I had two very good friends give me two very different sets of advice on commencing this journey.
The first friend is a beautiful creative being to the core of her soul, spending the majority of her time creating exquisitenesses to explore the world around her which is both a mystical and real life exploration. Her advice to me, after I said would take a few days when I arrive to Thailand to recover:
‘Take a week. You can’t push creativity.’
My second friend, the most solid, grounded and pragmatic person I know, kept repeating the mantra as I was about to leave, ‘Keep the focus. Keep the focus.’ She remained silent when I said I would take the first few days to recover. And asked me ‘Remember what I said?’
‘Keep the focus. Right, got it!’
After landing, I did spend 4 days recovering, a necessary respite after the energiser bunny routine of the past months. My head also had 10,000 fingernails scratching at my blackboard mind preventing me from doing anything other than sleep, eat and float (which just happened to be in a delectable warm sea with sensational views).
So after arriving to my island, I thought, right, gotta get into it. Keep the focus. Keep the focus.
First day of writing
My first day of writing. I woke up at 7am. Nice. Walked to the bare beach, sparsely decorated with Thai men in loose thai pants sweeping up with their handmade harsh straw brooms leaves, shells, debris of all sorts into piles, as methodically and specific as a bee collects pollen.
My feet touch the soft, white wet sand, feeling the gushy love of the warm waters as I plunged into her beauty.
By the time I arrived to my ‘office’ (photos in previous blog) it was around 10am. Nice.
I decided that launching straight into book writing would be a little too confronting for my first day, so I start with this blog. Perfect excuse to fiddle around with colours and photos.
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| Bliss is in here! |
I order my favourite vegan banana cake, and a traditional thai tea latte on soy. I am in bliss. This of course takes at least an hour to fully enjoy.
The joy of being in my favourite cafe is peppered with more delight by meeting a new friend, Gabe. Its Gabe’s third time on the island too. A fellow first time writer. Also here to write a book and here for six months. A vegan and yoga buff. Co-incidence? Perhaps. But the beautiful symmetry certainly makes me feel more centered.
Its now about 1.45pm. Have I written anything? Not really.
Its now about 1.45pm. Have I written anything? Not really.
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| Traditional Thai Tea on Soy… |
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| Flower art from Benny |
You can’t push creativity.
Yes, that’s right. But then I must keep the focus. I can’t just enjoy myself at this cafe, can I?
So I let myself simply write on the topics that came to my mind rather than attempt to structure an unstructured mind. I write randomly and it gives me some sense of satisfaction.
Here is my first day picture. Looking for inspiration obviously!! 🙂
Day 2 of writing
I woke up at 5.18am. It was still dark in my little hut. Floods of images and thoughts from previous months flashed around my brain like fireworks on Loy Krathong. I was not setting an alarm specifically for the purpose of allowing my body to wake up when it felt it needed to, in a restful and peaceful manner. Ok brain, calm down ok?
Have you ever told a dog after you put a lead on her, and she knows the smell-full delights ahead, to calm down, relax and wait a minute? My mind is that dog, jumping up and down, drooling, chasing my tail in excited anticipation of… well I don’t know.
I have tried meditation sporadically over the last decade, reaching for it when I desperately needed to quieten my 2 year old on red cordial mind. It hasn’t been a consistent practice, but I’ve enjoyed the somewhat calm and settling effects on my body when I’ve tried.
I reach for that now. I attempted to meditate a few mornings the week before I left for this adventure. Emptying my overflowing mind at that time was like trying to eat a whole pavlova by myself in one sitting! So much to eat and so many big delicious experiences to process and reflect on.
Today was no different. Then I remembered I had some guided meditations on my phone. I put one on. I suddenly had a strong thirst for water (I had just consumed half a bottle). I then had to sit up. Then lie down. Then sit up again.
Sunni, stop distracting yourself. Just ‘So hum’. Breathe in, ‘soooooo’. Breathe out ‘Huummmmmmm’.
The images and gnawing thoughts lessened.
The meditation completed. I felt relaxed.
I drifted off to sleep as the rain fell onto my tin roofed hut.
I awoke again at 8.43am.
Oh no! What about my routine? What about THE FOCUS?
But remember, you can’t push creativity.
So I got up and gently rocked in my hammock watching the sea. Yes, you can’t push creativity….
I rocked up to my cafe at 11-ish. And to enjoy the moment even further, Benny taught me how to make paper serviette flowers! So sweet. Of course they had to be accompanied by chocolate cake.
Here is a picture of our (mainly his creations!):
Here is a picture of our (mainly his creations!):
Yes, you cannot push creativity.
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| The delectable vegan chocolate cake! |
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