Farewell Cortes! For now...

I'm off the island....I've been in Vancouver for 2 hours and I miss Cortes already.  I want to take this opportunity to say a sincere thank you to the Cortes Community.  I cannot express in words the richness of my experience there.  The opportunity for deepening into an already intense life process was exactly what I needed to prepare for the world.  Literally and in all sorts of other ways.

Thank you to Hollyhock for giving me the reason to come to the island.  Thank you Rosita for your love and support.  I wish you and your family all the best in your adventures. Let's stay in touch!!! Rebeka and the Kitchen staff, thank you for the lovely nourishing food as well as the support and encouragement.  To the rest of the staff it was a great pleasure to get to know you and work with you.

David D.  A special thank you for your generosity in allowing me to stay at Tealcroft with all the provisions that you included.  It made the power outages not only bearable but fun!  Your love and light is a blessing to Cortes and the world.

Thank you to the Cortes Community for a warm welcoming embrace.  I imagine it's hard getting to know people as most who come to the island are transients.  You sure do make it hard to leave though!!  Thank you to all the well wishers and those who provided valuable information on traveling.  I feel more safe and secure about my meanderings. I wish you all well and I will continue to support the community in anyway I can.  Even though I was only there for 3 months, Cortes feels like home.

A whole hearted deep bow to my lovely neighbour Fraser, who restored my faith in the Good, True and Beautiful.  My eternal gratitude to you.  I wish you well in your inner and outer journey's.  Stay safe and stay healthy.  See you later in this life and probably the next ;-)

To Mario and Alanha...thank you for Ultimate!  It was nice to be able to run and have fun!!  Thank you for your company and support.  But most of all...Thank you for giving me yet another reason to return to Cortes! Your friendship was enough to get me back, you didn't need to offer storage.  However, as you know I'm eternally grateful for your help.

And of course a very VERY BIG THANK YOU to my roommates....Shalon, Glenna, Theresa and Rod...What a gift, honour and delight it was to share this time with you all.  Through the good and difficult times, I am a better person for having you all in my life.  May you all be blessed in your life journeys.

I cannot say enough about Cortes.  It challenged me, it held me, it loved me and it healed me.  How could I not fall in love with it!!!

Where am I??

BIG HUGS TO YOU ALL!!!

Who Know's Just Go Straight

First off, I want to sincerely thank all those who signed the petition to help save Cortes Forests.  There is still planning and negotiating going on and with hope this precious island ecosystem will be used in a more sustainable way.  I still hope that the power of love will overcome the love of power.

Secondly....I'm both excited and terrified about my trip.  I've always imagined the moment when a life long dream came true.  I thought of feelings of complete joy, bliss and humbleness that comes with hard work and sacrifice, knowing that all things given, good and bad are a gift.  I do feel extremely grateful for the adventure I'm about to embark on.  Even though I have the tickets in hand and some accommodations booked, the whole thing still feels very surreal.  My head has been spinning for the last week as numerous friends and acquaintances bombard me with information about particular countries, places to visit, people to connect with and food to eat and not eat.  I've been told how much fun I'm going to have and, also to be careful.  All of it very practical, loving advice.

As I get closer to leaving the island, I go through intense moments of fear.  Yes, I'm back to fear. Not so much of what can go wrong, but of truly facing the unknown and truly facing myself.  My life in the last year has done a complete 180.  I barely recognize myself.  Now, as I start a whole new chapter in my life that little bit of "self" I do recognize, I sense, is going to be annihilated.  I know traveling is going to change me. It already has since leaving Toronto. Now though, I stand in the face of complete individuation, in unknown places, with unknown faces and all the while feeling connected to a greater source that grounds and holds me.

There are days when I don't want to move at all. I physically paralyze myself.  I can feel my body contract and I become very small.  My breathing becomes shallow and I can't focus on anything (which is one of the reasons I haven't been posting much).  I'm grateful though of this awareness as in these moments I know if i can get my body moving the fear will first intensify then dissipate.  Nothing cures anxiety more than moving the energy physically.  The other day I went over and borrowed the neighbors axe and chopped wood for about half an hour.  After that I felt much better.  Also making contact and talking to people has helped.  I'm always amazed at the emotions that come up when I'm faced with something new.   The fear is less and less now and I am very excited.  I'm sure that will change when I'm standing in the airport waiting for my first flight.

So, now it's just dealing with the last minute details.  Sorting out visas, shots, cars, and phones.

Keep breathing!!!

The Moment I've Been Waiting For

It's now official!!!  I have finally booked my trip!!  YEAYYYY!!  Everything feels so surreal. This is a life long dream coming true!  WOW!!!

Cortes is finally releasing it's hold on me.  I'm incredibly grateful that I took my time and stayed here.  It's been an incredibly rich experience. Going through what I went through here provided me with the tools I will need while on the road.  I've been able to find a deeper sense of peace and clarity around my life that I've only been ale to sense but not fully integrate and realize.  I know there will be challenges as I travel, particularly with visas (I can't wait for the day when we live without borders), but I think I will do just fine.  The fear that I had around this trip is changing into excitement, wonder and awe.  Ok, there is still a little bit of fear hiding behind my right ventricle, however, I know what the remedy is...JUST DO IT!!!  Be safe, ask questions, and if worst comes to worst, share a drink, with no ice of course, with a monkey.

So where am I going? Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand, Bali, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Africa,!!!!!! Greece and Turkey to start.  Phew!  The adventure begins February 6th.

Between now and then, I'll be packing, selling my car, putting what little I have in storage.  Oh...and trying to get visa's.  Not so much fun.

Oh, if anyone has any points of interest in any of these places, or any other useful information, suggestions are welcome.

See ya'll soon!!

Photos

Happy 2012!!! I'm still not quite in writing mode.  It's taken me a while to re-enter the technological world after my retreat.  I will though, give you something to look at while I recharge my writing battery.

I've been really frustrated with posting photos to this blog.  I have very little control as to how they appear and it takes forever to upload them.  So, I decided to reactivate my Flickr account and post photo's there. With Flickr I am not limited in the number of photos and can organize them better. I also think they are easier to view with their slideshow option once you click on the set.  The one problem with this is you now have to go to two sites which doesn't make it to convenient. However,  I will make it as easy for you as possible.  Whenever I add new photos I will post the notice on my blog.  I have also added the link to the left side of the page under Interesting Links so you can also check on your own in case I forget to post notices.

Here is the Visionless Witness's link.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/visionlesswitness/sets/

The first set is the house I stayed at while on retreat.  I'm still in awe with it's beauty.  The rest are from various times in my life.  Enjoy.

PLEASE HELP SAVE CORTES ISLAND'S FORESTS!!!!

Dear Friends

Cortes Island is about 16 miles (25 km) long, 8 miles (13 km) wide and 13,000 hectares in area.  This small island cannot withstand the destruction of clear cut logging.  They want to begin tearing down the trees as early as this month. There are more sustainable and ecological practices available to us without raping the land and her resources. Practices that promote grown and provide loggers with jobs. This island is very special to me and is very powerful and magical.  I want to do everything in my power to make sure that it thrives.    PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION and pass this email along!!!  This is worth breaking my silent retreat for.  Please sign!!

Petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/petitions/PCIFores/signatures

Article about our situation.

http://www.cortesisland.com/tideline/show4470a/Petition_to_Bruce_Flatt_Nearly_900_Signatures_So_Far

you can read more here

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/earthmatters/2011/12/23/logging-pristine-bc-old-growth-forest-begin-january-brookfield-asset

Sincerely,

Jen

See below... 

From: Cortes Forests <protectcortesforests@gmail.com>

Subject: If you love Cortes Island forests, please speak up for them now

Date: 23 December, 2011 2:05:25 PM PST

To: undisclosed-recipients:;

Cortes forest lovers,

We need you to take quick action.

Industrial logging of the swath of forest that runs through the heart of Cortes Island now appears imminent. According to Wayne French of Island Timberlands, logging will begin in January. IT lands include Carrington, many of the island’s remaining old growth pockets and the island’s central watershed near Blue Jay Lake.

If you love Cortes Island and want to protect these globally rare and threatened forests, please be sure to take three actions before the end of December:

1)    sign a petition against IT’s logging. When you click “sign,” you have two choices, to sign in using facebook or to just type in your name and email address. An email we will automatically be sent to the CEO of Island Timberlands.  Petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/petitions/PCIFores/signatures

2)   send emails to IT’s parent company, Brookfield Asset Management – you can paste the message below or craft your own. Send an additional email to IT.

3)   forward this email to everyone you know who loves Cortes Island and its forests: twitter it, face book it and, most of all, talk about it. Cortes spurs great conversations!

The goal is at least 3000 emails and signatures – that will take all of us!

We want to inform corporate decision makers that these forests are vital to a huge community of people who go to Cortes Island for connection to nature, their higher selves and community. The forests are even more vital to the wolves, the red legged frogs, and to many of BC’s threatened species. Such sanctuaries are crucial, rare and disappearing.

Let’s use our broad and deep love for Cortes Island to influence the corporate owners and to support local efforts to prevent industrial logging.

Yours for a better way, 

Carrie and Barry Saxifrage, Chris Hatch and Tzeporah Berman, Dana and Joel Solomon

PS To have your name forwarded to local organizations that could use your help, please reply to this email address.

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