Refresh

Why is it that I am constantly updating my computers, but I am not updating my life? Throwing things in the trash (like disappointments), reading up on health, and being bigger and better than yesterday.  I tried routine; it didn't work out all that well.  Now I am dancing to the beat of a different drum.  I am trying to catch the rhythm of my heart, though too often, I forget it's even beating.  I like when I feel it THUMP, and POUND, but I hate when I feel it SWELL.  


2011 marks the end of a cycle for me.  I am a 76er (born in 1976) which makes me a Dragon.  Now, according to literature (aka chinesenewyear.co):


"Dragons tend to be popular individuals who are always full of life and enthusiasm, with a reputation for being fun-loving. They make good priests, artists and politicians." 


Now, I have removed the part that doesn't exactly apply, and this is where I will begin.
2012 will be the year of the dragon.  It was almost this time 12 years ago (cusping on the year of the dragon) when I called Maggie in Japan and told her that I was down and out.  I had no job, no cash, and I felt like I had no options.  Less than 30 minutes later, a friend of hers showed up at the door with an envelope.  Inside was $200 with a note that read, "you always have options."  This changed my life.


With that I made a choice.  I chose not to get back into an unhealthy relationship with a good person.  I chose to work hard and buy a ticket to Thailand for New years of 2000 (the year of the Dragon), and I chose to make something of myself.  In October, my mom tried talking me into staying in Japan for a year, but I wasn't ready,  yet ... I wasn't ready to make that choice until November 26, 1999, one month before departure.  I then chose to stay in Japan for a year.  This is what I have done with the past 12 years (recounting for my own personal reasons).

• Went to Thailand and celebrated new years 2000 (rode motorcycles, trekked in bat infested caves, went to prison to visit a girl who got busted for lighting up a blunt on the beach, and fell in love with Thailand)
• Moved to Japan (gained 25 pounds, taught English and PE, got certified as an Open Water Diver, and lost many bikes)
• Moved back to Thailand (lived on Koh Tao with no shoes, got dread locks, completed my Advanced OW, Rescue Diver, Nitrox, and Divemaster licenses, survived the "snorkel test", full moon party, flooded island, and didn't mind when cockroaches crawled on my body, purposely missed flight back to Japan and left island forgetting that I still didn't have shoes)
• Moved back to Japan (taught kindergarten and worked at a dive shop, got my PADI instructors licence, survived earthquakes on Kagoshima, and got Dragon tattoo)
• Moved back to Canada to go to teachers college (was rejected, so sat outside of the Dean's office until he accepted me, immediately bought plane ticket to Canmore and spent the summer out west, was Richard Simmons for halloween)
• Moved to Colombia for 3 years (I lost my mother, taught grade 4 for three years, was math coordinator and team leader, got my masters, did my first 5k run, my first triathlon, my first 24h adventure race, was offered a lot of drugs, locked in a garage at knifepoint once, and suffered my first open water panic, bought motorcycle after practicing how to switch geas with blush brush in one hand and mascara in other, travelled to Panama, Costa Rica and Argentina and I fell in love with Colombia)
• Moved to Brasil for 5 years (taught grade 6 Science for one year, grade 5 for four years, biked from London, England to Paris, France,raced in at least 75 races the most exciting being the 1/2 Ironman and XTERRA Amazonia, got married to a wonderful person, got divorced from a wonderful person, travelled to Peru, Patagonia, South Africa, Mozambique, Paraguay, Hawaii, Idaho, bought house and ended five year contract at work)

NOW ... this is about a fresh a canvas as it gets.  My life coach said to me last night, "it's like you have all of the pieces of the puzzle in the box, and you are just dumping them out."  How fun is it to put them together?  This puzzle has no picture, it has no flat-edged  pieces, it's a puzzle with no border! 

I invite you to come fly with me, but not as a passenger!  Share your life, your ideas, your light with me as well.  

This is what I see on the horizon.  Yoga Journal Conference, Denver mid September, Ironman Cozumel, November ... the rest is just pure space.

Let's see how it all unfolds.  Namaste!

Di.
Did you spot me in the pic?