To find a sense of balance and centering I regularly step out of the home and go for long walks in nature, just nearby. Being blessed with an abundance of wide open space here on the south coast of Africa, it’s possible to find all the space you might need to get away from the busy activity of society. Today I want to share some of the views from my humble paradise.
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These photos show my meditation space, where I retreat for hours at a time every other day. With no people around, I feel as if I have it all to myself, which is a real treat. Such is the luxury of a simple lifestyle in the right surroundings. Without having to endeavor or pay anything, the natural environment is available. It feels like the best of many worlds, since the region has beautiful beaches just below these cliffs.
Add to that the beautiful vegetation and in the season shown here, we also have the abundant waterfall. The region is supportive of life, and sometimes I wonder If I could just leave the world behind and come camp out here for the remainder of my days. Of course, the waterfall is seasonal so it’s also sometimes dry. Nature has both sides to her, and is cyclic.
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This particular little waterfall flows right down the cliff and in to the Indian Ocean, down below. I make regular descents to the rocky shoreline, sometimes bathing in the rock pools. The more pristine long stretches of pure white beach are a few short miles away, where there is great surf for those inclined toward it. So there’s lots that nature has to offer here.
I personally prefer these rocky cliffs as they are more solitary and also offer me a chance to get some great exercise climbing up and down to the shoreline and back. It’s a special added bonus to sometimes see the schools of dolphins swimming past, in long lines that seem to stretch on for ages. Besides that the seals make this their home too. Whales are visible too in the southern winter, around July to September, when they come to calve.
In this way the surroundings of nature offers up a blissful arena for tapping in to the life-sustaining environment, along with the rest of her creatures. We are never alone, with hawks and crows adding to the cacophony of bird life, including the seagulls of course. I have become familiar with some of the birds who are visible almost every time I make it to the cliff tops and the river valley.
I can understand why hermits and monks of old would retreat to some isolated environment in nature to focus on their meditation and inner awakening. Today we may be more obliged to focus on a busy career, but at some point it’s crucial to get away from the desk or even the suburbs, to find peace and health among the natural surroundings.
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Taken with a fisheye lens to fit in the broad vista
You can notice on one of the photos how the carved pathways on the hillside appear to resemble a double helix of the DNA, or something equally mystical. It happened by accident as the original path was recently refined by someone to facilitate more hikers or tourists visiting the area. As a result the newer carved pathway overlapped the original older one and they appeared to me as a potential symbol of the source of life itself.
Such is the artistic beauty to be found throughout nature, whether spontaneous or by engineering. It’s al going on by intelligent design. The amazing harmony found throughout nature shows me just how much of intelligence there is behind the entire creation, from the spiral galaxies to the spiral shells on the beach. This creation is not the result of an accident. Perhaps I’m being swept away by my imagination, but that is how I have perceived my surroundings overall. There is an intelligence permeating through nature and certainly through all life. And we humans are merely a fraction of that whole ecosystem, which is all a symptom of consciousness, merely expressing itself in varieties of forms.
(photos my own)
Admiring your landscape - yesterday I was so frazzled I felt ill. Even all night I felt sick and nightmarish. The cure? Sunrise at the beach and a good dunking in the ocean. I've felt fabulous all day.
Please, give me hermitage.
Hey there lotus lady, I'm so glad you managed to break out of your moment of illness. We are blessed in the southern hemisphere with some lovely coastline, and real sanctuary from the hectic activities on other distant shores.
The hermitage is yours.
What abundance. This stunning nature makes the area in Portugal where I reside seem ordinary but, then again, I can't complain compared to many others.
Thanks for sharing this with us :<)
Hey there friend, curiously your climate in Portugal is very similar to mine since we are around 34 degrees south latitude here. This region ironically is called a Mediterranean climate, so I presume our vegetation might be similar too. It's also quite bland here in color, on initial impression, but filled with subtle detail.
Interesting to hear this although I believe Portugal has some different micro climates and the area where you're at might be more similar to the Algarve, the Portuguese south coast. I am a couple of hours away from the sea, in a more mountainous region with a river and river beaches. And, although it can be pretty cold and wet here, at times, it can also be extremely dry and hot. I love the diversity.
Aha that's good to know. Yes my climate will be like the south coast of Portugal. I'm so glad that you re in a fine natural region, as it is the best for our mediation and quality of life. I presume you have access to many nice olives and olive oil, which is one of the nicest foods and medicines.
Nature is key for me. I always looked for a place where I could breathe better ( literally and figuratively ). It's difficult in cities, to say the least.
And yes, about the olives and olive oil. I'm enjoying - daily - the amazing taste of olive oil of olives that I helped harvesting last Autumn.
Thank you for sharing your paradise with us, you are privileged to be able to immerse yourself in nature in this way. I also love being with Mother Earth, seeing her, hearing her, smelling her, feeling her ... it is so pleasant! However, my space is smaller, but I still value it and it is my piece of paradise. I hope one day to be able to personally know these wonderful landscapes, where we are one with the planet. Greetings and blessings, friend @julescape.
Gracias por compartir con nosotros tu paraíso, eres privilegiado al poder sumergirte en la naturaleza de esta forma. A mí también me encanta estar con Madre Tierra, verla, oírla, olerla, sentirla...es tan grato! Sin embargo, mi espacio es más reducido, pero igualmente lo valoro y es mi trozo de paraíso. Espero algún día poder conocer personalmente estos paisajes maravillosos, en donde somos uno con el planeta. Saludos y bendiciones, amigo @julescape.
Greetings @tarot911 Great to hear from you, it pray that you can access the beauty of nature there where you are. I'm so glad that you have access to the healing natural surroundings. Everything is cyclic so a time may come where you can see the broader horizons of the world.
this looks so much like California! beautiful
Wow that's good to know, thanks for the insight. This coast is one of the most lovely in the world, and the climate is great all year, probably much like California...but simpler.
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