A spiritual (Wairua) Journey SPIRIT – what is it? By Ross Guy (copyright) Deep within your inner soul, it over takes you like a Formula One racing car. You can’t stop; everything seems perfect and like an enormous weight has been lifted off your shoulders. You smile and keep smiling as your spirit uplifts your newfound direction. Suddenly your worries can become meaningless as you become enshrouded by excitement. This is your spirit talking. It is possibly one of the most powerful, yet underlying experiences you’ll ever have, like ‘Astro-Travel’ if you believe in such ideas. Because of its invisibility it can be hard to describe what you are feeling. Look at love for instance. How do you measure it? You can’t, it’s in the mind. This wonderful transformation can change lives, point you in new directions, give you confidence and build new self-esteem. Even more so, you find yourself lifted to nirvana. We all have it, this ability if we give ourselves time to ask, “What is it we really want from life?” Our spirit, as well as being our strength can also be our failure. It can effect our emotions; we can have good days and bad days, moments of anxiety or fear or dropping out of our comfort zone. It’s when we get tired of our same old same old; we look for new things in our lives that make a difference. It’s time to tap into our full potential and reach for the stars. Some years ago Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote a musical called “Starlight Express”. He described the spirit within all of us through the eyes of ‘Rusty’. A steam engine, who felt sorry for himself as he lay rusting in the back of an old train yard. A very important train race was coming up, but Rusty did not have the will to enter, especially against the most modern trains of the world. The TGV, the Bullet train. Until that is, he discovered his inner soul; ‘Starlight Express’ From within that inner soul, Starlight Express uttered the words of wisdom that said. “Only believe son, the Starlight Express will help you. How many times have you found though you were firm on the ground, still the world around you sways. You notice all that you have does not add up to a lot and why your heads a maze, you've used everything inside you. So may be its time you tried to find a grand new power to shine alight, alight to brighten up your darkest hour. Starlight Express use your discress, is there light all around. Starlight Express, he'll answer you yes. He's waiting to be found." Rusty found the spirit, believed in himself and went on to win the race. If "Aladdin" never had the spirit he would have never found the magic carpet that would take him anywhere he wanted to go. Ok so it’s a fairy tale but they all point us in a spiritual direction. The strength to believe and ask the planet for the things you hope for go along way to finding that spirit, but you first must trust yourself. Affirmation is a wonderful thing. We all want to do our best, but often don’t know where to start. As a young boy, I would spread out on the bedroom floor with a large map of the world and dream of all the places I wanted to go. I knew every Wildlife Park in Africa. On a shelf above my bed were many National Geographic magazines my parents collected. I would say to them, that one day I was going to travel to the places I dreamed about. Their reply was always the same. “Dreams are free, but seeing the world costs money and we don’t have any”. However, I would never give up those dreams and as the years went by, I knew I would get there. I would feel a strange hollowness, connected to my feelings. It told me to keep, believing. I didn't understand then, but I knew it was important. I had spent many hours watching dolphins from the beach at Waiheke Island where my parents owned a holiday bach. I did not know at the time how much that was to play in my life but I felt there was a purpose and that was to work for the planet. Surfing became a major part, as did diving. I took up martial arts that enhanced my spiritual well being and learned to feel the spirit through Karate, kata and discipline. Eventually, I came to leave New Zealand with a surfboard under one arm, a map and around the world ticket and a desire to share and experience in the diverse cultures that excited me. I wanted to promote, understand and be part of the bigger picture among all peoples of this world. I began to understand what these feelings meant. After Mauritius, I reached Africa and every day my dreams would unfold before my eyes. Hitching up through this wonderful Continent taught me so much and I began to gather a sense of purpose to my life and what it was I needed to do. I remember written in graffiti on a wall in Durban, South Africa what someone had scribed, which said “And I shall not be bound or tied by your rules and regulations, for I am a man born free ". On my return to New Zealand, I felt the real purpose of those journeys and the spiritual uplift I had and the need to make a difference. That pang I kept feeling, drove me to follow my dreams, to work for the planet. I had been to some of the most far away places on earth, surfed with dolphins and seen whales and I was not about to let it be for nothing. Whales were being slaughtered by the whaling industry, one every twelve minutes in the early seventies and I did not want to sit around and think I had done nothing to save them. In 1973, I began Project Jonah - an environmental and educational organisation to protect whales. This involved strong political lobbying, and research into whale strandings. This became a successful New Zealand wide campaign gaining immense support and challenges. The years went by and much was accomplished, but I also became locked into the corporate bullshit world of business and management where people didn’t matter. Driven by others greed, I found myself caught up in principles I did not believe in. I experienced a backlash of being gay, discrimination was rife among my corporate peers, but my spirit, and trust would keep me going, believing in myself. I learnt to harness the best part of that and grew stronger by my experiences and so left to battle alone. The spirit is something we all have and harnessing it for all good is what is important. It is the strength within us when we need it. A twinge we sometimes feel in the soul that promotes our self-esteem and good things. It begins with believing and trusting in whom you are, to be alive and awake to a new day born. However, it's not everyday that can start off perfect. During the latter corporate years, I was with a friend one day where we were talking about our experiences that both seemed similar. The question came up, was I doing what excited me most and was I following my dreams? This prompted me into thinking how unhappy I had been in that job and how important it was to be working for the planet again. I could feel the spirit and it helped me take charge of my life and something I had forgotten. That desire to fulfill my potential and push my boundaries became there and then almost possessive. I thought to hell with this 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. job. I wanted something better out of my life like I remembered when I was younger. I remember reading somewhere, “Society offers us doors into the future - but only the ambition, the skills and the dreams within each of us forge the keys. The effort required achieving excellence makes success all the more valuable, and beyond each achievement, a new and better dream may be created, while many people confine themselves to the easiest path”. An American, by the name of Darryl Anka once said about excitement - It is those feelings and emotions we at sometime, all experience. They are the signals that are the signposts in our spirit of what excitement is all about. Where as pain is the signal that something is wrong, so excitement is the signal that you are on the right track. The reason it excites you, is that it is aligned with who you really are and what you should be doing. If you wish to live your life to the fullest and be all that you can be, all you have to do is begin to do the things that excite you the most and be of service doing them. I thought about this for a while and decided that I wanted to continue my work for the planet. I resigned my corporate position and stepped back out into the real world to search for adventure. My spirit guided me. I just needed to trust myself and have the courage to do it. He said, “If you act on your feelings with trust and conviction and integrity, it could prove to be the most effortless thing you could do with your life”. Thirteen years on, I've continued my travels of the world, worked on environmental projects, made friends with a wild dolphin, run Marine Wildlife Tours, Taught whale rescue, climbed a mountain, stormed a French Embassy over nuclear testing in Rome`, chased and been arrested by request of Interpol and met some of the most wonderful people in my whole life. In July 2006 I was diagnosed with irreversible cancer. I’m still excited about what each day might bring and hope that within the time I have I can continue to live my life to the full, as I always have, to be of service, be of integrity and to work and travel for the planet to write and share my experiences. My only hope is that it will all be possible. To be continued…..
 


Welcome | About Me | Mihi Pepe Ha | To Be A Travel Writer | A Spiritual Journey | India Images | Italia Images I
Italia Images II | Italia Images III | Vespa in Roma I | Vespa II | Dubai Images | Thailand I Images
Thailand II Images | Trinity Images | Remembering The Past | Continuing The Journey | Maui the Dolphin
In The Pink | Twenty-Five Metres Above Ground Zero | Thailand-The Perfect Holiday
The Flavours of Thailand | Romance of India | Your Turn Next | Stromboli & Capers
Babington's Tea Rooms - Rome | Good Vibrations | Aged 27 | Ruakuri Cave | The Passion of Antonio Carluccio
Senti il sapore del sole | Antico Caffes of Roma | Poetic Licence | Art of the Humble Lemon | Desert Rose
Further Titles To Come | Environmental Projects | Why Whales Strand I | Why Whales Strand II
Rescue and First-Aid for Stranded Cetaceans I | Rescue and First-Aid for Stranded Cetaceans II
Rescue Operation Procedures | Types of Whale Strandings I | Types of Whale Strandings II