New Zealand Odyssey: Week 24, Reflections at the Halfway Point

The opportunity to work less and with more quiet and less stress is one of the great benefits of sabbatical. After seven years of hard effort at UM, I felt the need to step back, reflect, and reconnect with parts of myself that it seemed were fading away in the busy day-to-day. In the push for success in my career and in obtaining security for my family, I had the sense that I had over-shot something of value; a lightness of spirit that I had once enjoyed seemed increasingly distant and hard to access.

Some would argue that the loss of optimism and light-spiritedness is inevitable as one ages and takes on greater responsibility. But there are youthful spirits in all walks of life, including our own, who show us that this is not the case, that light-spiritedness can be cultivated, even in the face of life's challenges.

Which brings me back to myself, here in NZ, with plenty of time (maybe too much) on my hands, five weeks into summer break and half-way through my time here, trying to surf and bike my way back to a more wonder-filled way of being and of looking at the world.  After five months of grasping effort and waiting, I feel a familiar lightness stirring, tentatively, and it is a relief.

Looking forward, the question then arises, How can I cultivate
and strengthen this joy? Gratitude, the topic of my Week 21 journal, is certainly part of the answer. Over the next five months, my goal is to discover still more.


Surfing - a bloody difficult sport - at Kaka Point.