Near The Basin at Franconia Notch State Park.
To my friends on this journey, we arrived home last evening and I had enough time to compile these short videos and upload them before heading to dream land.
For the next two days, I will be home, catching up a bit on blogs, writing, getting into a bit of a routine, before heading off to the sanctuary – where it will be a personal / working retreat.
It’s changed in focus slightly in light of the northeast trip, but for good reason: I was wholly inspired to write, write, write!
I think I was supposed to cross paths with Henry David Thoreau. I talk about it more in the video on Franconia Notch State Park – I stood where he stood, AND it was his birthday AND we passed through a town called Walden when we were headed to our next destination.
The writing bug has hit, and I am struck: blissfully, unexpectedly, and I’m going with it.
I’m journaling so much about these travels and meditations and I will publish in book form to go with all the things I intend to publish under the LIFE Project.
In the meantime, please enjoy these short forays into my journey of the past 11 days. In the next couple of weeks, I will have regular access to the internet and will be able to post and respond regularly.
It was both a blessing that I didn’t have hardly any access to the Internet the past 11 days, but also difficult because I so wanted to share photos and videos. All in its own time, right?
What an incredible journey, there’s still more, and EVERYONE should do journeys like these at least once a year.
One of our first stops:
Newport Tower. We’d spent the day after meeting the famed Clark (hi, Clark!) from the Wakefield Doctrine driving in the rain. Normally I welcome the peaceful mood the rain brings – the sounds invite contemplation. Unfortunately, it was such a downpour, I felt rather baptized by the heavy clouds of Newport, which left me feeling less than contemplative. Ah, well. It was still incredible:
Bar Harbor, Maine. We headed to Acadia National Park – a beautiful place! – and then hiked Cadillac Mountain, and went to my almost-alma-mater: College of the Atlantic. I once was offered a full scholarship to this beautiful place, but turned it down because I was unsure of what I wanted to major in. Their only major is human ecology.
Funny…if I knew then what I know now….
At McClellan Park in Milbridge, ME, and Acadia National Park.
I met some of the most friendly, interesting people at this park, not to mention getting a chance to have a contemplative cup of tea by the sea. We loved it here so much that we doubled the time we spent there: instead of two days, we spent five days and four nights in Maine.
After Maine, we headed to New Hampshire. We stayed at a free camp spot that was beautiful and remote, and then headed to Franconia Notch State Park where I discovered that Henry David Thoreau loved to spend his time.
We made our way to Vermont and checked out Bartlett Falls near the small town of Lincoln:
And stayed in the town of Stowe – not because it was a “sacred” place, but because I’d always heard amazing things about it. Unfortunately, it rained so much that we couldn’t climb Mt. Mansfield – which IS said to be a sacred place.
And so it is with life: we might intend to do something, but if it’s not in the cards, don’t dwell and take in whatever else life is offering right then.
Our final stop before heading back to North Carolina was in the Adirondacks, near a large pond. It was peaceful and we would have liked to stay more than just one night, but alas, we needed to get home. Some of the photos I took with my phone looked like paintings – at least that’s what I thought when I looked at them.
https://youtu.be/co9Z75kjMHk
Welcome home, my sweet friend!! I am slowly playing catch up here myself. Today is Emma’s 8th birthday and Kevin still has off until tomorrow. So going to most likely be offline as the day goes on to celebrate and enjoy the day with them. But just had to stop in to check out your trip a bit here. Looked like a wonderful, successful one. So glad to see. Hugs to you and wishing you the best week ahead now!! xoxo <3
Janine – thank you so much! Thank you also for the great opportunity to guest post – I saw it on Friday and hopefully got it shared all right: we had internet at the cafe where I was checking, but other than that, there was none! It was good to be away from the internet but I also found that I missed it.
Thank you for stopping in! I hope Emma has had a wonderful 8th birthday! I met you all when she was 3, I think. Time has really flown! I hope you really did get the day off and had a chance to celebrate. The journey was incredible. I can’t wait to share more about it as time goes on. I’m sending you big hugs, I hope you got to relax after getting back from Disney, and hoping your upcoming week is as fabulous as you are! xo
very cool, yo
Clark – and you’re very cool back, yo! 🙂 Hope you’re well! Thank you for the updated chapter you sent me!
So glad you had an amazing time, Lil Sis! This will be short. I’m trying to meet a deadline with a customer and have to run. Hugs!
Big Bro! Thank you! No worries about this being short. I’m already short. *HAHA*
In any case, I hope the deadline went well and that you see lots of customers and friends at the farmer’s market. Sending you big hugs, too!
It sounds like a wonderful trip filled with fun, beauty and insights. Kudos Cynthia!
Brad – hey, friend! Great to see you. Thank you for coming by and for your kind words. Here’s to hoping you have a great week! Sending hugs!
Hi Cynthia:
So glad you had such and amazing journey, love what you have put together for us and I thank you for sharing. Looking forward to all you will have to share with us…
Hugs
Rolly – friend! Thank you for your kind words here and for all the wisdom you share and for coming by. I hope you’ve had a good weekend and I’ll bet you’re looking forward to your upcoming trip. Guessing by how chilly it was in the northern US, I can imagine it gets downright chilly at night where you are. Stay warm and bundle up! 🙂
Beautiful and inspiring! I must go on a sacred journey soon!
Thank you Cyndi for sharing your journey. The photos and the videos and your thoughts while visiting each place are beautiful.
So why did you not go to that college?! lol I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t have been able to handle the Maine winters!
I’m glad that you and John and my newest canine friend, Vinny (or maybe it is Vinnie 🙂 ), had safe travels and you are back at the homeplace… processing it all.
Hey, Denise! Thank you so much for coming by! It was so incredible to meet you. And I was so glad to read more writings by you on your blog, too. I really enjoyed making a short videos, with the help of my phone. It’s amazing what technology can do these days, no? I would have taken a lot more pictures with my “good” camera, but it was so easy to take photos with my phone and then upload them when I had a connection. Oh, I would have so loved to go to college. In the end, I elected to stay closer to home. But, I’m seeing the campus, I wish I would have gone there. At the time, I didn’t know if I wanted to major in human ecology. And well, you have a good point. I’m not so sure about a Maine winter. It was a cold just camping up there in the middle of July! Only once did I wear shorts. That was the day that we left to go farther south into Bar Harbor where there was a lot of asphalt and people. Those two things make an area warmer. But then, as soon as we drove back, I had to don my jacket, my fleece pants, thick wool socks, and hiking shoes.
As for meeting Vinny, now you have a new friend for life. All along our journey, I think you were the only person that he encountered where he presented his backside to you, ha ha. We saw a lot of people, and came across a lot of dog lovers, but he’s very particular on who he chooses to be a friend. I’ve been back at the Homestead for three days now, and this afternoon I’m getting ready to go to the sanctuary. What a journey this will all be. I can’t wait to read more of your writing, and I will talk to you soon! Sending big hugs.
So loved your video’s and your photo’s of your journey Cyndi.. Such a lot of beauty and peace to be found in this world for sure.. And it seemed you encountered a lot of rain on your journey.. Something we Brits know all about.. LOL. But this Summer is being extra kind to us, which is why I am spending more time out doors… Just too beautiful to miss.
Thoreau, is a favourite of mine… So many good quotes from the man who spent time exploring and evaluating nature and Life out in the open. A true pioneer in every sense of the word.. And like you said, yes a man before his time.
And I am so hoping you share a little of your writing with us,, Sounds interesting to say the least. 🙂
Sending Huge Hugs your way, as you settle back home .. <3 <3 <3
Dear Sue, I can tell you the smile that you bring to my face every time I see your comments. They’re always so full of insight and love that I can feel it. I posted those videos– Lots of them –to give folks an idea of the places I’ve been. But, I kept them short, due to sporadic Internet connection, and preserve memory on my poor little phone. We indeed encountered a lot of rain. But, that was okay. It just mentally change some plans, and honestly, I really enjoyed the trip with the rain. It made me slow down. It made me rest. It made us not want to go out and do a thing after thing after thing. It made us slow down, and without all kinds of gadgets around to constantly vie for our attention, it was a journey that centered both of us. However, I am really glad that you are having a lot of sunshine where you are. That reminds me, I need to water my flowers before I head out today. Ha ha. In fact, I am a couple hours away from leading to the sanctuary where I will stay for the next four days. I’m glad that this project is making me do this. Because, after all the we’ve just done, my first thought is to just stay home. But I know that this will be good for my soul. I know that it will be good for my creativity.
After reading about Thoreau, I now really have a strong desire to read his books. From what I’ve heard and what I’ve read, he was ahead of his time – I guess I said that already, ha ha.
I definitely do plan on sharing some of the writing I’ve done. This journey already has taken me on roads that I did not know I would travel. I’m June 23, the last day of my job, I was thinking that I was going to enroll in a mindfulness teaching course. That I would get certified in mindfulness, and start teaching classes immediately. I think Spirit is beginning to leave me in a different direction. I had no idea that this journey would become so much about writing. Granted, some of my affirmations center on being a writer. But, I thought this writing would be more along the lines of nonfiction, reflection, and meditations. There is a story that I’m writing that is emerging. I don’t know if it’s good or bad, yet, but it feels more like a romance type story. I would like to say that I would be one of those writers like Toni Morrison, or Barbara Kingsolver, or Sue Monk Kidd, or another author that I love to read named Sue Harrison. Apparently I just let anyone who writes what the name of Sue! In any case, these are all literary writings. The kinds of things that you might read about while taking a college course. I sort of always wanted to be that sort of writer. But the story that is emerging is more like what Nicholas Sparks would write. And well, with this connection to spirit, I’m just letting it flow. And maybe the story will emerge and go to places I have no idea where it will go, but why not see. In my stories, I always have to include an element of the supernatural. I’m anxious to see where this one will go as far as that goes. In any case, I suppose I should start getting ready to go after I finished some more these comments. But, I will have access to Internet. And since this journey insists on being about writing, ha ha, I’m going to go ahead and continue writing and working while on this retreat. But, there are miles and miles of hiking trails nearby to where I will be. This is also a sacred place and I intend on doing a lot of meditating, and consulting with my spiritual advisors. I’m actually writing a post about that, that I hope will come out on Monday. In any case, I’m sending you huge hugs as well, and may your garden be entirely fruitful. XOXO
Loved your adventures, and the videos.
I have been meaning to go deep into the woods just to try to find that balance within me…but time constraints. However, I am trying to be aware of the positivity around me and absorb it until I get that break 🙂 Needless to say your coloring book also helping me 🙂
xoxo
Sweet Ruchira, thank you for coming by, and for checking out my adventures and videos. You have been meaning to go deep into the woods, but I have a meaning to get myself to India someday. I’m going to have to get tips and advice from you when I eventually go. Putting the meantime, being aware of positivity and absorbing it is always a good thing. I am so glad that you are enjoying the coloring book. That means so much to me. You are a gem, and make me smile, and I’m so glad our paths have crossed. Sending you big hugs and thoughts of peace. xoxo
Just keep going within the flow, and I always do my best writing like that.. Not thinking about it but just allowing it to form.. I am often certain an unseen hand guides my pen.. lol.. At least I know they often guide my thoughts. 😀 .. I so know you will enjoy your retreat and while it is easy to stay at home within our comfort zones, listening to your urges that you must go is also Spirit guiding, I am sure more insights will unfold..
And I smile even wider as I write that as the book The Celestine Prophecy comes to mind by James Redfield… 🙂 as the Signs unfurl.. lol
Wishing you well upon your next journey.. and sending Mega Hugs and Much Love.
Sue <3
Sue – it’s amazing what Spirit does if you let it, no? I just can’t believe how much I love and feel what I’m writing. I have no idea where it’ll all lead, but the for the first time, ever, there is a story that’s coming out that I have not planned or anticipated. What I am doing is as I go on walks, I get bursts of insight as to what to write next and what might happen to a certain character. It’s really fun and entertaining to discover the story as I write it. And the insights that have happened on these journeys and travels…This. Stuff. Is. Amazing. And I loved the Celestine Prophecy. James Redfield was brilliant in the way he pulled of visionary fiction. This is what I originally envisioned when I wanted to write a visionary fiction novel. But, alas, it’s not happening that way. It’s a lesson, I think, in learning to let go of expectation and just experience the flow, as you said. I hope your July has been wonderful so far that that you’re enjoying the fruits of your work in your garden. Sending you so much love and light. HUGS!! xox
This post is filled with even more energy than usual, dear Cynthia – your travels look to have been wonderful on every level – looking forward to hearing more as well.
I did not see a place to comment in your last post but wanted you to know that I loved the picture of you at the summit of Cadillac Mountain.
Wishing you much peace and wonder in your continued self discovery. Love and hugs, Maria
Maria – sweet Maria! Thank you for your awesome insights and the love in your comment. I am hope for a couple days before heading out to a few more places in my month of sacred travel. My travels so far have been incredible and have really enjoyed the lessons I’ve learned and the lessons I have learned.
Ah, yes, last week’s short post was just a little interim as I would not have been able to respond to comments in an adequate way, so I paused them. Thank you for looking at and reading that post and that was another epic moment atop that mountain….
I hope you’ve had a wonderful month so far and I’m sending you hugs, light and love. xoxo
First of all, I’m so sorry I’m only getting to your post now. It’s been an interesting two weeks. Looks like you had a FABULOUS time and really did some serious soul searching. I felt so peaceful just watching your videos, so I can only imaging the impact it had on you. I really do believe that every person should do something like this, just to have that soul-searching break and realign what’s important, when one chapter of a book closes. You’ve made me want to go camping and I hate camping LOL. It just looks so fun – to be in nature like that. I’m so glad you got to do this – you’re very, very lucky and blessed. Catch up soon sweet friend xx
Sweet Melanie! I hope the last two weeks have treated you kindly – I know all about the challenges of embarking on a new endeavor. Never doubt that you can do it. Never doubt the gifts you have to share with the world. The July travels have been profound – for sure. The videos, hehe. Well, they were short and probably quite unprofessional-looking, but I did want to share about the magic of some of these places. And yes, doing something that gets you out of your comfort zone every so often is just so incredible. It invites growth. It invites reflection and learning. And when one chapter closes, another one begins. Wise words you have used, sweet friend. As for camping…it’s fun, but I do really, really appreciate a hot, warm shower when I get back. Hehe. And clean clothes. Hehe. But, being in nature, getting dirty, spraying bug spray and mixing it with sunblock and smearing it together has its place: again it’s the reference to the comfort zone. For experiencing that gets one closer to nature in a way that isn’t possible when one can go back home: falling asleep listening to crickets and hoping a spider doesn’t crawl on you is…a different experience, but one that really can help change perspective. lol. Thank you for your wonderful thoughts and insights. Sending you big hugs and we’ll catch up, soon! xoxo
It is wonderful when writing happens like that.. I know the story I started many years ago started out life like that, then something happened, I don’t know why I stopped.. But since your own recounting of your own stories inspiration, I have been thinking of it more and more.. Its all saved somewhere on an external hard drive. I even put chapters on my blog when I first wrote it, but then found someone on the net was copying my story as their own.. SO I made the posts private on my blog.. And stopped writing it in public.. The person then made their whole blog private by invitation only so I do not know what else they are copying.. A shame really, that they felt the need to copy as their own, instead of acknowledging the author as we do in reblogs .. Never mind Water long gone under the bridge on that one..
Sending LOVE and hugs and July now almost gone.. Another month that has sped on by xx
Love Sue xx
Sweet Sue – whew! Writing frenzies! Hehe. In fact, I’ve been so caught up in it the last few days, I’m a little behind in returning your wonderful comments. <3 I hope, hope you do write. You are so engaged with the folks who follow your blog and I know - intuitively so - that whatever stories you decided to compile and publish will be well-received. The people love your wisdom and sagacity in a way that I cannot even begin to emulate. I have heard that one might NOT share the portions of their novel on their website...to put it behind a paywall (such as Amazon) to help keep people from copying. I am well-aware, alas, that people can download - and then easily copy - my two free coloring books. I weighed the pros and cons of making them free. But, I also know that every writer and every artist must take this risk if they decide to do anything online. I have come up with the following for my own sanity regarding this: I accept that this can and will happen and that those people who must resort to copying need more love in their hearts. They need more guidance. I have limited the "paid" things and not shared those photos/drawings/writings on here. For example, the Tree of Life coloring book is only available on one site, and it's print on demand and any images I've shared have been small, low resolution images (just a few of them I've shared) and any other images from the book are on the video about it - also very difficult to copy. And good for your for continuing with your story, even though you did have to make it private. What that person was doing was not okay and you were right to do that. And so, yes, for our most precious work, I feel compelled to guard it...even though "imitation is supposed to be the best form of flattery." Hehe. Now, what would I do if I ever found someone selling my work as their own? A friend of mine - an artist - recently had this problem. I think I would have to ask the person to take it down and if they didn't comply, I might have to lovingly meditate on it for the right answer. Sigh. Sometimes people just don't think. Other times they're desperate. Other times the site owner employed someone else to "create" the work and has no knowledge that their employee was doing such a thing. Ah well...the Internet. A bit like the Wild West. Hopefully compassion will overcome those obstacles and in the meantime, may our own hearts not be tarnished and act in accordance with our own values...and love. 🙂
You are wise dear Cyndi in what you are doing with your publications etc.. And yes, I sent them love, they who take this way really do need our sympathy for they obviously lack their own creative skills.. xxx Wonderful reply my friend xx
Sue – and you, my friend, are someone I look up to because of your spiritual wisdom. Thank you – always – for being a beacon of light in a world that so badly needs bright rays to lighten the darkness. Sending you big hugs and keep on creating. For you have a true gift. xoxo