Moving to the Middle East has been the best thing for my heart, mind, body and soul care. This major “half time” move from “success to significance” (Buford, 2008) has profoundly demonstrated how quickly time, nature, movement, beauty and creativity rose to the top five of healing factors enhancing my well-being. However, relocating has not been easy and in fact after three years  I am only beginning to really understand this gift!

Many were shocked that I would leave all that is familiar and come to a strange land alone. In the beginning, I too wondered, what in the world made me choose to take such a leap of faith, and negativity saturated my thought life more often than not. Preoccupied with all of the preparation for the journey to Jeddah, there was little time to think through the consequences of leaving America, what it would be like for a woman of African descent in Saudi Arabia, and how lonely I would find myself during the initial transition phase. However, one thing is for sure: Through it all, I have never been alone and my gratitude for this incredible journey is beyond words.

What this journey to Jeddah and Thuwal has shown me thus far is that life is full of wonderful moments; there really is enough love in the Universe for everybody, and what we send out eventually comes back, sometimes in the most unexpected forms. At the end of my first semester abroad for example, there was a card that had a wish for Peace as the design for the coming year. There never seemed a greater need for inner peace than at the close of 2009.

Another surprise came in the form of a magic genie lamp and Arabian scent that appeared right before the hardest day of all in the desert; my first Christmas–alone. On that day, I missed a very important Skype call, while on another call and was never able to speak to that special someone for the rest of the year. How painful, yet it was a wake-up call to remain awake, really be about the business of making my life, a quality one at that, work.

On Valentine’s day, some of my new friends thought I was going to be so depressed that they dropped flowers and “Zen” perfume (a new scent I had discovered in high school while working at The Broadway Dept. Store) on my doorstep, much to my delight! On February 14^th, in honor of Fredrick Douglas’s and my niece’s birthday, I spoke about the courage to love no matter what, and the power in sending loving kindness over criticism and hurtful words. In the midst of what physicist Arthur Zajonc (in “Love and Knowledge”) describes as the ability to “sustain contradictions”, I am learning to deconstruct negative messages, accept what is, and make a daily commitment to take positive action towards my well-being. It all continues to be good fodder for growth in the sweet garden of life unfolding along the shores of the Red Sea.

Rare Nature: Reflections from the Red Sea

“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”
– Jacques Cousteau

Looking back, while moving forward, my deepest Sankofa moments reveal how often the sea has spoken gently to my soul. In times of love and loss, celebration and sorrow:

“My soul is full of longing
For the secret of the sea,
And the heart of the great ocean
Sends a thrilling pulse through me.”
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 There is no accident that I was pulled from sea to shining sea, and in an instant transported from the roaring pacific blue to a reflective calm place along the shores of the Red Sea.

“For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea.”
– e.e. cummings

We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea
–whether it is to sail or to watch it–
we are going back from whence we came.”
– John F. Kennedy

“The one we love is everywhere.
By wakefully inhabiting our longing for the beloved,
we are carried into the arms of love itself.”
–Tara Brach

Ultimately love is about choosing and serving. We are all free to choose when and where we enter intimate space, who the subject of our desire will be, how to best serve and what can be done to support our beloved in being inspired by their highest good works that makes life more deeply meaningful. On my first of many boat trips to snorkel, I wrote the following journal entry:

“God is Love, He loves me, I am love and love is truly all around, in the trees, the flowers, the sea—the Red Sea is simply lovely, snorkeling, peaceful and relaxing; what a blessing to be surrounded by shipmates and their children soulfully engaging with lots of laughter.”

Buford, B. (2008). Half time. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan