Holy Yes

Pure Life

June 19, 2015

After an overwhelming beginning, in the past few weeks we have begun to emerge from our cave. And just like everything else in Costa Rica, when we opened up a little, life rushed up to meet us. Opportunities appeared and magic happened. We’ve been house hunting and property hunting and meeting builders and retreat planning, and that’s only a partial list!

One of the many lessons that this time in Costa Rica has taught me is that the use of our time is a choice. It would be really easy to sit here, margarita in hand, and waste our days.

But we wanted to make a life that we never needed a holiday from, not a life that was a perpetual holiday. And whether that happens or not is completely up to us.

Having no stuff, no television, a slightly uncomfortable house and no social life has really meant that we’ve been faced with ourselves. And I have had to decide who I want to be and how I want to spend my time. And it has become very clear.

What I want to do is write ~ for you. I want to write stories and blog posts that come straight from my heart. I want to focus on the magical and the whimsical and the Pura Vida – the Pure Life – that we are a part of, no matter where we live or what we are doing. It’s what I know for sure: that life is happening in every single moment, and that the magic is there if we choose to see it.

So as with all of the other things in my life, changes are afoot here. Look for a new website, more stories and my very-soon-to-be-announced ‘The Holy Yes’ retreat, hopefully happening in Costa Rica in November.

In the meantime we’ll be in Canada soaking up time with family, eating baked goods until we can’t eat any more (we’ve only had two gas burners for the past three months. My husband has gone into serious oven withdrawal), and dreaming of the next phase of this adventure.

As always, sending you so much love,

P.S. If you are interested in knowing more about my upcoming retreat, just send me an email. I’d love to tell you about what I am cooking up.

beauty, Costa Rica, fear

Tumbled down the rabbit hole. Not sure I’ll be back. love, me.

May 18, 2015

‘It was much pleasanter at home,’ thought poor Alice, ‘when one wasn’t always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by mice and rabbits. I almost wish I hadn’t gone down that rabbit-hole — and yet — and yet — it’s rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do wonder what can have happened to me! When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one! There ought to be a book written about me, that there ought! And when I grow up, I’ll write one.’ ~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

dominical meghan genge We’ve now been on this adventure for nearly three months. Although it had been coming for a lot longer, I am choosing to start the clock on the first day that we really stepped into the unknown; the first day we began to run on faith.

We often play the game, ‘What do you miss?’ And what always comes up – besides the people – are things that are comfortable, convenient, or easy. As Alice said, it was pleasanter at home. But as pleasant as pleasant is, pleasant is something that just doesn’t stack up against our current state of life immersion. And this is not about being in Costa Rica. This is about listening to and then following our hearts. Taking a chance. Choosing the path that is the most full of life and knowing that one way or the other, it will all be good.

We have well and truly tumbled down the Dominical sarongs meghan genge rabbit hole. We have left the safe, the known, the pleasant, all because we followed a holy yes down the hole. Everything is topsy-turvy. Up is down, left is right. Everything is heat and colour and vibrancy and ripe, dazzling life. All of this could be (and is at times) really frightening, but there in the colourful unknown there is also magic, whimsy, enchantment, people, delight, stories, and – most importantly – faith.

Following your holy yes will not always be easy, but it will always lead to something amazing.

You just have to have faith.

Alignment, Costa Rica

My Why

February 17, 2015

“My wish is that others will learn to stop before I did, to take into account the limitations of their physical bodies and to take the time to listen to the yearnings of their soul.

It is in the taking care of ourselves we learn the ability to take care of others.” – Celia Lashlie, who died yesterday.

meghan with wings When we tell people that we are about to move to Costa Rica, the question is almost always, “What are you going to DO?”

No one ever asks us why.

Nearly everyone has gone straight to the fears of not-enough. They are practical. How are we going to pay our bills? How are we going to make money? How will we fill our days? How are we going to survive?

But no one ever asks us why we are moving.

No one ever questions the need to move away. No one ever wonders why on earth we would leave a really good job and move to a foreign country. No one ever asks us what the real reasons are for the move.

Because I think that deep down, everyone already thinks they know.

They think we are moving because this life – this seemingly perfect life, isn’t perfect. They think we are moving because we don’t want to spend all year working our asses off just so that we can spend two weeks in the sun getting over it. They think we are moving because we are running away from something; because we think that somehow life will be better somewhere else. They think we are moving because it’s sunny where we are going to live.

And in some ways they are right. But that’s not the whole story. That is only part of our why.

We are moving because we have had huge life lessons in not waiting until you are retired to live. We are moving because we know to our souls that life is precious and that taking care of ourselves has to be our highest priority. We are moving because if we are not happy in this seemingly idyllic life, then it is we that are the problem. If we are the problem, then no job, no car, no vacation, and no stuff can fill that space in our hearts. We are moving because when we made the decision to move, the holy yes that happened at that moment filled us with such peace, we couldn’t not listen.

We are moving because we know that our time and our health and our lives are the most precious things we have; so we are going to build a life that supports, celebrates and honours that.

So what are we going to do? We are going to listen to the messages telling us to move. We are going to get on with living our lives. We are going to create a life from scratch that honours our lives instead of our stuff. We know it’s not going to be easy, that we are incredibly lucky to be able to make this choice, and that anything could happen. But we also know that life is precious and we want to get everything we can out of this time around. So we are going to get on a plane and see where the next holy yes takes us.

We have no other choice.

“If we are identified with being married to a certain person, with a job, with our very body and life – that’s how deep it goes – there’s not any real peace or freedom because something in us knows that it’s all very fragile. So we are always on some level kind-of tensing against what’s around the corner.” – Tara Brach

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Pure Life

Tumbled down the rabbit hole. Not sure I’ll be back. love, me.

My Why

“My wish is that others will learn to stop before I did, to take into account the limitations of their physical bodies and to take the time to listen to the yearnings of their soul.

It is in the taking care of ourselves we learn the ability to take care of others.” – Celia Lashlie, who died yesterday.

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