Dear Friends,
Our Theme for June is:
"This sentence and what followed touched me deeply when I first held the Journey of Adjustment book in my hands. It was such a poignant and uplifting moment that I struggle to describe it. The phrase 'I felt like I was flying' comes to mind, but that sounds cheap and clichéd — and there was nothing ordinary about that transformative moment."
After so many years ... sometimes ... say ;) ... I still don't get it, but the hope remains!
What it means for me as of late and what I want to focus on during the lovely month of June, is to have as much fun as possible out of each and every experience. Because I may have images in my head that I will be happy when... but that when may just as well never come! :)
Please enjoy Lady Elizabeth's sharing!
With all my love (BH) Milen
~~~
My dear friends,
Happy Month! Happy June!
It truly is “the first day of the rest of my life” as I woke up this morning in a different town in a different country on a different continent in a different hemisphere! I left behind glorious windless autumn days and colours, with winter skies already threatening as my plane took off from Cape Town - and today I have a sunny EU day and stunning Spring flowers everywhere – and oh the sneezing! Lol!
When I met Théun in 1995 he handed me a first draft of his “Return of the Warriors”. Little did I know that day that that was truly “the first day of the rest of my life” – my awake life. Reading that draft awoke in me the realisation that the sky was not the limit for me, it was my belief in my Self!
From there we went on to compiling “The Journey of Adjustment” book, formally known as “This Darned Elusive Happiness”, and in the first chapter of this book that I used as my new business card, Théun shared:-
“TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.
I don't know who said that, but somehow it makes a great deal of sense. To me it means that irrespective of how badly we may have screwed up yesterday, or last week, or last year, today is the day on which we are going to put the past behind us, not in the sense of brushing it under the carpet, but in the sense of not allowing it to keep making us miserable. We always have the choice either of being thoroughly ashamed and guilty about our past actions, or of looking upon our past actions objectively and honestly enough to be able to own them.”
I real-ly resonated with this because in all my years in the corporate world I had just left, I had not learned this lesson.
Then on to the Teenage Camps for the pubertiers wherein we taught them about discipline, one aspect being to shower at night:
“This is the end of the day.
This is your quiet time that you will be spending on your own before you go to sleep. Before going to sleep you will think about your day. Whatever you have done during the day will come up at this time, like it does for all of us. If we have done well we can acknowledge it. If we have not done well we feel terrible about ourselves because we know we could have done better.
That is why at end of day we change our clothing by taking off our dirty clothing. This day is finished. That is why we remove this clothing and we clean ourselves up for a clean start, for a new day. And so we brush our teeth and we shower or bath.
If you do have a shower, it's better to shower than to bath. If you lie down in a bath you're lying in your own dirt. A bath is very good if you are feeling sorry for yourself. But it is much better to shower, so that you can wash away the dirt, wash away all your fears, all the doubts. Tomorrow you will try again and this time you will do better. Make up your mind to do better.
Now go to shower, brush your teeth and then off to bed.”
Wish I had been taught that at 11/12 years old B😀
So armed with all these tools and insights and ready to follow our theme for June as I hop on to the aircraft in Cape Town, I go one step further - I always do this when I hop on a plane so as to ensure I have no regrets - “What if this is not only the first day in the rest of my life but it also could possibly be the last day in the rest of my life”, how do I want to live it?
I choose to have fun and live this day as a millionaire! (not too difficult with our paltry exchange rate Lol!) As I enter the aircraft I request an upgrade to Business Class from Economy, a boon for an 11/12 hour flight! The sudden activity that unfolded was to behold! In that moment I became VIP Numero Uno! RATFL! Cabin staff elites evolved around me, tablets got produced quoting me a 4-digit amount in USD for the upgrade!!, contactless payment machines got aimed in my direction, such activity! Lol!
I didn’t even flinch at this 4 digits USD amount. Why? Because I was getting challenged, wasn’t I? Lol!
Well……no matter how hard we collectively tried, not even with a card and reader, would that payment go through!!!! The Captain wanted to take off and we had to let it go!
By now I was grinning! Power has such a sense of humour! I got escorted to my original window seat number 29A, only to find that the two seats next to me were the only empty seats on a very full plane!!! Oh my! Lol!
As we took off I recalled “This is your quiet time that you will be spending on your own before you go to sleep. Before going to sleep you will think about your day.”
My first day living like a millionaire taught me :-
“A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct.”
(Frank Herbert)
Have fun with our theme this month, my friends!
With all my love and joy-full Spring/Summer laughter, (BH)s Elizabeth
- Eleventh ISM Global Residential Retreat - 9th October 2025
- Today Is The First Day of The Rest of My Life - 2nd June 2025
- Mapping Out the Unknown - 1st May 2025