While I've been blessed in my life to see quite a bit of this big beautiful world we call home, I've still got a lifetime of traveling far and wide to look forward to!
And that has got to be one of my favorite outlooks in life - knowing while I'll try, it's likely impossible to exist in this heavenly realm long enough to see it all! This thought fuels my fire and yet provides such a steady peace and gratitude for my adventurous heart! I love reflecting on the beauty I've seen in the mountains of Italy, Switzerland, Yosemite and the peaceful stillness of remote destinations like Patagonia, Arizona and Truth or Consequences, New Mexico... while at the same time, I can look forward to experiencing the winter chills of Canada and the Arctic… the wild sands of Namibia, the Levant and the Middle East! Whatever gathering of culture and life experience I can receive in the time I have to walk this earth, I plan to spend as much of it as possible in the purity of nature and in the presence of extraordinary beings! I strive daily to be an explorer and holistic capturer of the Deep - to witness and connect with what it is to truly be ALIVE - not just through my own lens but also through the beauty existing around me!
But where are we going with this today?... Hmm... so of all the places I've been, my favorite so far is likely surprising… the Pacific Coast Highway... yes. The whole highway... and there are still parts of it I've yet to visit, but from the depths of my soul... I love the big blue! I have a few favorite spots along that beautiful stretch of coast - like Pigeon Point Lighthouse, Point Reyes, and Thor's Well (captured in that order below).
But my absolute favorite spot is one I'll forever keep to myself... because along with a physical space of exponential beauty, that area has been a spiritual retreat for me... one where I experienced some of the deepest healing of my life... freeing my mind of so much mental captivity, noise and clutter, just through the simple act of walking around and listening to the wind and the most powerful waves I've come to witness. They crashed into the earth so loudly that they literally drowned out my sorrows and internal screams, swallowed up my tears and pain, and led me on a journey toward a peace I'd never imagined I'd know... a peace that over time, I learned I didn't even need to hold onto because it was in the letting go, I finally received that true peace dwelt all around and through me... just like those waves…
For a while, I fought to keep it - peace- holding on so tightly, fearing letting it slip through my fingers would mean the end of my joy, my freedom… but soon enough, I came to see that fight to cling, kept me isolated rather than in true harmony with the Life around me. So soon, there came a need to try to let go… at least a little bit… to steady by finding balance, patience... Trust. This walk into letting go was blessed by experiencing the restful freedom of surrender… a moment when your fists unclench and your arms stretch out to the sides, maybe at first to steady… but then rather than tip, you are Carried even higher... all while remaining in a state of rest. And there is the truth… true peace cannot be carried… it Carries you... Walks with and Talks with you... and that Knowing that comes to Be... within you… that becomes… You and you Become... is peace. That surrender... is love, acceptance, Spirit, truth…
Freedom...
So now... this secret place... is with me everywhere, within me. Wherever I am... it's in my bones now. It steadily heals me from the inside out... a Radiance engulfs me and I have the power to Be peace, at all times.
So now... learning to simply Be... is the lesson at hand.
Question.
Have you ever been so far away from everyone and everything you've ever known, all on your own... in a space... in a time... where no one knows you and you can just reinvent yourself if you choose to? And honestly, somehow rather than choosing to reinvent yourself, you discover that you can instead get to know who you REALLY are... and just Be that... with nothing and no one to stop you... All the distractions and the preconceived notions... of his and her and that opinion on YOUR life... are just gone. Dead. And you... get to...
LIVE.
You...
...get to CHOOSE.
...to live, to walk and even glide gracefully around free as a bird... learning to fly for the first time... never having known such freedom... so now... this moment, is an unshakeable certainty... that you really are, beautiful... wonderful... creatively crafted and therefore capable and strong and...
Free.
That... is what the ocean has been to me... the physical manifestation of the purest and most authentic dwelling place conceivable... a dwelling Peace…
Heaven.
Such a simple journey... just heading north on Highway One... and yet heading everywhere I never knew I needed to venture in Life.
Forward.
So friend... now that you’re here… in this… Freedom with us, I'd like to take this moment to introduce you to a new craft we're working on.
If you didn't already know, over on our main Native Road blog page, if you scroll down to just above the first blog posts (on a desktop), you'll see a horizontal list of titles ("All Posts, Holistic & Minimal Lifestyle, Meditative Art, etc) and on this list if you hover over "More", a drop-down segment will expose a full list of categories for the blog. (For mobile users, this list is also available on the same page, in the green "The Author" section, below the bio - titled "Blog Categories")
These Categories are the different ever-unfolding stories of our lives, sights and gifts we’ve received, slices of heaven we experience on the road to freedom… all crafted into poetic, journalistic and meditative expressions. Our newest series (or category) is "a Travel Journal" where we will be sharing photo and video experiences that enable you to take one journey at a time with us on the Native Road! They also happen to be, for me, a place to visually revisit the beautiful moments my husband and I have shared on the road... though unspoken (as this series will be only visual storytelling) these images capture moments of deep holistic healing for me… for him… for us… They reveal places we've stood and at the same time battled emotional and spiritual demons of our pasts... and every day, in every place, have laid to rest another piece of the ancient victimized souls we once knew to be ourselves.
Yet Victory births great joy! And lasting PEACE has become our unfolding... our reality and ever dwelling Truth.
Forward... there is more and even Greater on the horizon!
Glory unimagined and unknown, unseen... and every new day, reveals a new story teaching us with great fervor that we are the Conquerers of our own lives! Each day we walk around heaven where we are the recipient of the throne we inherited from our Father... where we are the Light overcoming the darkness... leaving in our wake, fruit for those that feel left behind...
If you are one, like me, needing more Light to be shone upon you, be sure to scroll to the bottom of this page and #FollowTheNativeRoad! You'll see… and know… what that means when you get there!
God bless your journey!