I have been trying to unpack the ‘magic source’ that has enabled so much travel and change to occur from last Matariki to this. And it was only at the Rise Retreat for Indigenous Coaches, at the end of last week, that I was finally able to do so.
The reflections, reframing, refocusing and learnings that came from this incredible, wahine lead and run wānanga, has given me insight to the ingredients, if not the exact recipe, for replication to occur.
Windswept, but yet warm within the bite of chilled winds and a wild West landscape, it was the being with ngā wāhine that helped my wairua be able to make sense of it all. With heightened senses I was able to unpack all the unexpected places this past year provided.
So where have I been?
This year saw me at the airport a record number of times. In fact in one year I traveled more than I have in the half a century prior.
From regions of Aotearoa that I had never been to, to ones I revisited with a new lens and standing, to new shores and Moana surrounded islands.
I have flown over waves and headlands, shorelines and maunga.
I have driven roads and concepts with varying landscapes and languages.
I journeyed to new countries and new corners of myself.
I have hugged people whose whakapapa differ from mine but our mauri was connected and communicated beyond words.
I have spoken the languages I know and am relearning in landscapes where some have never heard these tones and accents of Aotearoa before.
My body has slept in beds where thousands have slept before, and I have bathed in waters that were pulled up from whenua that rippled in ways I am not familiar with, but some how know.
I have drunk beverage and eaten foods that have been prepared by people who my children will never meet, and have walked streets that have greeted the souls of those who have walked and worked centuries before.
I have mixed my tears with the dew of new dawns, and have felt wind and rains that have circulated sides of our globe that I have never ventured to before.
My body, my mind, my mauri, have been layered with new cloaks and customs.
And all the while there was a familiar feeling.
That this was where I was meant to be. Folded in the arms of travel, nestled in the embrace of new. As I reflected, I was fed the understanding that I am meant to travel. Meant to interact to gain full understanding and insight.
That what I create is made to be exchanged across oceans, customs and kindness.
That I am a voyager, interactor and ignitor of change.
That I thrive on diversification and cross continent connections.
That I move with respect and guidance, and in return offer grace and exchange of deep knowledge.
That I accept difference and denounce disrespect.
I nurture and nourish those who host and house myself and others, and I am forming foundations to forge developments and new dialogue.
This year has given me my why and now I am set to craft the how and with who.
So, as the sunsets on the cycle of the last year, it is with gratitude and aroha that I tie up the bundle of gifts and lay out the tools and talents that have come to light.
This new dawn now sees me ready to craft from the old and bring life to the new.
Let the travel and momentum continue.
Aroha nui, Timmy x