The Road to Paradise....

Having a bit of writer's block this week.  Funny how that happens since I generally have the gift to gab.  I originally was going to write about the Law of Attraction and how it helped me get to where I am today, but life's stresses took over this week and I don't really feel that tooting the horn of happiness is appropriate.  So, I'm going to be honest and talk about feeling small. 

The mountains.  Have you ever been on or near something so big that it made you feel like a tiny speck in comparison?  I have.  In fact, I do every day.  I'm fortunate enough to have a gorgeous view of not only the bay, but the beautiful mountains that surround this side of the island.  From the very first time I saw them, they invoked a sense of awe in me like nothing else has.  Every day my view of them changes....the sun enunciates the crevices, the shade makes the height more pronounced, the rain makes them look ominous, but then fills the sky with rainbows.  I'm humbled every time I look at them.  Life is funny like that.

Whales.  Ahhhh, the whales.  For the first ten or so years I visited Hawaii, I never knew whales came here.  I always came during the "off" season either before or right after they were here.  About nine years ago, I finally visited during whale season and I've been hooked ever since.  If you've never seen a humpback whale close up, they are massive, graceful, beautiful creatures that will steal your heart immediately.  I've had the fortunate pleasure of being on boats within feet of a whale.  Much like the mountains, being that close to a whale has the amazing ability to put you in your place and remind you that you are just that tiny speck in comparison.

The ocean.  Well, there's not really much to say about the ocean that you don't already know (unless you live in a landlocked state and have never seen an ocean).  It's grand. 
It's enormous.  It's overwhelming when you are floating around in water so deep you can't imagine ever getting to the bottom.  Living on the east coast, you not only can't see your own feet in the ocean, but you can't even begin to gauge how deep water is without a depth finder.  In Hawaii, the water is so clear it almost tricks you.  My husband and I once took our boat out off shore and just put it in idle and jumped in (one at a time of course, the boat was still running, duh).  I can honestly tell you that at that moment, being in water over 400 feet deep, I have never been so unbelievably scared and excited in my life!  I could see my feet and then some, but the "light fathoms", I call them, just kept going and going forever.  All I kept thinking is that I was this little floating lunch buffet for the big ol' sea creatures swimming below me.  Yep, just a tiny speck.

The sky.  I'm not sure there's a being on the planet that hasn't gazed at the stars at night, or sat in awe while viewing a beautiful sunset.  I'm one of them, I admit it.  So much happens over our heads and often times we're too busy focusing on the ugliness around us that we miss the beauty right in front of our faces.  My husband laughs at me because we've been on this island for just about a year now and I still fumble around like an idiot looking for the camera (or yes, the iPhone) every time I see a rainbow (and I mean evvvvvvery time).  There's no rainbow, sunset, cloud cluster or rain shower that goes by that I don't acknowledge in some way.    I don't take the pictures because I have some weird hangup for rainbows or sunsets that I need to keep in a photo album somewhere.  I take them to show my gratitude for having had the opportunity to witness them.  I store them on the phone or in a folder on my computer and every now and then I go back and look, just look, then say thank you.

Summing it all up (yes, there is a point to all of this), if we are truly good people we take notice of the beauty surrounding us.  We notice rainbows and butterflies and wildflowers on the side of the road.  We notice the loving elderly couple strolling hand in hand through the park.  So why is it that we often times fail to notice the beauty within ourselves?  Why is it that when we feel so small in comparison to grand things in nature, we don't realize that we are our own amazingly impressive beauty?  I read a quote that said "You can’t take your hand off the steering wheel and expect to end up in paradise".  At first I figured it meant that we were the controllers of our own destiny.  I suppose it does.  But, maybe it also means that paradise is found within and until we grab that steering wheel of self love we'll forever be looking for someone or something else to take us to our happy place.  We and only we, are the creators of our our Paradise, our own beauty.  I'm not sure we can fully appreciate the external beauty of life until we realize the beauty inside our selves.   I don't know about you, but I'm putting both hands on the wheel and flooring the peddle!  Life's a beach, and then you live on one.....