Freetown: City of Stars

I have come to feel great love for this ‘city of stars’…with no lights at night the moon illuminates your path while the stars guide your way. Freetown has definitely grown on me with her little treasures here & there…from the beauty of the oceanfront and those magnificent cotton trees to the vendors walking up and down the street with the goodies they carry on their heads – like those tasty sesame sticks and the plantain chips I’ve become quite fond of. I booked my flight home today – June 26 – I feel great sadness when I think of this day coming – while sitting in a ‘western style’ café this afternoon I began to think of returning ‘home’ and what this means…for the first time in all my journeys these last few years I am not ready to move on – however I understand that in order for my being to fully integrate these past few months of experiences and take with me the lessons I needed to be given home is where I must go…It is going to take awhile for this girl to process this ‘trip’ already I know everything has changed. I have planted myself in a different vibration and now found myself a new rhythm…

Everything in this universe has a rhythm - from the spin of the earth and the cycles of the moon to the breath we take and the words I write. How many times have you jumped into an experience you had only imagined in your mind - stepped out of your usual vibration to resonate with a brand new rhythm. I read today how the measure of our creativity isn’t necessarily about how well we may draw a picture or sing a song - rather it is about how creatively we live our life. People often underestimate the challenge that living a creative life demands…it requires you to step into the unknown without a guide – life asks you to take part instead of shying back into your ‘safe space’ where your world is predictable and known…living a creative life means exploring vast potentials and finding an expression for what you discover.

Ohh Sweet Africa…she has seduced me with her rhythm…any time you initially enter a new space your being experiences a sensation of new vibrations you become engaged by its rhythm –– stimulating you and causing you to feel a sense of euphoria (possibly mixed with anxiety and slight nausea depending on how intense) this excitement reminds you your alive…at the very least. But after a time that initial feeling goes away & it sinks in that this rhythm that once ‘woke you up’ is not what resonates with you at all – you are not in harmony – worse you aren’t even in the same key…and then ‘reality’ hits or should I say ‘culture shock’ happens – vibing with this new rhythm may take awhile...but it can happen if you let go enough to lose yourself in it. The more chances we take the more we cultivate our rhythm and the greater our potential for creating those infinite harmonies…and what a harmony I have begun to create.

My Sweet Salone…we have only just begun to resonate. Freetown has captivated me…Sierra Leone has swept me up in her rhythm and I am thoroughly addicted – or should I say absorbed by her vibration…it seems as if we have only begun our dance and I must leave before the song is over****city of stars****like Cinderella at the stroke of midnight – maybe I too will be sure to leave my glass slipper behind…