And Then The Journey Really Began...

TO THE SEA
The sun's warmth fills me with a feeling of inner calm and
Deep serenity floods my peaceful soul
As I stand gazing at the beautiful glistening sea.

My mind drifts endlessly like a boat lost at sea,
The waves crashing in my ears, calling me, calling me
And my soul whispers the earnest reply
"One day soon we will be together".

Every footprint I leave in the sand is like a promise
Of my intention to return for good one day
And while the rising tide may quickly wash them away,
Nothing can erase the binding contract my soul has made with the sea.

©2009 Caren Carter

My second poem was a subconscious request to the Universe from my soul, a hope that I might fulfil my dreams of living by the sea. I don’t remember exactly how long I had been wishing I could make such a daring move – five years or more, I suppose. A childhood of idyllic summer holidays spent on the south coast of England and various seaside trips with friends had no doubt played their part in my fascination with the sea. In addition, the past 18 months have been filled with oddly frequent reminders of the sea in one form or another, rarely more than a few weeks apart. It’s almost as if the sea were building its case against the suffocation of the city in which I lived, by sending me timely prompts and gentle nudges.

In writing ‘To The Sea’, I was creatively confirming my fondness for the sea, and these three short verses irreversibly rekindled my dreams of leaving London. Deep down however, I still believed that this aspiration was an impossible dream. I certainly had the desire burning brightly within me, but I didn’t have any idea of how I could ever make this dramatic move. It was inconceivable that I could relocate to the coast without years of careful preparation and planning. All I knew was that I was filled with passion for the sea and felt I should try my hardest to make it happen ‘one day’, if at all possible.

In hindsight, it seems as if this poem opened a new path for my life’s journey, although I was to remain blissfully unaware of this fact for some months to come. I continued driving myself crazy with daydreams of owning a boat and living in a flat with a balcony overlooking a small harbour. It was not until April that I had a fateful online meeting with a poet who I discovered on MySpace. I really liked his work and dropped him a line to tell him as much. ‘Look me up on MSN, if you want to chat’, I said, completely unaware of how this liaison would change my life. In our very first online conversation, I declared that I wanted to escape the city and live by the sea; ‘I live by the sea’ came the matter-of-fact response. At that very moment, everything seemed to fall into place before me – it's as though I was being guided by unseen forces from then on, reassuring me every step of the way that this was where my future lay; not on the south coast of England as I had always assumed, but 450 miles away on the Scottish coast. ‘Well, soothing inner voices, I hope you are right about this’ was all I could think to myself.

The next couple of months are a bit of a blur, I gradually came to agree with the advice that my inner voices were so insistently playing over and over in my mind; I should leave London and move to Scotland. Just like that, the simplest decision I have ever made, in many respects. I have certainly not had a single moment of doubt about the move, since the idea first formed itself in my mind. Admittedly at times it is all a little surreal and dream-like; especially when I try to explain my decision to other people. ‘It just feels right’ is hardly a rational explanation, and yet I am not at all worried about any of my plans.

So, the dream that I believed to be way beyond my grasp is suddenly in the palm of my hand. It makes me realise how often we hold ourselves back by putting false limitations on our lives. How simple life seems and how easy it is to achieve our dreams when instead of believing what we tell ourselves is impossible, we choose to believe in what is possible and pursue it with a passion…