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| My own "Stanley Park" seawall without cars or people. |
Less than twenty hours ago, I jumped on my bike and went for a short ride. My wife and the kids were hanging out at my in-law’s house, the sun was shining, and the moment was just right. As soon as I clicked unto my pedals and started riding, I knew there was something special about this particular afternoon. I decided to take one of my favorite 27 km circuits to pay a visit to Suishohama beach and catch the sunset. Twenty-two minutes later, I reached this spot:
I didn’t stay there long, so after quenching my thirst with an overpriced Gatorade I bought from a vending machine close by, I jumped back on the road. Soon afterwards, I reached the “sweet spot,” the moment wherein everything just clicks in your mind. The chitchat (along with the worries and judgments) stops, awareness goes up...WAY UP, and the feeling of being alive... TRULY ALIVE takes you all the way UP and back.
The time when everything just feels right: the plants all around, the birds flying high, the snake, crab, and grasshoppers swimming across the road below you; the sun and the breeze touching your face, the sweat pouring out from your pores and sliding down your arms and legs; the smell of lavender and a few other flowers and herbs enticing your sense of smell; the cranes flying solo making their way above you and into the sunset; the exhilarating feeling of seeing the dark pavement flow below you through the use of your own power and hill’s-induced momentum; the sea and the sun shining brightly in ways no picture, video, or painting could ever do it justice; they way everything comes together allowing you to see and feel more than you had earlier in the exact same place (all the same, yet different as well); the feeling of thankfulness you experience from the inside out; the affirmation that irrespective of how challenging and frustrating some days can be, life is beautiful just the way it is, and that I truly live in the place I once imagined I could live in.
Thus, I’ve come a long way from being the restless kid in Mexico City who would spend hours-on-end every Sunday doing laps on my red bike around my grandparent’s 50 m circuit garden behind concrete walls, to being one of the few Vancouverites to rollerblade Stanley Park’s 10 km seawall more than one thousand times within a decade, to being one of the only foreigners who thinks of this place as an absolute paradise and can enjoy it freely (outside of the walls...) for all its worth.
Thus, I’ve come a long way from being the restless kid in Mexico City who would spend hours-on-end every Sunday doing laps on my red bike around my grandparent’s 50 m circuit garden behind concrete walls, to being one of the few Vancouverites to rollerblade Stanley Park’s 10 km seawall more than one thousand times within a decade, to being one of the only foreigners who thinks of this place as an absolute paradise and can enjoy it freely (outside of the walls...) for all its worth.
Though there are times when I DO miss beautiful British Columbia and everything that it offers (+ family & friends), I rest happy in the knowledge that I’ve learned to maintain all that BC love I have within by making the very best and taking advantage of the magical paradise right out of my doorstep.
Today, I can’t help but continue to be thankful to the Universe for leading me to start a life in a place that has welcomed me with wide-open-arms from day 1, and has helped me carve out my own path in the company of my loving family.
I end this note by re-sharing something I wrote years ago on this Blog, but still holds true today (and perhaps more than ever):
I end this note by re-sharing something I wrote years ago on this Blog, but still holds true today (and perhaps more than ever):
I am often amazed at how many times I hear the word "paradise".
Lately, I've begun to understand that paradise is no place you can look for,
because it's not where you go,
it's how you feel for a moment in your life when you are part of something much greater than yourself.
It's letting life bring you to the realization that you are nothing but a small...
yet indispensable part of it all.
Stay open to the wonder outside your window.
Let it elevate you to the point where you feel you are one with it all,
and when you feel that smile come out from within,
you may just find that everything around you...
is smiling right back.
