Namaste

Nothing better than being next to the water in Yachats on the Oregon Coast. I’ve been here all alone for over three days now, and I could stay forever. I don’t know what it is about me and my connection to water but believe me, it is huge. As of now, I know I need to be home by Monday afternoon because I don’t want to miss my indoor soccer night. Other than that, I don’t know when I will leave.

As soon as I see the coast and smell the ocean air, an instant calm comes over me. I know my blood pressure drops, and my cares fly out the window. I can just “be” when I am here. Be it the crashing waves, the sandy beaches or even standing on the side of a cruise ship, water is always my happy place.

I’m staying at my husband’s family cabin. They bought the land with a small shack on it many decades ago. Since then they built a cabin and a few years ago, they added a big extra bedroom. It’s a quaint little “A” frame overlooking the water. I can see what attracted them to this area. It is so cozy, cute and friendly.

I came here to work on things I haven’t had a moment to do lately. Mostly, I came here to write. I’ve been working on my book(s) for such a long time now, and when I’m home, I’m constantly distracted. I can make sure my daughter is safely off to school; I make sure to get my exercise by taking the dog for a long walk so she will sleep. My only hope then is that the cat will be satisfied with the birds and squirrels playing outside the window at the bird feeder so he will leave me alone.

When I’m walking along the coastal trail, my head fills with words that I need to write. There is something mystical and magical about the air here. I rush back to the cabin to put pen to paper, and by that time, many of the thoughts are gone. They flow when I hear the waves and smell the salt. When I am tucked back in the cabin, they disappear.

What I do know is I am writing a few books, and I will finish at least one of them soon. I have a website that I launched a while back because I need to start building the ever-critical platform. To be a published author, you need to have already a sizable presence in social media. For me, I just wanted a place to start creating an archive of blog posts which reflect my personality.

The website is far from done. There is nothing professional about it, but it is the vehicle to get my blog posts out. I know I will eventually find a master of all things WordPress, and they will be able to help me take it to the next level. A techy person I am not. One day I will figure out how to get MailChimp to capture the subscribers and make sure they get my posts emailed weekly. That will be amazing when I understand that part of the web. After this is all setup, you can bet I will be stalking everyone I know to be a subscriber. Be ready! I will need that massive platform.

Another thing I will not concern myself with is the writing itself. I am a writer only because I have many stories I need to share. I am not an English major, so there will be problems with sentence structure, word usage, punctuation, squinting modifiers and writing in the passive voice just to name a few. These are some of the things I will not lose sleep over. When the book is ready, I plan to hire an editor to proofread it to make sure it is ready for the critics. I won’t allow myself to sweat the small stuff. I have stories to share. If in reading this you cringe because you see all of my errors, relax, it’s a work in progress.

The other reason I am here this week by myself is to have the time to meditate. At least five times over the last week or so before I came here I tried to find a half an hour to have a quiet moment of meditation. Every single time I was interrupted! You can’t be falling deep into meditation and have the dog start pawing on you or have the cat jump on your lap. I figured escaping to the ocean would be a great place to do it, and it is!

With benches scattered along the 804 Trail, you can sit and listen to the tumultuous waters for hours and be in a meditative state. The more you allow yourself to go there, the easier it is to be there. I forgot how medicinal meditation is.

Enjoy the videos I took of the ocean. It is crazy windy and stormy today, what I like to call a “Winnie the Pooh Day.” Blow them up to full screen, put them on loop, sprinkle some salt and sand around your computer screen and join me here on the coast. Find a little moment of meditation. Here’s the first video. And here’s another. And finally, here is another one from two days ago in the sun.

Namaste