Another Day in Paradise

Painting of Kalalau Lookout by Marty Wessler

Summer is all about escape! When we travel or leave, we are looking for a change. We want a rest, a break from the usual, the routines and repetitious chores. We want freedom for ourselves and our families and friends, and sometimes, adventures.

The word “vacation” is about creating space in our life. Time enough to rest, recharge and renew with a change of activity. Go slow, read books, take naps, hanging out at the beach, watching or riding the waves, and of course, friends.

No alarm clocks. (Interesting, why would anyone want to wake up alarmed?!) Just awakening on your own, setting your own schedule. Hanging out with friends and family, long unrushed, “talk story” conversations, these are some of the best moments in life.

Or maybe we want the excitement of new activities, escape from our normal, ho-hum workaday lives. Kaua‘i abounds in surfing, sailing, snorkeling, scuba, zip lines, hiking, horseback riding, fishing. Hula or lei making lessons, art, music, star watching.

Summer is the ripening and growing season, where our talents, our desires, and our skills can develop.

Summer makes us yearn to explore. It could be a travel adventure, or just visiting family, but it helps us see the world differently, and maybe, ourselves. We may be going off to school, starting a new job or a relationship, but we can learn to explore new feelings, ideas and emotions; learning how to be happy in a new way.

We define ourselves by our habits, our likes and dislikes, habitual judgments. We are addicted to choices and opinions, and maybe we can use a vacation from some of them.

Our choices either expand our world, our opportunities, or limit them. Vacations let us experiment, trying something different. We can take baby steps, dip our toes in, slide into the waters of a new world, a new place, a different life.

We rush so much, accepting the tyranny of the clock. We fill our days with the schedule made from the past, as the real life, unimaginable, unfolds. Real life and personal interactions are not so easily chopped up and crammed into imaginary time slots.

Holidays and vacations let us step away from clock time into the real time of flowers unfolding, the slow rising of a full moon, the sweet blossoming of a smile on a loved one’s face. These moments are timeless, off the clock.

When we watch or ride the waves, we are moving with the pulsations of our planetary home; the dance between the Earth’s molten core and the swing of the circling moon. We are touched by the huge reality of nature.

Virginia Beck

It doesn’t matter what you do. In fact, doing less may give you more. In yoga and meditation, we learn the spaces between the breaths are where the healing happens. The pause in between, brings us to a new awareness of ourselves, peaceful, happy and rested. Maybe a vacation is just a pause, time-out from worrying! Enjoy.

G.K. Chesterton said, “Tourists see what they expect to see, but travellers see what is there.” Looking at the world newly lets you see things you might have missed.

Perhaps the longest journey is the one that wakes us up and leads us home into the full awareness of the vast ocean of aloha in our hearts.

• Virginia Beck, NP and Certified Trager® Practitioner is a wellness consultant and a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner. She can be reached at West Kaua‘i Clinic, Waimea or at 635-5618.