A Life Transformed: Ideas to live by

Hi there again happy readers,

Its been a while since I've been really present here at Mount Beauty Mama and it feels good to be back baby!

Our Mountain Mamas trip to New Zealand, which I wrote briefly about in my last post, has changed form in my soul over the last 10 days or so since we've returned. Much like a new baby, the experience has grown, changed and is being integrated into 'everyday life' with each day that passes. What was upon our return a wealth of inspiration, is now so much more - a signpost for greater adventures to come, a beacon of hope when life feels low and a much needed opportunity taken with both hands. In short, its something to be proud of.

While we were away on that fantastic adventure we had the chance to go night caving with some friends we made, and it was a special time that I wrote a lot about while we were there. I've included it below so you can get another sense of the amazing journey we had:

Night Caving

Yes, you heard right. In the spirit of being comfortable on the edge, and of stretching my comfort zone beyond its previous area of stress and overwhelm, I gratefully accepted the offer of a late-night exploration of Luxmore Cave up here in the mountains of southern fiordland, NZ.
And so, with a waning moon rising above the far horizon, six trampers from very different parts of the world set off across the tussock grass fields to the entrance and down, down into blacker depths.
I have caved in the past. At first with great pride and a sense of fun, but more recently - post children and with a more 'reserved life' - with fear and trepidation (well, with stress and overwhelm to be honest). And so, immediate acceptance of this offer is a good sign that this adventure away is working its magic on me too. A sign that I'm giving more to myself each day.

Back to the adventure....

I was the first the enter the upper reaches of the cave, having visited already the day before, and descended down to a point where we needed to crawl on all fours for a few metres. At this point Jacob (from Sweden) took the lead, which I was honestly grateful for as my imagination was taking over from my rationalism.
Slowly, slowly the six of us descended through squeezes and caverns, sometimes on our knees, sometimes able to stand up, beneath stalagtites and around flowstones. It was a magical experience to be exploring the unknown with likeminded strangers and it buoyed my faith in humanity and its inherent goodness.
At the farthest, deepest part Jacob suggested we turn off our headtorches and spend a minute in silent blackness. It felt sacred and special and we all readily agreed. However, in the black I felt uncomfortable suddenly - it was beyond my comfort zone - and asked if we could all hold hands, if only so I would feel better,
And so there we were, perhaps 100 metres below the tussock grass above, at the end of our journey down in a ring holding hands - me, Jacob, Megan, Meni from Israel, Ruth and Pascale from Germany - all from different parts of the world, in the black inkiness.
And then, with a special bond between us, we returned to the world to continue our journeys.

You can see that this was a special time for us, and one that I've certainly carried home with me to refer to when times get tough - to remind me that we're all connected, we all belong and that peace does exist in the world.

And that brings me to my latest book-love.

I've been avoiding it for a while - too clichéd, too popular - I thought. But then I was ordering from Amazon anyway and thought I'd add to my order - Danielle La Porte's The Desire Map: A Guide to Creating Goals with Soul.

And, oh my, its so lovely, so refreshing. so cut-straight-to-the-bullsh*t. And I'm loving it. So far, with lots of the theory of desire behind, and a few exercises and a walk in the bush to really feel it under my belt, I've identified what I'm really craving at the moment - and what it was that I found in that cave in New Zealand:

Connection (with the world, with others, to the earth)
Belonging (to my family, myself, the world, this moment)
Peace (within myself, in the world)
Worship (of my abilities, my experiences, my life, this moment)

These are my ideas to live by right now. This is what is driving me.

What's driving you?

xx

Some more pretty NZ pictures below - though none in the cave I'm afraid...