The missing gift

I have looked under the sofa, and in the bed, around the TV and above the wardrobe… Still it eludes me like an invisible city fox.  The worst thing about it is, I have only just realised how precious it was....In the early hours of Sunday morning, 60 minutes went missing!

The absence of this lost hour leaves me with a pocketful of questions and a silver lining of sunny mornings and balmy nights ahead.

Time has a clever way of slipping by unnoticed if we turn our heads for too long. The truly amazing things we can do in those 3,600 seconds are mind-blowing. Everything can change in that moment. You can say ‘I love you!’, ‘Never again!’ and ‘I do!’

Possibilities fill every single minute and if we could just realise how fleeting time is, we would never waste any of it again, not a tiny drop.

Just think how rich life would be for us all if we let go of the past and future and lived for the now. That is where our power truly lies.

As with most things in life, nothing is ever really lost and I feel warmth inside to know that this absent hour is going to fly back to me in a few months time, carrying a gift of a second chance to make a difference.

Size 8

My favourite shoes are a well worn pair of red and white Converse All Star boots with matching double laces. I adore them. I wore them every day on tour in Italy and they have travelled with me thousands of miles like a trusted friend ever since. Sure they are a bit battered and the soles are slowly wearing down but despite walking on pavement, grass, carpet, glass, gravel, sand, steel and snow, they remain. Every inch of wear and tear seems to add a little more character than the day before. One of the bright red laces is shredded at the end following a vicious fight with an angry washing machine. They came out clean(ish) and still smiling at the memory of having once strolled along the Seine at dusk.

We take so many steps in this lifetime that it would be impossible to keep count. Sometimes they are so small they hardly make an imprint, steadily ambling along. And occasionally the strides are so incredibly colossal that we literally vault into a new chapter without so much as a glance behind.

Everyone wears their shoes differently and each pair has their own unique story to tell. Despite all the weight they carry on their journey, they never give up, steady in the knowledge that no one will ever be able to walk a mile in them better than their rightful owner.

Helping hands

At 2:45 pm it was all ok. People were going about their everyday lives. Contracts were being signed, washing was finishing a cycle to the sound of a daytime TV ‘wide show’ playing in the next room and the shop assistant was busily stocking the shelf with a brand new box of Kiri Mochi rice cakes.
In less than a minute life would be turned upside down...
We can go for days without speaking to a stranger preferring instead the conversation with a familiar face. It is easy for us to feel disconnected from the rest of the world....until this.
Even from 5996 miles away, the shockwaves of human despair can be felt beyond any measurable scale. And then something happens...Hands reach across an ocean and people stand to reveal compassionate, beating hearts. Suddenly the World becomes a much smaller place and we are reminded that we are all connected and we are all the same.
My love and thoughts go out to all those who have moved onto somewhere else and to those brave souls who remain.

“We must recognise that the suffering of one person or one nation is the suffering of humanity”
-The Dali Lama

Ripples

There is a time of day that sits just before the sun comes up and the city is still rubbing its eyes that I dedicate to me, just to me and no one else.

I love feeling the cool water rush over my body as I submerge my entire being and for the briefest of moments, vanish from sight like a Vegas illusionist. Everything becomes a muffled echo as I sink deeper into this chlorine scented world. Here under the surface everything feels safe as I am quickly emancipated from the demands and deadlines that hover just above the surface. Despite not having any air down here, I can, once again, breathe deeply.

Limbs moving in harmony to travel a length at a time, the rhythm induces an almost out of body experience allowing my mind to venture outside of its natural habitat and explore the boundaries of thoughts to come up with new, inventive ways of being. I am free and happy.

Life seems to be so full nowadays and it feels as if we never have enough time to do everything. Stress has become the new centre and tiredness is the new status symbol.

So many things demand our attention and the fear of not having ample time to reach our full potential is palpable.

It is so important to have our moment in the day where we can push the panic button on life and just sit in the stillness. Here we can truly listen to the inner voice. The voice that guides us and knows what is important.  The voice that knows we are always going to be ok.