Adventure....Kenya!

My intrepid partner and I contemplated a warm escape from Cape Town's winter and trailed our fingers on google earth, aiming for the equator. The thinking: warm, tropical climate and a bit of adventure. Our fingers made a halting, tentative stop on the Kenyan coastline, which divided the equator slap bang in the middle. I had a farm in Africa....mmmmm. With the epic story of Karen Blixen's "Out of Africa" on my mind and who know what on JC's, flight tickets were promptly purchased.

He wanted to do his usual kamikaze-style, "drop-in-and-go-where-the-wind-takes-you" travel (seriously, he visited Nepal with a plane ticket, a rough guide to Nepal and 2 pairs of jeans!!!)  I am 'n bit more contemplative, as I have learned that a woman traveling alone (on many occasions) too much impulsiveness is a luxury that can land you in sticky situations. So I irritated him until we had a rough outline and at least a dozen options for accommodation....and off we went.

The adventure looked something like this;

- Take the train from Cape town to Johannesburg
- Hop on a flight from Johannesburg to Nairobi
- Take the "Iron snake of Africa"from Nairobi to Mombasa (their version of our Premiere Classe train)
- Explore the north coast of Mombasa around Malindi
- Turn south and visit Tiwi and Diani
- Fly from Ukunda to Nairobi
- Connect from Nairobi to Johannesburg and then on to Cape Town

We packed in cabin size luggage - our snorkeling gear taking most of JC's back-pack...uhm and maybe a few of my thingies ;)

Next blog the adventures of the "White Masai" unfolds in candid colour....

Blessings

 

 

 

We just returned from an amazing travel experience in Kenya (more on his later) and I am in a reflective mood.

I feel blessed and overcome with a sense of wonder, as if this trip "plugged" me into the universal energy source. Like going back home, the time away really brought me back to myself.

I want to do something worthwhile with my time. I want to grow and experience the wonders of the world. I want to be of worth and of service to the world, I want to embrace every moment and see the joy, the good and the love in everything. I want to be comfortable in my own skin, grounded, compassionate, grateful and conscious...above all, I want to embrace the blessings I have received so abundantly.

“You do not need to know precisely what is happening,
or exactly where it is all going.
What you need is to recognize the possibilities
and challenges offered by the present moment,
and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope.”
- Thomas Merton

 

 

...and waiting (added)

Where the sea meets the sky in blended blue 

where rivers of heat merge body and soul 

where the wind whips gently, chasing a dream 

that's where she will be waiting for you

 

***

  

And her breath will be a sigh - release; 

the long awaited arrival of Love 

Falling into her nothingness, 

content, complete, at peace...

 

 

 Anne-marie

 

Leading with Grace

This is one of my most avid passions....trying to live with more grace in this world. This is a term we associate with the feminine, but I would like to think it refers to being conscious of how we tread and touch our fellow travelers on this earth.

In the last two decades I worked with only a handful of people whom I would consider to be great leaders, with very few of them being women. As is often the case, in order to survive, and because our teachers and sponsors are often male, we loose our natural grace and femininity, which is a wonderful part of being a woman. It is also, in my opinion, one of the elements sorely lacking in the Corporate world. It is ironic that there are so few women in top leadership positions in the world. Prime Ministers, Governors, Premiers, CEO's and (help us) Presidents are mostly male. Not only because they are outvoted or patronised through employment equity numbers from both genders, but because there is a choice to be made: Who said we can have it all at once...a career and a happy family! They lied! Something, or someone has to give...mostly the wife, but sometimes the (house) husband, or sometimes it has to be a timing thing - But the piper must be paid. Hence the accounts from women at the top are often, if truth be told, a very sore and solitary tale of glamorous editorials and lonely celebrations.

In this left-brain dominated, winner-takes-all world, which often looks at the short term results, the money, the quick fixes, I think a softer and more sustainable hand is required in building relationships and connecting people. I feel blessed that grace comes naturally to women. I would hate to conclude that in order to reach the top, we have to hide, or shed any notion of these "labels". It would be a sacrilege to ban women from the Directorships or keep them in HR or Marketing, or in Operations where, strangely they gain invaluable experience in building relationships by managing all the "lower level staff" and interestingly, are often very close to the customer! This makes us immensely knowledgeable... if we could only make ourselves be heard in the Boardrooms. I know, now I am projecting :)

Yesterday I saw this article and was again reminded that there should be more compelling reasons to have more women in leadership positions than to balance the HR numbers. They should be darn good at what they do, they should bring the balance, the "other perspective", the sustainable factor that comes with with being a natural negotiater and nurturer. They must assist to make companies and the world a better place...They MUST have grace.

bloomberg.com - Companies with women on their boards performed better in challenging markets than those with all-male boards in a study suggesting that mixing genders may temper risky investment moves and increase return on equity.

I say let the real reason for having women shine - I say hooray to all who choose to lead with grace!

 

Also read the following article from Edith Sievers on Women and the Bottom Line:

http://www.usb-ed.com/Blog/Women-and-the-Bottom-Line-Myths-Mysteries-and-Milestones?utm_source=EDFocus35