Life Happens...: Recent Episodes
Vicki Nicholls
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2022/12/29/life-happens-so-do-christmas-ponderings/
Where do you find yourself when your world screams, though all around you, a deafening silence echoes a haunting refrain? Even the darkest night, with sparkling starry stories, follows another day in seeming ignorance, and the circle of life keeps spinning, heeding not your pain. I remember (without the debilitating weariness, body, mind and heart-wrenching pain and guilt), a year of hell wherein the darkest dark, fear, numbing shock and hopelessness threatened to swallow me whole. Shortly more than two years ago (early 2020), with unsuspecting swiftness, when what began in 2017 as a slow-forming rip current grew dangerously powerful, dragging me bound in anxious attempts to free myself. I saw my life ebb as I floundered and flailed within the deepening ocean's watery graveyard of grief.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2022/05/10/life-happens-so-does-voyaging-into-my-heart/
What glorious sights abound when viewed in the mists around.
Peace in the blanketed air, scenes of the feeling heart, share.
This is available at https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2022/02/18/life-happens-so-do-mists/
The imaginings that take my breath away
in visions of darkest night and brightest day.
Your face and touch lives inside me as I roam.
I see, I feel, all for you. My heart seeks home.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2020/09/01/so-does-a-contemporary-ballad-of-the-contemplative-voyager/
I know the truth, illuminated like a rainbow reflecting colours of my life by that treasured breath: love flowing from my heart, cascading like a waterfall, refreshingly beautiful in it purity.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2021/12/18/life-happens-so-does-love/
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2021/12/02/life-happens-so-do-stars-fairy-dust-and-fireflies/
First Christmas after my husband of 38 years died. Trying to keep traditions alive.
https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2020/04/09/so-does-gingerbread/
The morning slowly rises,
clothed 'neath shadows blue-grey.
Peeking through autumn's chill,
a patchwork quilt, her way.
Her breath, a ribboned edge,
smooth velvet-like appears,
whispers 'cross dark with light
blazing a trail, warmth sears.
Dawning flames spread pink hues,
stoking daylight's promise,
dreamy remnants, night's hope,
blendings mysterious.
copyright Vicki Nicholls 2021
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2021/11/18/life-happens-so-do-dawnings/
Originally written for my blog as my second post in my voyage of self-discovery and healing, it was published on April 3, 2020.
It is available for reading at https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2020/04/03/so-does-what-am-i-to-do-now/
My first blog post for Life Happens was published on March 26 2020. It is available at https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2020/03/26/so-do-choices/
The foolishness of doubts plays haunting games with me.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2021/10/12/life-happens-so-do-doubts/
We all have moments of anticipation. This is one of my stories. An impulsive decision, the Anthem of the Seas, a solitary first vacation for a widow to see a working chef and my friend is the story behind Life Happens . . . so does Anticipation. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2021/09/02/life-happens-so-does-anticipation/
A waterfront walk, caught in the rain, a list forms. Precious memories become questions of When was the last time?
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2021/08/21/life-happens-so-when-was-the-last-time/
Footprints in the sands of time eventually vanish. Over the last year, have developed a sense of my feet and taken many pictures of them from mountain heights, on my paddleboard, pointing at the sky and foot bare sandals. They all speak in symbols to my heart, telling stories worth my imagining and truth. Make of them what you will. I feel free!
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2021/08/15/life-happens-so-do-footprints-and-freedom/
I have deep roots. While I do not expose my roots to many, I have found my life's story exposing the intricate nature of their intertwining connections hanging onto every precipice. My balance is improving, and I am often surprised. To me, they go together, like the Fiddler on the Roof. Though I do not reference this movie in my post, it always plays in the back of my mind.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2021/07/25/life-happens-so-do-roots-and-balance/
Music, an integral part of my life's experiences, reflects me in my choices and private self. I hear a tune of harmonies, melodies, and a symphony (as Diana Ross sang) with my 'schooling' in the bowels of mercy, love, mountains, water, natures bountiful beauties of spiritual, life-enhancing moments and memories.
https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2021/05/09/life-happens-in-a-song/
I have always appreciated the impressions I receive when reading, then pondering scriptures. My heart and mind dwell on many verses that touch my heart. For this post/episode I share my thoughts on verse 11 of Matthew chapter 6 as found in the King James version of the Holy Bible.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2021/07/18/life-happens-so-does-the-lords-prayer/
Life's happenings for me include learning by parable. I remember the saying; "Your eyes are bigger than your belly." This thought forms the personally written and interpreted parable for myself. A feasting choice, so much on the buffet of life, and what do I do?
This is also available in written form. https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com
Solitude is not aloneness or loneliness. It is a state of stillness, where I am, though I usually have no physical companionship. Timelessness, eternity, and the phrase forever in a day simmers in the pot of my mind.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2021/07/08/life-happens-so-do-thoughts-in-solitude/
I believe we all dream of adventures, exploring is in our nature. Off we go . . .
Tick-tock and a hook,
so the story goes.
But what if . . .
the story is life?
A hook and tick-tock.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2021/07/01/life-happens-so-make-it-an-adventure/
For as long as I can remember, clouds have played a role in my life. I take photos of them, lay for hours watching, and I feel, freeing myself to drift and learn from realms beyond horizons.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2021/06/24/life-happens-so-touch-a-cloud/
So many paths I walk as I seek enlightenment. Each is a gift and blessing, merging in my heart with truth sublime.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2021/06/16/life-happens-where-paths-merge/
So many analogies and metaphors come to mind when I think about my watery experiences. In October 2019, I took a cruise from Australia to New Zealand and through waters of the South Pacific. It was an incredible experience for many reasons. I enjoyed watching the anchoring and de-anchoring of my ship, the Ovation of the Seas in several ports, even while mooring for tender.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2021/06/10/life-happens-with-or-without-anchoring/
Have you ever felt the need to seek something intangible, but real in your perspective? Perhaps you feel an urge to walk through mists and shadow to see beyond the visible and find yourself in the heart of the matter--your heart.
This post may seem cryptic to some, but then it is my life and appears that way to me at times. This podcast is an expression of me, myself, and I, my wishes and desires for myself. Becoming the wish and dream to myself and those I love, (my personal character, my legacy, if you will) inspires my writings and heartfelt aspirations. I hope all those I encounter in my voyaging life will see and feel of me. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://thecontemplativevoyager.wordpress.com/2021/05/27/life-happens-written-in-clouds-of-dust-and-moisture/
I was blessed the spend time with my father as he prepared, unknowingly perhaps to him, to pass from this mortal life into eternal realms. This is my experience and love expressed through narrative poetry while at his bedside.