Friday, October 15, 2010

New Beginnings...

...come out of Endings, bringing things full circle.

Last week I resigned my position as High School Librarian after 13 years in the job, 25 years at the same school (International School Bangkok) and 35 years "in the business".  Of course this will end many facets of my life, but it's a new beginning in all the ways that count.

It will begin to give back to my parents for their years of love and support, and to provide them with as much quality time possible in their remaining years with their 3 year-old grandson.

It will begin to offer my son real opportunities to know and learn from (and then remember) his grandparents. If we're lucky, it will offer him the time to gather real memories to honor them by.

It will begin a family lifestyle change to better "walk the (environmental) talk". For years I've advocated for a gentler footprint on the earth, while maintaining a low-end "jet-set" lifestyle, with a home in Bangkok, a condo at the beach, and undeveloped property in northern B.C.  Relocating to Canada will reduce my family's air travel carbon cost and help us move ahead on "green" projects there, which I'll blog about in due course.

It will begin for me a personal journey to more fully follow the Buddhist "eight-fold path".  Reuben James, the protagonist of "Mai Shangri-La" uses the mnemonic "Right Understanding, shown in one's Thought, Speach, and Actions, comes through Living Every Moment Carefully" (Livelihood, Effort, Mindfulness and Concentration).

My "new beginnings" will be, I hope, a move toward "Living Every Moment Carefully" to atone, perhaps, for years of disregard and excess. I'm not expecting to change the world -  but if each of us who has the freedom to make the choices that I have, exercised those choices, the world would indeed, be a better place...