I am the ocean.

How cheerful are you when your on your surfboard? Waiting for a set to roll in are you thinking about your next maneuver, whether your going to catch the wave, or look good when you pop up and find yourself worrying about what you need to do back on dry land? It is so easy to use your surfing as another opportunity to be burdened with over thinking, which will inevitably effect your performance. Through studying Pantajali's Yoga Sutras, The Bagavad Gita, Jivamukti Yoga and works by beloved Buddhists such as Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Thich nhat Hanh and the Dalai Lama I'm starting to understand that the road to happiness is not found by avoiding unhappiness, but rather is a continuous and sustained effort. 

We are all in process and by accepting that happiness is something we don't possess (i.e. like water if we grab at it we'll never hold it, but rather let it flow through our hands we'll hold it for longer), we have to make the effort to think positively and work against negative emotions. 
Part of my yoga teacher training is sitting down and really studying ancient Hindu and Buddhist philosophy which has been both mind boggling and eye opening. Its amazing how much correlation there is between the two religions and how apt they are for modern day life. A consistent theme present in both is something called 'Ahimsa' which means 'to not cause pain.' It is most commonly interpreted as non violence, but goes beyond killing as sometimes you can cause more pain by words and thoughts rather than action. 

Just as I wish to be free from suffering and experience only happiness, so do all other beings. In this respect, I am no different from any other being; we are all equal.  
- Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.

As a surfer I feel it is a deep respect to the ocean to not eat fish. I hope in this statement I'm not sounding too self righteous or judgmental because I pride myself on being tolerant and not using my veganism as an excuse to heckle carnivores. That being said I honestly feel that as an ocean dweller with the capacity to avoid eating fish this is the greatest gift you can give back to the saltwater. The ocean is the biggest misunderstood ecosystem on the planet, it is voraciously pillaged for its resources, abused by contaminates derived from humans and at best is feared. We have so much as a race to apologize for. 

Thankfully there are people out there who realize our misdemeanors and are actively trying to rectify them. You know I love a strong female lead and that is exactly what you get in the oceanographer Sylvia Earle. I recently watched her documentary Mission Blue on Netflix and absolutely fell in love with her. She's this charismatic scientist who paved the way not only for female empowerment but ocean awareness during the seventies. She also has many books she's written The world is Blue, Sea Change: A Message from the Oceans, Blue Hope to name but a few on my Amazon wish list! 

I'm starting to think we can lead purposeful lives when we consider the welfare of others before our own, compassion acts as a mirror, the good we put out is reflected back in ourselves. I'm not sure how yet, but I wish to show my gratitude to the ocean and endeavor to try and be part of the change, surfboard in hand. 

Until next time 
Stay strong, surf well

Murmurs of a Mermaid *Guest Blogger*

I have the privilege of introducing a guest blogger - another mermaid, who has woven beautiful heartfelt words to embrace your weary hearts. Her piece is called 'Changing Tides' and is a homily to water written through her own experiences. She charts a personal transition in her life, and like all water women, is able to reflect upon those hardships through the metaphor of sea water.

This is a real treat and I think a feature I would like to continue, if you wish to write anonymously (or named) then please get in touch with the heading 'Murmurs of a Mermaid,' about anything that inspires you so we can all share collectively. Mahalo.  

So without further ado....

"Changing of the tides"

I made a decision seventeen days ago. I decided I wanted to go out into the world again. I wanted to feel, to experience, to risk almost everything, to be afraid and to do it anyway. I wanted change, I needed a new horizon.

I sit here, seventeen days later. I have one less relationship in my life. A relationship that brought me huge amounts of comfort, of solace, of stability and of serenity.
But it brought me no risk. No action. No challenge to my way of being in the world. No change in the greater sense.

I was at a point in my life – five and a half years into a relationship, three years out of University, eighteen months into personal psychotherapy – where I was cresting. I spent days and nights in constant tension – uncomfortable, not knowing what it was exactly, but knowing something had to give.

When it happened, it was a sudden, surreal rush. It wasn't that I knew what was going to happen, or how it would work, but I was plunging onward. I was surrendering to the inner wave of emotion that has been within me for a very long time.

I have always felt that I have a lot of pain. I find things that soothe that pain – guitar playing, watching the sea, writing, singing, knitting, (surfing sometimes!) – repetitive, creative, beautiful, safe things. They soothe the pain and the rage inside me, the things I have bottled and labelled and neatly stowed away beneath the surface.

I have been revisiting those jars lately, and systematically and calmly smashing them to pieces. And, because of all the glass flying around, and my fear that it would get someone hurt, that I decided I needed some time and space on my own to really work things out.

I don’t want to be an apothecary of still, stagnant liquids. I want to be a fluid, moving ocean of feeling and living and dreaming.

So I am moving with my internal momentum. To pastures new. To other waves. To clearer waters, hopefully.

I am inspired and awed by the openness, sweetness and creativity of my dear friend Sophia. I read her blog (as you are now) with delight at her joy and trepidation and sympathy for her struggles. She is one of the great people who is an open book – she lets the world impact her, embraces the experience, feels everything and then lives through it and moves on to the next adventure. I aspire to be like that. We can all learn a lot from Soph.

- Written by a Mermaid. 

Sloths and Mermaids.

 

Listening to SunSay & John Forte - Wind Song <3 

Today I received a parcel from my friend Phil, inside it contained a poetry anthology I had originally made for my friend Joey. It was hard to have this poetry book back knowing that my friend is no longer here to appreciate the poems I had lovingly written for him. 

I'd like to share with you a poem I wrote called: 

The Mermaids Daughter 

I am the Mermaid's daughter, 

I lure with the lilt of my heart song,

til both boat and man are dashed. 

But if you listen closely my beckon is not 

of demise. 

I am mourning, I am yearning to know how it is to love. 

I tell the whales and they sing of my sadness. 

Alas I am the Mermaid's daughter

I long with the lilt of my heart song. 

By Sophia Hobbs (aged 18). 

I find it both sad and warming that at 18 I was thinking of the sea well before I had ever even picked up a surfboard. To quote Roxy the sea sets me free. 

Any who...

How to make a Sloth bag*

*For under £5.

You will need: 

- A bag (I had an old one which cost £1.50 originally)
- Shades of felt (I had some left over ones and brought two new  
  for £1.60) use brown, cream, black and red. 
- Paper, pencil and pins to make templates for the sloth face/hearts
- A glue gun. 

Takes 1 hour to make. 







1. Assemble your crafts and start by drawing a sloth face shape on paper, you will need:
- 1 circle for the head
- 1 heart shape for the inner face
- 2 egg shapes for the eyes
- 2 black circles for pupils
- 1 large black circle for the nose
- 4 hearts of various sizes. 

2. Cut out the shapes, at this stage you can also plug the glue gun in and let it warm up. 

3. Start by gluing the largest face shape on the bag, try to get it central. Add the heart shaped face piece, then the eye patches, the black pupil and finally the nose as shown above. 

4. Lastly glue on the red hearts. Allow bag to dry. 

Voila sloth bag! 

This Week... 

I came across this gorgeous artwork in a changing room of all places!

Henna art work kindly done by my friend Emily! 

Emily's kittens awwwwwww! 

 

 And finally...

Buddy the Sloth Says...

Which bird makes the longest migration? 
Well folks that would be the Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea). 
Our little feathered friend makes a staggering annual trip from the Arctic to the Antarctic where it spends winter. For this reason the Arctic tern sees more sunlight each year than any other animal, as they experience a second summer by travelling south in the Winter! Sounds like too much hard work to me... 

Love Buddy. 

Until next time... 

Stay Strong, Surf Well. 

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