Falling With Style

A year on from a Sabbatical break, here are some selected notes from my journal during that time which may be of help to others, and are certainly a reminder to me. Some is in the form of more reflective thought, as below, other passages are simple meditations from scripture. Don't stay in the desert. The desert is a place to leave as quickly as possible. A place from which to run for safety, into comfort, welfare and water. But I need to stay in the desert. Those who stay in the desert learn to live in the desert, learn to live with new intention and focus as desert dwellers. Living in the city, I have everything I need on tap, all the time. A constant flow into my life and soul, a wide bandwidth, day and night. Noise, people, ambition, tasks, rest, comfort, food, friends. All good in their way, but each numbing a deeper need, each hit requiring a greater dose. Adrenaline overload, life overdose. Nerves snapping  taut. Body bone achingly weary. So much input but no filli...

A year on from a Sabbatical break, here are some selected notes from my journal during that time which may be of help to others, and are certainly a reminder to me. Some is in the form of more reflective thought, as below, other passages are simple meditations from scripture. There is no silence On a distant beach, in the shade, almost deserted. Years of busyness and hurry ceased with a handbrake turn into an emergency stop. But there is no silence. I've left all the noise, ceased the talk, stopped walking the walk,  Turned off the music, turned out the lights But the rest of the planet continues. Other voices carry to me on the breeze. Children cry, a parent shouts, A metal chair harshly scapes over a concrete floor. The polythene sails on the boards in the shallows Snap tight in hot summer wind like orchestral timpani. A motorcycle revs to pass a car, horns are sounded Church bells toll lazily in hazy heat. Then to the under noise of nature. Birds and crickets,...