Dawning of a New Awareness

I woke up at 5:45am this morning, a little earlier than usual and I lay there in the half light of the pre-dawn contemplating how, as I attune myself more and more with nature and the universe, my body also comes into line, feeling the disharmony of some of what I do like drinking beer and so on.

Anyway, within a few minutes my lovely dog, Lucky, had registered that I was awake (presumably noticing the shift if the sound of my breathing) and jumped onto the bed with his usual rush of intensely imploring licks, indicating a strong desire to relieve himself! I “fought him off” for 5 minutes or so, telling him “walkies” would follow shortly and commanding him in Thai, “Norn” (“lie down”) but he did so for less than a minute before going through the whole routine again and I think it was the beginning of the 3rd round when I finally surrendered to the inevitability of the forthcoming walk and got up.

Attending briefly to my own personal needs before leaving so that I was free to devote this time to him in comfort, I soon had his lead on him and was marching out the door into the beautiful cool air of the pre-dawn period some 10 minutes before sunrise. And what a beautiful morning it was (and is) too. Largely a blue sky, wisps of cloud streaked across the dawning blue expanse before me, a few huddles of cotton-wool-like clouds as well. As I came with Lucky to the end of our side-street in our “moo baan” (private housing estate) I chose to turn left and so indicated to Lucky by a gently pull on his lead as I wanted to see the beautiful canvas that the pre-dawn sky now presented before me. I love clouds. I mean I really love clouds. They are somehow heavenly, otherworldly, and lift my attention from the mundane to the sublime.

So, as I made my way towards the back of the “moo baan” on its east facing border, slowly but surely the sun burst forth in a splash of golds on the horizon, nearly blinding me as I persisted in soaking it up in its fullest glory! Lucky did his usual business, pottering about oblivious to the delights of my world as he sniffed and marked his territory, having given up attempts to force me to turn back to face his mortal enemy, the large dog who lives opposite who roams free, wreaking havoc on all dogs who dare to invade his domain.

This fleeting display of the dawning sun now complete, I led Lucky back in the other direction so that he could enjoy a fuller expression of his “doggy needs” and we went out, past the central island that greets visitors to our “moo baan” with the large golden statue of the Hindu god, Ganesh, and made our way out of the estate and down the hill past a garden centre and onto the main road that curves away from us to the north-west and in the distance I saw the mottled horizon of the numerous “karsts”, the large 300 million year-old limestone formations that once formed part of the world’s largest coral reef that is now much of South East Asia.  Lit up by the sun, they looked stunning and I was totally alive to the wonders of nature, even in this otherwise somewhat bland immediate vicinity amidst ugly concrete constructions that sadly replaced the traditional wooden houses when wood became more scarce and concrete the cheaper option for building.

By this time I was feeling on cloud nine (cloud nine being that fluffy little number on the horizon that I mentioned earlier!): there I was in the cool morning sunshine, watching the beauty that is so abundant in Krabi, catching glimpses of the early morning dew in the short time before it evaporates, since the sun burns off all water so fast this near to the Equator, noticing its refreshing sparkles that quenches the thirst of the plants it blesses with its life-giving night-time blanket of moisture and how, in places, it reflects light so as to look like frost, yet the temperature is far too high at some 23-24 degrees Celsius for it possibly to be ice.

In this heavenly state of being, I felt at one with my surroundings, so happy to be alive and to live here in my new home country, Thailand, so grateful for its generous supply of natural beauty and comfortable climate. Attuned to nature in this way, and increasingly to my true self that is so at home in nature, I felt such intense joy, such deep happiness without a care in the world, a state of mind I find myself blessed to enjoy as the norm these days.

While Lucky was in his element, no doubt delighted that his impatient pulling to go in new directions had been successful, I turned my thoughts to what I had been contemplating so early on in bed, how my attuning or aligning with nature and my true self in this way was bringing me to new awareness and a prospect of new health and vitality; I could rally feel it, not just have it as some vague notion or concept. As a result of some fairly dramatic shifts in the last fortnight in my feelings about life and the people I know and don’t know, I have come to such a place of love and gratitude which feels sublime at the deepest possible level and I can feel my body’s reaction to such resonance with all that is, telling me that it is no longer comfortable with that which I had soothed up my inner aching, the beers at night, the early morning coffee one could stand a spoon in, the excesses of sugary delights and so on.

The dulling of the senses by these means was becoming unnecessary and I contemplated the prospect, indeed the probability, that as I march on and further attune myself to my true self, my natural self, when my new work begins next month, I can realistically anticipate that my body will reach new levels of vigour, of youthful balance and eventually fitness with the least of effort, because that, I realise, is our natural state when properly and finely tuned like a winning Formula One engine purring gently before the race.