How did five months go by so fast?

Jackson Hole, China

Four days from now, I will pack up my belongings in this wee house in China, and climb into the car for the 2 hour drive to the Beijing airport to the south. I will miss this place deeply. Since April, night after night, I have pleasured in the sound of crickets outside my bedroom window, the sweet smells of mountain air brushing the fragrance of trees and flowers into my sleep. Morning after morning, I have had my coffee at this desk, watching the sun come up very early over the trees and mountains, contemplating the day’s work. And tonight, I am typing nearly my last words at this window’s ledge.

Art Creation Workshop

In Custody, the question is who?!

I know these last months will be remembered as amongst my best days ever. It has been a time of contrasts – unbelievable frustration with things not being as I expect them to be; ecstasy of being in the flow of what I do best, and most of all, being in love and connection with so many people all at once. For surely I do love them all – the staff of the House of I, with whom I have been teaching, learning and sharing almost all my waking moments. Equally, I have had the joy of connecting and learning from the other

Play Nice!

leaders, Lyle especially for his gift of encouraging me back into making music with others.

Hmmmmm they feed us well

The Interpretors

And it has been hard. I have been separated from Irena who all this time has been on her own journey, working in Istanbul. Daily Skype has made it survivable. It has allowed us to connect our two
separate lives, despite the great distance in geography and circumstance between us.

What have I been doing here? I was invited here as a ‘leader’, a teacher really, to help launch a new
personal development business in the luxury residential
community nestled at the foot of
a mountain across the valley from the Great Wall of China, visible from here on a rare clear day. Named Jackson Hole after its USA counterpart, it’s a bizarre blend of east and west, of modern western mountain villas, and ancient Chinese laborers driving soot belching three wheeled trucks down the streets day and night; of wealthy Chinese business owners, and peasant farmers.

Rayne and Shelly Momma

 Fun bunch!un bunch of girls!

In my work, I have had a chance to polish my ideas and enjoy working with passionate talented people. I have had the gratification of people’s excitement hearing some of my ideas, knowing I am making a difference for them. The 7Cs have found especially fertile ground here (excerpt from a workshop description):

“In China, the matter of “Courage” is a core. The modern people of China have ever increasing access to the freedoms and opportunities of the global way of living, but their up-bringing, culture and experience has not prepared them to take full advantage of this opportunity. There is much to benefit from learning to be more courageous. But how?

How can I overcome my cultural conditioning and be free to explore and express my true self?

Where do I find the courage to live the life I want to live, not the life I have been condition I should live.

In short, how do I find my way to more courage and happiness?”

The farm and  my summer steed

The wall around our garden....

Good questions for all of us. I have learned here, in turn. My new Chinese friends have shown how unequivocal commitment can live on even in the face of the storms of difference that blow here from time to time. Oddly, I know a different meaning of grace, and am just beginning to see the shape of inscrutability, yet still far from understanding it. I am fulfilled from making a contribution and I am honoured by their willingness to so love this barbarian in their midst.


Much to learn and do here yet.

To my friends of Jackson Hole – Thank yo.

Adieu dear ones