BUSTING OUT

WORDS: PHOTOGRAPHY

Have you ever noticed how we put on a little weight during Winter? How we tend to like being indoors more and maybe even a little or lot less active?  Of course, the weather makes us do this … but it also cuts a little deeper, says Australia greatest-ever ironman Trevor Hendy who now enjoys success as a motivational speaker and life coach.

 

 

 

There is a real rhythm to life on Earth and if you allow yourself to connect with it, you can learn just when to sow … and just when to harvest. This is a great thing because there is nothing quite as frustrating as wanting badly to do something, yet the timing just doesn’t seem right.

 

Of course, I am not talking about being limited by life and its circumstances. I am actually talking about the power of finding that rhythm and letting it be your guide and your teacher. 

 

The same breathing in and out, expanding and contracting, expressing and withdrawing that you go through on a day-to-day, minute-by-minute basis is also going on all around us and affects the planet, not to mention everyone and everything living on it.

 

Imagine you walk into a room and five people are singing the same song. Imagine you start singing too but you are singing a different song, with different timing and different intensity … and a different message.  Doesn’t it feel horrible? Perhaps you’ve tried it on a night out – I vaguely remember doing it.  It doesn’t work to go against the grain and stay in the same room, particularly when you are outnumbered. 

 

You could, however, begin singing a harmonic back-up vocal or supportive tune that enhances what is already being sung and may even slowly redirect the song to something different. 

 

My point is that you are not limited by the songs that others are singing and you are not even limited to staying in the same room.  You can choose to create something that is in harmony with whatever is already going on around you.

 

Now imagine that our local community is one giant room and the song being sung, particularly at a nature level, is a harmonic match for the bigger lounge room (the rest of the planet).  If you were to learn the words to that song and sing the bits that most matched your voice, you may feel as though you have joined a beautiful orchestra that is infinitely more beautiful than the sum of its parts. 

 

I hope I haven’t lost you.  I hope that makes sense.  I am simply saying there is always a rhythm, that you can connect to, that will enhance you and the world around you. You just to have an ear for the music and that is attained by slowing down and listening for the tune for which this particular moment calls.

 

So, that leads me to Spring: what is this season of new beginnings singing to you? Spring is traditionally the sprouting season, when new growth emerges.  We have hibernated away and enjoyed it. It was warm, comfortable and renewing, allowing us to chill out a bit.  Now, we are renewed, even perhaps a little healed … and it is time to come back out like the sprout ready to soak up the extra daylight, warmer sun rays and spring trade winds.

 

I may be beginning to sound like I am giving an astrological reading.  Perhaps that is because Spring does put that hop into your step and makes you sound a little painfully joyful.  That is the way it is meant to be. 

 

We often think of Christmas/New Year as the biggest transition of what we know as years. I don’t – I feel it is Winter into Spring. 

 

We have gone down, slowed down, renewed, now we are heading back to the top.  That’s the music I follow when I start making my Spring plans.

 

In fact, most of my Spring plans, aren’t plans at all. Instead they are very spur-of-the-moment ideas and decisions. I just get into action and follow my heart. I go and have fun. I hit the water more often, I take more people with me. I gather people together and walk up and around stuff, and swim and paddle across stuff.  I get out and explore and discover what is new and fresh, and I let it be my inspiration.

 

What are you going to do this Spring? Who are you going to invite to share your journey? Whose life are you going to enhance just be being your inspired self?  What new growth is going to come through you? No matter what, just trust that whatever is sprouting through the surface is your greatest hint of where to get started. 

 

Take some risks!  Break out!  Try something new!

 

This leads me to my final point: Spring is also very romantic. 

 

Perhaps you could allow your old romance to re-sprout in this new season, or perhaps you are finally ready for that new romance. What is the use of having all of that fun if you haven’t allowed someone into your world to share it with you?  Of course, that doesn’t have to be a relationship if that is not where you are at, but at least let it be a new chance to share your loves and passions with someone you can truly bounce off.

 

As I always say: bring it into the now and never underestimate the power of who you are.

 

 

 

Trevor’s favourite Spring activities

 

• Stand-up paddling any blue water I can find, particularly to a picnic or play spot, and with as many friends and family as possible

• Early morning walks and Tai Chi and Qi Gong on the beach

• Group hikes in the rainforest, especially one you haven’t explored yet

• The search for the next waterfall and swimming hole in our beautiful hinterland

• Taking a little surf or bodysurf adventure up or down the coast to anywhere with a little seclusion.