On the Verge of Paradise

There can be few good reasons for having left a life of relative comfort in the West for a life of constant challenges in the East but one of them is satisfaction or fulfilment, an opportunity to develop oneself beyond the bounds of conventional living. Having done so, I feel less than inclined to return to ‘normality’ since it is very restrictive, robbing one of time and excitement in the short stint we call life.

Having now abandoned past attachments to country and friends, to career and even loved ones, I venture forth on a new track, remote from the world of security and familiarity I once knew, in favour of an adventure worthy of my life’s effort.

Starting again as I did at 50 has certainly had more than its fair share of challenges and every day brings lessons on life that before lay buried beneath the rubble of a collapsed empire that was my life, until I wrestled them free of the wreckage and took them on board wholeheartedly.

It is there for anyone who chooses a full life, a life of inner fulfilment and outer expression of self through the worthy pursuits of a heart’s desires. There is nothing worthy in chasing fame or fortune at the cost of inner contentment and fulfilment. So equally there is nothing worthy in denied desires. A balance is found between the material and the spiritual when uncovering one’s true desires and acting upon them with fortitude and grace, with patience and faith.

It takes courage to give up all one has known to pursue a new and less certain path, yet to do so brings untold joy and learning to expand the soul. I have never looked back with envy or desire, only forwards towards a dream fulfilled in the moment every day in almost every way, from the freedom to be whatever I want to its very expression in everything I create for myself along the way.

There is no shortfall in expectation in the end: it all comes to order in time. You just need to trust and be patient. So it is that I sit here on the banks of the Mekong River between Laos and Thailand and on the verge of a move of home to a paradise I have dreamed of but never expected so soon, with all the joys to come from a lifestyle in nature and by the sea and from the pursuits of the heart that will soon reward me generously.

Is that not worth a risk or two, a leap of faith here, a dash of courage there? Of that I have no doubt. What I find hard to understand is why anyone would choose otherwise!