it has certainly been awhile since i tossed you the loop. (so you could get into it, of course.)
a lot has happened, as you may have guessed and i won´t really even try to catch up because i am done writing about happenings and now i´ll just write down some thoughts.
i have felt extremely blessed and revitalized by this trip. it has been such an enriching experience to get to know people from such distinct and varied backgrounds and to work with them in this peculiar place. i have felt so much love from the people (the locals, the volunteers, the leaders) and i have felt so much love from nature.
to meet and talk with people and learn so much from them... to listen to their wisdom and share stories and go crazy together. i have aquired a heep of golden memories and mentality-changing insight from others (re-)learning from others to be content in the moment and finding joy in simple rituals or tasks.
***
a few days ago, on one of the many gorgeous, sunny days in stykkisholmur (when it´s 20 degrees in iceland it feels like and it celebrated like it is 40) we went on this hike to this sacred mountain. (we=10 volunteers and i.)
there were two rules when climbing the mountain.
1. be completely silent and be pure in heart as you climb
2. don´t look back, focusing only on what is ahead
if these rules were followed while climbing, then at the top we would be given three wishes.
this last group has been quite an anomoly for me as there had been quite a bit of quarelling and conflict within the group and there was always noise and words being thrown up into the air but for this one hour or so our group was completely silent. this walk gave us all a chance to let everything rest and embrace the silence.
i feel inside of us all is this yearning to find peace and love. this is what we were doing.
at the top i had many good thoughts that came to me, and unfortunately like most of the time i have forgotten most of them but i do remember thinking how Great it is know this Love that we are receiving. it was my wish that we would all know where this Love is coming from, and that this Love is ever-lasting. that when we look at nature, at creation, and we feel inspired and at Peace from it, that this Peace if from God. i thought about all the love i had receieved from all the individuals i had met in iceland and thought about the wondrous creation and found this Peace and Joy in knowing that all of that Love came from God. it was the wish that everyone may know that the Love they are giving and receiving is from Him.
that was my second wish actually. if you must know, my first wish was that i may get a cookie. this is because the leader, ana (an incredibly awesome woman from romania) said that the first wish should always be something you know will come true (she had cookies) because then it builds Wish Confidence. and if you must know, yes, i did receive a cookie, so wishes do come true. ana also came up to me later and handed me another cookie and said ¨maybe your second wish was that you would get two cookies¨ and i thought that was just the most awesome sentence i have heard in my life.
***
lastly (and this was bound to happen) i have stopped taking photographs. i actually stopped in early june. as is normal for the conflicted person that i am, it became increasingly difficult to overcome the burden of taking pictures and capturing even 30 percent of the wonder in which i was experiencing. i came to the point where i didn´t even want to try to capture some of the wonder in the nature. i looked back on the photographs i had taken and i simply shrugged (or sometimes i even said ´that´s pretty cool´) and so that was scary to me because i was even at one point viewing with my own eyes this wonder and if i only think it´s merely cool what on earth are you going to think? i will post my pictures anyhow, but just know that i fear your reaction. likewise, i haven´t written on this blog lately because i have felt a certain burden in not know how to express the life-giving moments and experiences i am having here, but i have come to grips with this fact that i can´t quite completely and i´m fine with that. we all have this problem.
the aura, the atmosphere in iceland ic unlike anything else i have ever experienced... it is magical. i have said it before i will say it again. there are these orange mountains that i was working next to at my last workcamp... there was loads of steam coming from them because it was very geothermally active, and i think this was an atmosphere you could not experience anywhere else in the world except iceland. i was digging mud out from the earth to make a natural hot pot (hot tub) next to this mountain, by the way.
***
surely i have much more to say about my time here - what i have been doing - and i will get to that... but that will have to wait until i get home. i am going to be home in less than two weeks! so yes this is my final blogpost from iceland (most likely). i really can´t wait to be home it´s been weird to think i´ve been missing home more during these three months than i did over the span of nine in new zealand but i suppose that has to do with always being on the move and in more uncomfortable situations and not having a family to be with. it will be a sad day when i leave iceland but i already have no doubts that i am coming back. there are so many more seeds programs i have learned about (like building turf roofs) which have gotten me all excited for the next time. thank you all for the comments and emails (i say this all the time because i really love when i get any little or big comment) and especially thank you anthony for the email! that was the most exciting and surprising gift i could have ever received via the interweb and it´s rarer than a blue moon so i will treasure it forever.
see you soon!
P.S. Capers, i have an ENORMOUS urge to see you all - look out, i might be at your doorstep any minute. i love love love you.
No comments:
Post a Comment