2/20/11

Update situation. Highs and lows. yin and yang. siva/sakti. love/love.love. There is so much going on and such beautiful people. I've really started to feel more grounded and a part of the community here as my network of friendships grows larger and deeper. I was walking around today and had the thought, where else is there to go when you are doing what you love and are surrounded by family? That's a difficult question, thank god. I've had my hands full lately. Doing a little bit of homework for the program and getting my hands dirty with the actual work. The working situation is so great here oh my god. Doesn't even feel like work. I show up at the Collerne gardens at 9am. We get into a group and hold hands, attune to the present moment and the work before us, then attune to what work we would like to do, then get going. Then we work for about an hour and a half, then have a 20/30 minute tea break that is just a smorgasbord, then get back to it for about another hour and then clean up what we've been doing and then hold hands and tune out. Also, when I say tune in and tune out, I mean that we (whoever is participating in a group activity) holds hands and meditates together for a minute. Then we offer prayers and intentions as a group regarding the upcoming activity and the present moment. Anyway, I've been cleaning garden beds and doing some great weeding, and I've also helped do the composting with my friend Martin. The compost situation here is so inspiring, everything is reused, zero waste attitude and it is very well planned and developed. Compost is what built this place. There wasn't anything here except sand and beaches, gorse, which is a very thick skinned plant, spikey and sharp. One of the founders of Findhorn, Peter, must have spent the first couple years just composting to create the soil upon which these beautiful gardens now flourish and from where we get our food. Just Beautiful.
Yesterday our group along with the folks from the Ecovillage Training went into Forres and got a taste of some city life. There was a bus going to Aberdeen and I was hard pressed not to just start my tour of Scotland! It's nice to get into the towns and cities because I feel more like I'm actually in a different country. Findhorn is such an international community and is kind of its own universe, so the surrounding landscape is very helpful when it comes to creating cultural context. Just an awesome day. Had the time to practice yoga when I got back and had my fill of raw vegetables, and then went to bed early.
Today is kinda cloudy but warmer, and I've some homework to occupy myself with. I will probably head into the Findhorn village down the road and get cozy at a coffee shop and do some of this 'work'. Oh yeah. The food is maybe the best I've ever had, and it's consistently good. For brunch: potatoes, eggs w/ veggies, stir fry veggies (mushrooms, carrots) w/ tahini, a brownie, and some coffee. Peppermint tea for digestion. Oh, and some of the stereotypes are true, the english really really like tea and toast. WORD is BOND. The word is LOVE.