🎓 Every Day is a School Day 🎓

🎓 Every Day is a School Day 🎓

Happy Summer Holidays, Gen-x-ers... A time to take your foot off the pedal, slow down and switch up your routine. A time to enjoy hopefully!? "better weather", being outdoors and the chance to absorb nature. 

If you are able to build in some well-earned space and time, you may be interested in reflecting on your present life and considering where you are. Summer if often a season where we expose ourselves to new and different scenarios especially when we travel, this leads us to push ourselves out of our comfort zones and a chance to learn new things - Every Day is a School Day🤗. 

In the summer months when we may have space out of our usual routine, creating valuable time to think is an important and useful practice, use it wisely and don't rush. Is there a space in your current surroundings where you will not be disturbed and can focus on yourself for a few minutes?  

Consider asking yourself; What is great in life at the moment? What could be more enjoyable? What options do I have if I yearn for any changes? Am I really where I want to be in life?

The other knock-on effect of having time to think is it opens you up to new ideas and learning, this is then a great opportunity to take advantage of this new energy you have gained.

Creating extra space opens new doors, where learning new things and expanding is a truly nourishing experience. 

As you know I recently visited Kenya with my Canarian Gospel Choir, the country was as I expected, many poor areas with slums and families living from hand to mouth. A humbling experience made even more so as we interacted with other local choirs who offered beaming smiles of joy.  Going into my fifty-second summer season visiting a new country I was truly privileged to have the opportunity to be engulfed in Kenya's culture and be able to spend a lot of time meeting and singing with its colourful and wonderful people.

Our trip, was an overload of new information, with just four days to get ourselves ready to be on stage at the Gospel Festival. Our songs were all new, we also contended with working alongside six different choir leaders brought in from various countries and cultures. It felt like I had a year's worth of "school-day learning" crammed into a few days. My senses were flooded, with such a magnificent experience, different sounds, smells, visuals and tastes, a wonderful smorgasbord board of learning and a true eye-opener.

After a successful concert, we were rewarded with a safari visit to the Maasi Mara National Reserve, another wave of learning, where we met the local people and saw how they live simple yet effective in their day-to-day lives. All their actions are practical and their role in the tribe gives them purpose and meaning.  Something I know at times I struggle to find in my Western privileged life!

We were lucky enough to pass by some local points of interest and bumped into some school children, they showed such an interest in us, asking many questions, about where we were from, what we were doing in Kenya, our names and what we thought of their country. It made me realise how different our European children are, as we tell them "Not to talk or engage with strangers".... exasperating what a huge difference our cultures are. 

A big thank you to all the kind Kenyan people, it was such a joy and privilege to expand my brain's grey matter this summer, with new information and beautiful people. 

The blog Safari picture I chose this week sums up the immense joy received by simply viewing wild animals in nature. A memory that will stay with me forever.

If you have any summer stories to share please add them to the comments it's great to hear what you have been up to!

Catch up soon X💜X