Being with what is

an important notification

There is only one moment for you to be alive, and that is the present moment. Go back to the present moment and live this moment deeply, and you’ll be free.

Thich Nhat Hanh

The Path. Moving. Breathing. Looking out, beyond.
Glendhu Bay Track, 2nd October 2025, 9.20a.m

Good Morning from Wānaka, New Zealand. Thank you for being here dear Reader.

We are having a beautiful Spring with all things Spring should be. An abundance of rain and warmth, regenerating, new growth, new Life. We also have the Spring winds which are my least favourite weather, but I am sure someone is happy about it, like windsurfers and wind mills. I feel very glad when I drive past the lambs who are fattening and wooly-ing each day. They look relaxed and content. As do their mothers. I am not glad because I will eat them one day. Because I won’t. I am vegetarian. I am glad because it fills my heart seeing beautiful Life at peace.
I am glad because I see Life fulfilling it’s purpose of reaching it’s potential.
The acorn becomes the oak.

The Path continues, always. Around the corner, Moving. Breathing. Looking out. Glendhu Bay Track, 2nd October 2025, 9.21a.m

Once a week since September 2023 I have posted on Substack with meaning and intention. Never obligation. There is something very rewarding about seeing
a body
of work
of heart felt
creations
build
slowly
but steadily
over time.
It shows dedication.
It shows discipline.
It shows Love. Of our craft and of ourselves.
Because we are showing up. No matter what else is happening in our lives.
We are showing up in the space where we have control
and yet, where we can also
let go of control.
It’s a Home of sorts. A safe space. A creative space. A heart space.

Raindrops on Spring Blossoms. Eely Point Track. 4th of October 2025 10.09 a.m.

Even when all else, all that was certain and known, is slipping away,
This sometimes feels like the last space left,
for now,
for now Jo,


I was about to list what has slipped away, in fact I did.
But it sounded
self indulgent and miserable.
So I deleted the list
of the things that are not just “things”, but parts of me.
They are there though, held here,
inside
my heart
with so much grief as I have never known before.
Grief. Drowning, exploding, Tearing apart and so
Tender oh so Tender,
and also somehow
Heart Expanding.

A Tūī flies overhead
I know, because I hear it’s wings
my favourite bird,
along with all my other favourite birds.
Tūī reminds me
to look up
to look up
again and again
and to be so very grateful for this moment.

Raindrops on Spring Blossoms. Eely Point Track. Lets look again. Lets magnify that moment. 4th of October 2025 10.09a.m.

In the last couple of months, however, despite that discipline and dedication,
my posting here has become less regular. Apologies to you, my dear loyal readers,
and apologies to myself, most of all, for that.
My anchor, of creating something on early Friday mornings,
my anchor
seems to have dislodged
even despite having handled the rough conditions so far,
the stormy seas,
I appear to now be adrift.

Having simple rituals, routines and repetition when there is long term ongoing uncertainty and change is soothing to the nervous system. The creative act has been one of the few things I have been able to hold on to. That sense of purpose, of sitting at one’s desk, coffee cup there, pencil case here, note pads over there, flowers in vase left corner. Laptop in centre. Me at centre. Stars out there. I am held here with comfort. That sense of purpose and engagement with something both within yet beyond and bigger than us, that can save us when all we have known, is crumbling beneath.

Spring blossoms and more raindrops. 10th October 2025. 8.27a.m

its ok though, its all ok.
I remember, when I remember, to wrap myself in the Two Wings of Awareness. The Buddhist idea, Tara Brach speaks so eloquently about, of allowing the wings to wrap around us. The wing of mindfulness of our thoughts and the second wing folding around our body of heartfulness and self compassion. This is Love. Without the self judgement. We all need this reminder. Particularly if we have grown up exposed to the self shaming of the Christian Church.

So this post today was really just to say thank you. I am here still, just a bit irregular at the moment.
No mud, no lotus is yet another much loved Thich Nhat Hanh quote and I can tell you that it’s been as muddy as hell and therefore there is going to be one fucking huge and glorious lotus flower one day.
In the mean time we do what we can to survive, step by step, breath by breath.

A goose flys overhead
I know, because I hear its' honks,
three times
loud and urgent
an Important Notification
has arrived
in my inbox
My Head inbox
so I stop, on the hill
one foot above the other
washing basket balanced on hip
disregarding the underwear that have fallen out down there
onto the muddy well worn track,
the notification says
look up
look up
again and again
and be so very grateful for this moment.

…and the wings wrap around


Much Love
Jo xx