Perfect

Wow!
Can't believe three months have passed since I wrote here.

While writing this I'm sitting in my own beautiful loft surrounded by the sound of crickets, birds, koala's (when you first hear what sound these cute fluffy soft animals make you'd never believe that it's really theirs. It sounds like the combination of the sounds of a pig and a lion. No jokes.)

I just soothed my slightly over-sunkissed skin with organic Aloe Vera out of the organic garden of where I'm living and I'm thinking about what a beautiful day this has been - spontaneously hopping in the back of the truck this morning with the rest of the housemates, to drive to the coast to escape the heat that suddenly overwhelmed the valleys of the Byron Shire this weekend.

It's been nearly two months that I have been here. Here meaning Rosebank, New South Wales, in a little community in the beautiful, lush hills of Byron Shire. We, at the moment me and 7 others, live together in a community house on a property full grown of macademia, mango, orange, bananatrees, millions of plants and flowers, butterflies, mosquitos, an owl, a big organic garden, long carpet-pyton snakes slowly sliding through the grass and happy wallaby's hopping around. The koala's sitting high in the trees, lazy chewing on gumtree leafs and grunting their sounds, the cicadas raising their songs now and then, the horseflies attacking more and more and the heat overwhelming us from time to time.

I'm living and working here. We help in the kitchen for the business of the owners, called 'Raw Exstasy'. Learning to make the most delicious cakes, chocolates, pizza, wraps, hummus, falafel... All raw and vegan and sugarfree and gluten free and you name it all. Superhealthy. Learning about soaking and sprouting and activating nuts, seeds, fruits, about using dehydrators instead of ovens. Amazing what the possibilities are in this kind of diet/lifestyle.

When I just arrived here I thought being a raw-foodist would mean you only eat salad and when I started working as a kitchenhand I didn't know much about the strange Australian measurements. When I had to measure ingredients for the first time, 'soak 5 cups of flax-seeds' - I took the first coffecup I could find and started measuring, thinking that these weirs Ozzies have quite random ways of measuring. Fortunately, I learned a lot since then :)

A few times a week we go to the markets to sell our food on nice little farmersmarkets with loads of fresh, colourful fruits and veggies and homemade products and local musicians or on craft markets where local people sell their often handmade products and arts. Every market has it's own atmosphere but always its with a great vibe, great people, beautiful music and products. I feel lucky to be able to experience this all.

It's also because of these places that my own ideas started to grow, that I started to visualise my dream more and more and finally dared to take steps towards it... After a few weeks I started my own 'thing' and did my own first market, offering Thai Massage. I couldn't have dared to dream the success it was... I didn't stop working and the reactions of the people I was working with were overwhelming, beautiful and heartwarming. So much genuine gratitude and thankfulness, I never experienced something like this before... since then I did a few markets and started to make leaflets and flyers, and even wrote an article for the local village paper to inform people about this ancient healing technique and to reach out to people in the area. This seemed to work out quite well and so I did quite some home-massages in the meantime.... Hoping that this all will keep on flowing.

The past months have been full of movement, change, happenings and experiences. From moving away from Sydney after two months, to travel for four weeks with my dear friend Bart who I didn't see for a year. From Sydney, to the Red Centre, Uluru and Kings Canyon... The desert, the red earth wich left deep imprints in my memories and heart... To the Northern territory, full of national parks, aboriginwaterfalls and crocodiles... To Carins and around, Daintree area and Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest meets the reef, incredible places... the Daintree rainforest... You can feel in it's breathing beating breezing amazingness that this is the oldest rainforest in the world. And just where the rainforest ends it flows into paradiselike white sandy beaches and crystalclear oceanwater. It's there where I discovered a hidden, complete new world under the surface... Full of corals, colours, fishes and turtles. Breathtaking, I couldn't believe this world is existing on the same planet. There is so much I don't know yet, so much more to see and learn.

It was an amazing and so various trip with Bart - intense from time to time as well, but that's a part of travelling together and it makes you getting to know each other in so many more ways. It's been a trip that is definitely unforgettable for me.

From Cairns I've been roadtripping to Brisbane with Silvie - feeling the freedom of the road again and the flow of life. Experiencing the beautiful coasts, islands and beaches...

From Brisbane it was time again to go further on my own way.. 'Go to Byron and the Rainbow region' people told me... to do 'something' with my massage.. And It seems they were right... I had no idea how to start this, no plan, but it just happened and starts to flow. And wow it feels so good.

I don't know what will happen but that's a feeling I got used to through this travel and that I appreciate a lot. Maybe I will have many more customers, maybe I won't. But even if that would be the case, that wouldn't matter. What matters is that I experienced this, all this. This was the beginning of it all. The markets, the home-massages, the flyers, the articles... What matters is that I know that the possibilities are endless, that I'll find a way because I really want to, that I know more and more the more I do it, that this is what I need, what I want to do and share and give. That everytime I give a massage I learn more, about others, about myself. I learn and gain experience that will help me develop and evolve... I'm learning to believe that I can give healing through my hands, by doing it and experiencing it. That really I found a passion and now the faith and trust and belief in myself that I can do this.

I'm travelling within now, wich is kind of an ongoing process anyway. It's perfect. I needed to land somewhere again and now and take the time. I needed to learn to trust in my own skills and that's what I'm learing here now. I needed to give it a chance and make it happen and that's what's happening right now.

I'm learning about myself, about others and about life everyday. I'm learning about raw food, running a business, starting my own 'business', doing the markets, living in a community, open up to myself and others and grow. I'm learning from the people in the community. Everyone has their own story and contribution to this place and to others. There is something to learn from everyone. I'm learning to live closely with others. How it is to share much more than I ever felt comfortable with. Not only your nice and pretty sides, but also the darker ones. They are there too and they are part of us, in everyone. It's a hard one for me but I'm learing to be honest and open about them, getting to know them to work through them. I'm learning to be open to these sides from others and from myself. Acceptance is such an important key to grow.

And most of all, I'm learning that everything is perfect. Maybe it sounds strange because often it doesn't feel like that to us. But we always have a choice on how we see and react on a situation. Because everything just IS. It's up to us how we see it, react on it, work with it. We are the ones that give it a term, add an emotion to it.. we choose wether we think it's a good or a bad thing, a beautiful or an ugly one, a happy or a sad one... We can either fight it, force it, resist it... or accept everything as it comes and work with it. When you're able to do that, everything is perfect, because everything just is as it is.

And that's that. :)

Love, Francis