Inspirational Quotes
Henry Miller once wrote this about writing and i guess life …
Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls, and interesting people. Forget yourself.
Image taken from Global Ballooning Website (read on for hot air balloon analogy)
I love the last two words …”Forget yourself” perhaps he is suggesting that you immerse yourself in life and forget the me in it all, or the ego as Eckhart Tolle writes in his book, The New Earth ~ Awakening to your Life’s Purpose. Not so easy in a world that is geared to me and I want, I need but it doesn’t seem to make us very happy now does it? That pull to nature, to get away from it all, to shed the layers of ego, to find our true selves but where to begin?
I have been meaning to get up early and take my camera with me on a walk down to The Strand in Williamstown and photograph the hot air balloons ascending alongside the Westgate Bridge - awesome. And sometimes I can then catch them on the other side of town when I arrive at work very early - suddenly appearing between some buildings. No matter the state of the sky, (they don’t often fly when it is wretched) whether on a cloudy windless morning or against a bright blue sky, hot air balloons suspended way up there is a rather majestic sight.
For my 30th birthday my partner and two sisters put me in a car at 5.00am and we drove out to Yarra Glen which is where I kinda grew up and where some school friends still reside. It is where suburbia gives way to the countryside. It is also where we got married and where there are lots of wineries and it is the most picturesque countryside. I had not a clue as to where we were going but knew it was my birthday surprise. When we arrived I saw this huge balloon spread across the ground awaiting a huge, gas fuelled breath of air to take flight. I pretty quickly worked out that this was my 30th surprise and I couldn’t really back out of it. Initially I was terrified and the only way I could deal with it was to say okay I have no choice here but to accept whatever may happen; and I was thinking the worst. Once we had boarded and the champas had been passed around and there was nothing to do but leave it to fate…. well then the fear dropped away. The sheer beauty of the moment and all of the beautiful faces enjoying this moment in silence was very surreal but in a way life changing too for the memory of that moment has stayed with me. My mind is always ticking and for an hour it stopped thinking and the situation forced me into being, into enjoying the moment and it was exhilarating. I reckon this is what Henry Miller was talking about.