern: procrastinate and fall behind then go into manic over-drive, or over-estimate what I can do in a given amount of time and run around like a mad thing trying to keep my promises until eventually the mind or body cracks under the pressure and I succumb to sickness or anxiety. It’s the habit of a lifetime but it has become a problem: it’s clearly unsustainable.
Experience and expert advice has taught me that I need structure and routine to help me find balance, though routine doesn’t come easily to me. The last six months have seen the routine I worked so hard to establish disintegrate completely due to housemate dramas, injuries, illness and a period of rapid change and uncertainty. It hasn’t been good for me!
Now I’m living on my own and starting to settle into the Cottage it’s time to work on establishing new routines and seeking that elusive balance.
A grand autumnal day out! A trip to Mt. Field National Park with my camera and a very good friend.
I’ve been pushing so hard to get this place set up and the House of the Gumtrees ready for final inspection (not helped by my housework-shy and occasionally stupid ex-housemate) I haven’t been setting aside time for me, winding up tired, cranky and no fun to be around. After having a minor meltdown last week over a dodgy oven I realised I was long over-due for a break to re-charge and relax. Despite my seemingly endless to-do list I took some time out last weekend to look after myself, heading out to Mt. Field National Park with a good friend for some quality time in the forest.
It was just what I needed, helping me to clear my head and re-evaluate my priorities. I still have just as much to get done, but now I have a much better idea of how to do it. And the best part? We were lucky enough to find a protected pocket of fagus up there, still blazing with colour. *happy face*
The very last of the fagus for 2012.
Of course I’m going to keep struggling with balance. It’s going to take me a long time and a lot of conscious effort to learn to walk that fine line between effectiveness and burn-out, but establishing a basic routine and prioritising sleep and forest time is a positive first step. I have no doubt I’ll mess it up many more times, but the important thing is to keep learning and working towards finding that blissful state of equilibrium.
If I’m to build the life I want to live I need to find balance.
How do you maintain balance in your life?
Weekend Photo Zen: Tamar Estuary
Tamar River, Launceston, Tasmania.
Find time to stop, reflect and be amazed by where you find yourself.
(I need to take my own advice.)
P.S. I have home internet access again! Hopefully regular posting will resume next week.
Weekend photo zen: winter
Frost on buttongrass, Cradle Mountain National Park, Tasmania.
Consider the gifts each season brings: winter’s coming, with her frosty beauty and steaming breath.
Weekend Photo Zen – Calvert’s Beach
Dunes, Calvert’s Beach, South Arm, Tasmania.
How much richer we are for the times that we feel blue. Time in the shadows shows us how much life shines.
