Bali, February 2019
It is early morning in the lush green hills of Bali and I am out on my pushbike, cruising along the mind gobbling path where the coconut forest meets the sea. A 73-year-old farmer has stopped to have a conversation and we enjoy each others company for 5-10 minutes. His broken English and my struggling Indonesian could be quite comical.
As we depart with our own agenda, his contagious and consistent smile stays with me. For the remainder of the day I am seamlessly moving with an elevated spirit, thus organically permeating into all the many remaining encounters that unfold.
Likewise, I reflect to mid last year where I am teaching movement-based fun to a bunch of children suffering from Leukaemia at Christine Janin’s charity-based retreat in the French Alps. We are twisting ourselves around and about, making shapes, exploring relationships with each other in the context that anything is possible. As I leave the infectious smiles of each of the children, some suffering with terminal illness, stay with me for a long time.
We could be possibly walking this planet in a complete blur if we don’t stop and savour the small steps. Here — in the simplicity of a smile — I experience the depth and richness of being a human and sharing joy. The real smile is not simply curling up the edges of you mouth. A real smile can happen when the eyes, the body, the entire 46 muscles of your face become alive. It is simply an outward expression that naturally evolves from a moment that stops, senses and fully inhales this gift we call life.
It is the simple, small things that make the deepest impressions.
With love,
