Family and Community

Whenever I feel adrift or wonder about my direction in life, a few things keep me grounded.

Family: Coming home, having built a home and a  sense of collective belonging and a space of love and peace. Having people who can help you take perspective and hold you accountable for what is important, like who is the true champion of Mario Kart (sadly not me, although I’m often a solid second 🥈). Also having others to be responsible for and to have others feel responsible for you, gives me a real sense of direction.

Community: Being involved with my community, as part of my work and as a volunteer, helps me to feel direction, although I feel this is sometimes ineffable, the holy spirit is mysterious and her guidance (in my experience) is subtle. Like your trusting yourself to the flow and currents of a river, you can’t always see where you’re but it is actively moving you forwards. I have come to see very little separation between work or volunteering, or creative pursuits, as they all feel connected, part of a ministry and connected to a higher purpose.

Faith and Nature: I have already mentioned this but my Faith is central to everything I do and believe. This gives me a sense of direction, and when I feel a bit lost on the road, prayer and meditation helps me. Also connecting and being with nature helps calm me and again gives me a sense of perspective. I am astounded by the miracle of nature, just the number of birds I can hear singing right now is a wonderful reminder of how much beauty surrounds me. I wrote about aspects of this in my song Maybe Shangri-la.

When I feel uncertain,

because my heart is broken,

I listen for the words, so softly spoken,

at the altar,

or on the pavements,

sun soaked mantra to nature’s amazement…