Inspiration, simple values and ikigai
Thinking a lot about my grandmother today as I’m sitting here working on Relaxscape marketing, with her shawl over my shoulders and a picture of poppies she painted hanging on the wall next to me. I gave her this shawl on her last birthday, her 93rd, before she left us. She told me she loved wearing it as it was soft and warm. Having it round my shoulders feels like a hug from her.
She would have loved to see the poppies that are sprinkled all over the grass here at the moment. How she lived her life is a constant inspiration to me. She just got on with things, even when it was tough. She always grew fruit and vegetables (and the most beautiful flowers) and used the garden as her source of energy and joy. She cooked simple, naturally good food from scratch, and baked her own bread, right to the end. She was interested in life, and in people, and liked to make friends with all different people, of all ages and outlooks. A simple, natural, outdoor life with good values. It’s what kept her mind sharp, the spring in her step and the twinkle in her eye, I’m sure.
I created Relaxscape as a place for people to rediscover those simple values. To help people find their ikigai, like my grandmother did. I’ve learnt that living life to the max, working all the time, never having enough time to just slow down, breathe, and paint those poppies if that’s what you feel like doing, is not good for my mental or physical health. I’m learning to be more intuitive, to understand what my body, and my mind, needs. And to create the lifestyle that gives me what I need. That’s what ikigai is, and that’s what a retreat at Relaxscape will help you to discover for yourself.