the beach

This picture is my screen saver and I have a life time of memories gathered from this beach. This is Waiotahi Beach that leads into my home town of Opotiki, New Zealand. It backed onto our farm with sand hills and a tidal river between them. My friend Merryl Watson captured this photo for me and in doing so, she shares herself and I appreciate it all. Merryl and I rode together a lot on this stretch of sand. It is a simple photo yet it stimulates a lot of memories and accompanying emotions and feelings within me.

How many times did I exercise my horses on this beach? Too many to count! This beach was my playground and my solace and a lot more in between. This beach was our makeshift cricket pitch in the long summer evenings. Mum would be roped into being catcher and the dog was our outfielder whether we wanted him to retrieve or not. In the winter, on a clear night, we would all head to the beach and often meet up with friends to share a fire made from driftwood, food and companionship.

There were the early memories of Dad driving the tractor and trailer along the road to the beach for the sole purpose of getting sand for our sandbox. Mum would bring the rest of us, including friendly pooch, a wicker basket of food and a thermos of tea. What simple pleasures. What wonderful parents we had!
And the gift of their love and commitment to being parents continues on in my heart and mind as I remember and feel the love that was present…both then and now.

This beach has a lot of memories for me.


I remember walking along the shoreline and looking back at my footprints etched in the damp sand. The sun was just going down. There was not another soul to be seen. I had the beach all to myself. I watched as my foot prints were gently washed away by the incoming tide and thinking then that life was really so temporary. I realize that I was looking at the physical self as being temporary and that all I learned, all my memories and lessons learned remain within. I am the sum of my memories as an energy field. Energy must move and change. Energy can never die. I am energy therefore I have eternal life. It is my responsibility to know myself as the energy of spirit consciousness. This is healing.