So I started this blog because I was planning adventures and wanted a way to document them. I wanted people to be able to see the wonderful things I get to see in my life. Not just places, but people and how they are terrific, and helpful and funny and wonderful and perfect and whole in who they are in the moment. I draw a mandala for every person/ household I visit along the way because it is a memento of a moment holding what the person brings and what I see. It is a snapshot of their adventure and my gratitude in being an invited guest to behold.
Writing this blog made me pay attention to the adventure that is my life.
And somehow when you pay attention to something you tend to find it more.
So since that point in time the level of adventure in my life has gone up significantly.
I love being part of adventures with other people.
Sometimes the call of that adventure takes me exactly where I'm supposed to be, and others its like a siren's lure to places I may do better to avoid, or don't fit right for me.
When I go traveling I usually end up exactly where I'm supposed to be, and its funny because even on the unexpected detours, I'm still in the right spot.
Last year's trip was a good mix of planning and then letting go and leaving space for adventure.
I did my best to carry that over into this year.
Only when you have an adventure it changes you.
I guess this is the place where the mandalas come in. I've drawn lots of mandalas, given many away, torn a few up, kept some and I think even lost some. The one's I've drawn on my travels really focused in on what i wanted to capture about the person or place it was for, and the spirit of the moment. After last year's trip I had this idea that it would be good for me to sit and try sometime to see what I could come up with for myself. I kept putting it off, but then someone I know made me make good on my promise to myself, and the act drawing made me much more clear about where I was and what is was that was changing in my life. That first one was pretty fuzzy and had lots of smudges. I've drawn a few for myself since then, and it has really helped me to focus on where things stand for me and all the elements, figures and patterns in my life. The picture at the top is a more recent one.
It's good to be able to look at myself along the way.
It's good to be able to show a picture of things a little more close to home.
I'd like to do more of that. I'd like to post adventures and events that are a little more local to me and not just wait for big trips.
I mean this week alone has included (among other things) The Green St Music series at the Lucky Dog (http://www.luckydogmusic.com/), a friend's first summer barbeque, the knitting girls (in their current incarnation) last big night out on the town for a while, and will include a red tent (http://www.kalimahealingarts.com/Red_Tent_Temple.html)
All of those adventures involving much less travel than my flying to Vegas on Saturday, but still involving. terrific, helpful, funny and wonderful people.
Like I told someone earlier this year, there are lots of good people out there.
But there is a way in which I am reluctant to put everything out there. It's easy to talk about travels to see old friends, because things are clear. Life in the moment is still evolving, sometimes the picture is messy or fuzzy and quite frankly sometimes people would not want me with my little camera showing them off to the interwebs (as my friends say)
And I LIKE that this blog is about adventure, and things that might be a little out of the ordinary. I want to keep it that way.
But I like being in the practice of finding adventure in my own backyard, and I love showing it to others. Besides some days I think everyone's life is it's own tour de force, qualifying for the label Not a Rock Star Tour.
So along with the big trips, you might see a few more Liz along the way mandalas and posts, and a bit more local fare.
Happy adventuring all.
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