The marina was in its usual Saturday morning tourist bustle as Katie made her way down to the dock with the last of her provisions and clothes. The neighbours were going to keep an eye on the house, her trusty 4wd was securely parked in the compound, and this was her last descent. She and Atma (the boat) were ready to go.

And there she was. Katie always felt a sense of pride when she looked at this boat, her traditional lines and planked hull, her teak decks and old world charm. She noticed a woman standing on the other side looking at her boat.

‘Hi there’ Katie called out, walking over to the other side.

‘Hi, is this your boat?’ the woman enquired

“Yes it is, well it was my dad’s and mine but he died last year, so yep, now I’m her skipper’.

‘She’s beautiful.’

‘Yeah I’m glad you think so. She may not have all the modern bling but I think she is beautiful too.’ Katie immediately liked this woman. Most tourists were busy oohing and ahhing over the few luxury yachts that were berthed here.

‘Atma? Did you name her?’ The lady enquired

‘No. She had that name when dad brought her 30 years ago. We are not sure what it means, all we know is that she was made by a family who were sailing around the world when their boat was shipwrecked in a storm of the coast of India. They were rescued and made welcome in India, where they stayed building this boat with the help of a local fishing village. It took them five years to build her and she was launched in 1934. We are presuming it is Indian.’

‘Well you are right this is an Indian word, would you like to know what it means’ The woman asked with a kindly glimmer in her eye. She reminded Katie somewhat of a gypsy that had secrets to tell and half expected her to pull out a crystal ball.

‘That would be pretty special actually. I am literally just about to set off to Tasmania with her.’

‘By yourself.’ Katie nodded. ‘You are a brave one then.’

Katie laughed ‘Brave or stupid.’

‘Well you don’t strike me as stupid so I’ll keep with brave.’ The lady reached out her hand ‘My names Katarina but Tina for short,’

‘Too funny. Mine is Katrina but Katie for short.’

And with that Tina the gypsy woman proceeded to tell Katie what the name of her boat Atma meant. ‘Atma in Indian means soul.’

A ships bell began to clang a little way down the dock.

‘Oh shoot that’s my boat. A tour with my mum. It was lovely to meet you and to see your beautiful boat. Good luck with your travels.’ Tina began to ferret around in her backpack before quickly producing a business card. ‘I’m a yoga teacher, that is how I know some Indian. Drop me an email if you think I can help you with anything else.’ Then like a mini whirlwind Tina was off running towards the boat and the shortening line of embarking passengers.

Half tongue tied Katie yelled out ‘Thank you Tina, you have made my day.’

Katie was still trying to let what Tina was speaking about settle; it was like a new door had just been flung open. What if that was true? She thought of that word eternal, and she thought of her dad, and she thought of that possibility that maybe it was just like Tina said that the soul doesn’t die, it just changes clothes.

Katie climbed on board, unlocked the cabin and began to stow the last of her provisions. As she did so hope began to fill her heart; now she had a starting point for her inner journey too. Now she was really ready to go. She tucked Tina’s card into a safe spot near her charts and went back up on deck. The wind had picked up, turning the ocean outside the marina into chop and the air was thick with northerly salt air. A year’s preparation and it was time to cast the lines.

The below videos will help to know about our identity, life’s journey and how we can live our life with full meaning.

She turned the engine and it came to life with a spew of water and a puff of smoke from the exhaust before settling into its noisy, but trusty chug, chug sound. Just then she saw Mr McDonald making his way down the dock as fast as he could with his elderly banged up legs with artificial hips, waving his arms for her to wait. Once he reached her he was rather out of breath. He handed her a bundle of envelopes tied up with red ribbon.

‘Ya dad wanted me to give you these. He gave them to me a couple of years back and just asked that I give them to ya should anything happen to him.

Kate had never met Mrs Donaldson before. In fact, Kate had never met anyone so close to death before and yes, it scared her somewhat. You see Kate was a young woman who was only just trying to figure out life and the journey of life’s misery and happiness is yet to be confronted.

A nurse answered the door and took her to where Mrs Donaldson lay as a skinny body resembling a frame sinking into the crisp white covers of her bed. Her hair was long, grey and wispy and her face creased with years of life. Kate noticed immediately and became momentarily transfixed with, her wide, uncannily clear brown eyes as Mrs Donaldson looked up and greeted her with a gentle smile and a slight wave of her right hand motioning her to sit down.

Kate sat down on the solid wooden chair that had seemed to be placed there especially for this occasion. The room was refreshingly bright, not like the dim and dreary one she had imagined. Sunlight spilled into the room,being allowing to enter through the open glass paned doors which revealed to the outside a small weathered timber deck with an overgrown yet still appreciable flower garden just beyond. The fresh sea air swept up the hillside and into the room from the ocean that rolled and swirled below. Kate could just see the edge of the lighthouse from where she sat with its traditional white walls and red peaked roof.

‘It is nice to meet you Mrs Donaldson. You have a lovely place here, and thank you very much for offering me the job.’

Mrs Donaldson replied in a voice that mirrored the weakness of her body but like her eyes exuded clarity, ‘Well Kate to start with you can call me Becky and I am glad you like the place. As you can see I can no longer maintain it very well so that is what I need your help with. I did have a couple helping previously but they left a few weeks ago, back to the city. Unfortunately, they weren’t very honest shall we say. That is where you are from yes?’

Kate nodded while trying to conceal the doubt that lay within her about her choice to move from the city, her friends, her family and the accumulation of all her twenty-two years of life to this small seaside township of Jenny Lind.

‘So tell me Miss Kate what made you leave the city? If you don’t mind me asking.’

Kate did feel a little uneasy about the question not wanting to see anymore scowling faces or hear anymore words of disapproval about her decision. She was struggling for wisdom or intelligence required to remove her own doubts as it was without needing to hear it from others. But there was something that read differently in Becky than those opposing her from the city, and Kate had already learned that Becky honored honesty in her employees.

‘I feel a little foolish saying Mrs… I mean Becky because I have been very lucky in my life and don’t want to sound ungrateful but I felt I needed to spread my wings a little and hence what brought me to apply for the job. I had been feeling discontentment and was inherently looking for satisfaction in my life, I guess you could say, and well, couldn’t help but wonder that maybe there is something more true and essential things in life than just being a successful city girl.’ Now i was at peace. Continue reading →

“Most people identify their bodies as being themselves. They think, ‘I am the body.’ Now, everyone wants to be happy. So the question is, how does a person who thinks he’s his body think he’s going to find happiness? What’s his conclusion?” This is the question posed by Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda, a world-renowned yoga spiritual master, during a lecture on the topic of satisfaction.

Jagad Guru shared with his audience that, when taking a close look at happiness, peace and satisfaction, it goes against logic to conclude that we are our bodies. However, this is a difficult truth for the majority of people to accept. Satisfaction of the senses is a deceptively convincing false happiness for most, but the emptiness it leaves in its path can lead to despair.

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We experience it in the world around us, and in our own lives; the “ups” and “downs”, “goods” and “bads”. Sometimes we welcome it, though most times it comes unexpectedly and can be quite overwhelming.

But should we be affected by all this change, however stressful it may sometimes be? Should we let ourselves be taken around on an endless roller-coaster ride?

Well of course not!

So how can we go about undisturbed by the circus of life?

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