……and as the lyrics go “Don’t know when I’ll be back again”    (John Denver)

In fact I do, I am back from holiday in just over a week’s time.

I have found myself thinking in recent days about what I want to do when I return from my holiday.

This, for me, is an interesting change in my thought processes, because I have usually invested a lot of energy before a holiday planning what I am going to do when I am away rather than thinking about when it is over.

This time, I intend to spend quality time with my wife in silence and in conversation at the side of the pool or on the beach and in restaurants and bars.

I will read, reflect, pray, run, swim and paint during this short break.

This holiday time, I see as a precursor to a return to my life into what are the autumn months here in the UK and I want to come back feeling refreshed, relaxed and ready to face the challenges that life throws at me and at us all.

There was a time, and I still occasionally feel it, when all I wanted to do was leave on a jet plane and NOT come back again.

A feeling that I was unable to cope with the normal demands of my life in the family and at work and in desperate need to get away from it all and never come back.

Frightening thoughts!

It is positive, for me, in my development through Integral Coaching, that I can use a holiday wisely to plan for my return without having to live, as I used to do, with a feeling of dread and disappointment.

It is not that all aspects of my life have suddenly got better.

My life still has challenges in it for me to overcome and there are difficult days, but on the whole, it is my attitude to life that has changed.

I have found time to be with self, to love and accept self, to keep going by engaging in continual and deepening practices to keep my heart safe.

Adeus Amigos!

My next blog will be: Grandchild Orphan

William Defoe