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Writer's pictureDr Pauline Crawford PHD

Sailing the Sea of Opportunity


Sailing the sea of opportunity

LIGHTHOUSE MESSAGE – 8/8 - August 2021


As I feel a major shift coming in our world, I dream of a world filled with magical conversations (those conversations held in a space of no judgment) not merely RIGHTING WRONGS but people CO-CREATING a future together in joy and harmony in a sea of opportunity!


we will find our way

I have just returned from a month with my family in Brighton, UK. It was truly magical and full of ah-ha moments, joy, and harmony, especially as I stayed by the beautiful open sea (be it the English Channel). Watching the waves roll back and forth, I wander through my mind of 7 decades past and remember as a small child in the 50’s laughing with my brothers and sisters, playing games on beach holidays without keyboards or screen. Was our pre-digital world simpler? Better? Smarter? It was different for sure.



the beach

Now I watch my young teenage grandkids on their mobiles and wonder what lies ahead for them...in our interconnected global pandemic world, will they sail into the future with grace and ease or turbulent drama?


As I look ahead…

Am I despondent?

Yes, sometimes.

Am I hopeful?

Often yes.

Am I certain all will be well?

Not always ...


Yet staying in the present, my inner confidence in human beings, in their natural gifts, their potential to love and the collective compassion I am blessed attracted to have around me, reminds me to be awe struck with the opportunities we have. Over my 72 years I have often been accused of being ‘horribly optimistic” and adventurous…


I feel it’s time to BE me, time to BE together being WE!


The world is crashing around us, never to go back to pre-pandemic times... and an opportunity into the unknown SEA of opportunity and adventure.


As a little girl, I fell in love with the sea and the notion of sailing on the tall ships to faraway places. Visiting the Cutty Sark (a tall ship in dry dock on the River Thames in London) with my parents and sister, showing her French pen pal our native city, excited me and fueled my dreams of being a stowaway sailor and finding faraway lands like the Americas!


sail boat

As I grew up in the suburbs of London, a far cry from the sea, only visited on beach holidays and sandcastles, I was never sure where my sea adventurousness came from, maybe my Maltese heritage? (more of that next time!).


Eventually we ventured further out to sea for holidays as my father bought our own small dinghy, a 16-foot Enterprise Class, a mainsail, and a jib, with room for three at a pinch. From 10-18 years old, we found ourselves learning to sail out to sea in the English Channel.


As I muse on those early experiences in the 60s, I remembered how I immediately found my sea legs!! I never questioned why. As my knowledge and awareness of the sea grew, I also found that the sea was not always my friend, a capsized boat could put you in danger and the sea is unforgiving when stirred up by the wind.


My friend became the LIGHTHOUSE, a beacon of safety when returning to harbor at the end of a sail across those changeable coastal waters of Cornwall, West England.


light house

I ponder now if the sea of opportunity whipped by this pandemic could be understood in similar ways?


YOU can be the natural magical sailor even in the middle of a stormy sea. You need to BE yourself. BE your own craft, listen to the winds of change and be your own LIGHTHOUSE.

My own sea experiences showed me the importance of the LIGHTHOUSE shining its light of safety and hope - it became my fascination and often decorated my home with small replicas and artifacts of the sea. Whenever I have the magical opportunity to see a LIGHTHOUSE flickering its light of hope across a stormy sea, I feel safe again to continue my journey.


In my teens, my sailing fascination continued, as I read about the Kon Tiki Expedition* - to sail a raft across the pacific was incredibly daring… not knowing if they would be swept anywhere and never find land again! Is that where our pandemic sea takes us?

They used their personal and comradery skills plus their scientific knowledge, their craft was designed to replicate travelers from much earlier unsophisticated times - they studied the currents and observed the winds to navigate their way.


They proved that nature can be used to find our way! Can we?


The journey ahead is MINE is YOURS, is OURS, there is nowhere to hide today, WE must each SHINE our light, USE NATURE, LISTEN to the WINDS. SAIL TOGETHER. I can only be me. You can only be you no-one else in this pandemic storm, together we are stronger and can shine the light of hope.


#StrongerTogetherX we are blessed when we hold #MagicalConversations in a space of hope, with no judgement and in the light of opportunity for all.


If you feel inspired by this Lighthouse Message and want to be part of co-creating our future world, drop me a line contact pauline@corporateheartinternational.com and join our monthly meet up on HUB.


Sailing

Illustrated "Kon-Tiki" was the name of a wooden raft used by six Scandinavian scientists, led by Thor Heyerdahl, to make a 101-day journey from South America to the Polynesian Islands to prove it was possible way that tribes had moved across that ocean in times far past.

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