Philosophy of Stay in Touch by Geoff Blackler

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Monday, July 20, 2009....

After 5 months living in Rossland Canada I arrived back here in Wanaka at the end of April. At first I stayed in Calums house (photo above)which is about 100 yards from the sleep out (photo above). At the end of May I went and stayed at my brother Bills house for three weeks on the North Island by Lake Rotoma and did some renovations on his house.
Arriving back in Wanaka on June 12th I moved back into the sleep out (photo below). I have lived in this small house since July 2000 when I'm back in Wanaka after my travels to England and Canada. It is a beautiful place to live and is on 17 acre's which is owned by Calum, along with his house there is also a Barn (bottom photo) which I built about 4 years ago.

These photo's were taken a few winters ago, it snows a few times every winter down to this level which is just over 300 meters.
Sometime during August I will be moving into the flat on the first floor of the Barn which is above my workshop on the ground floor to the left of the chimney. I will be living here for the rest of 2009 and most of 2010.
I'm not planning to go overseas during this period, my next trip will be either to England in August 2010 for my sixtieth birthday, if not then it will be back to Rossland for a months ski-in in December 2010 or for the winter of that year.
It is hard to plan that far ahead especially as I want to spend more time here in NZ and by living in the moment as I try to do it is hard to know what the universe will provide for me in the next 18 months, but as it is always here in Wanaka, a real joy to be alive enjoying each day and the adventures that go with living here.

posted by Geoff's Journey # 9:45 PM 0 Comments

Thursday, March 19, 2009....

This my home for the winter of 08/09 in Canada

The photo above is of the house that has been my Home since the beginning of December 2008, I will be here till the 16th April 09 which is the date I go and stay with my son Steven in Florida for 4 days, last year he finished a years course learning to fly helicopters. He has his Private, Commercial and half of his passenger licence, to get his full one he has to have lots of flying hours experience. At the end of the course he took his instructor course and passed and is now teaching other people how to fly.
It will be good to see him where his home has been the last 18 months and also to experience Florida and its weather before heading back to NZ on the 23rd April.
I love this town of Rossland where I have lived this winter in B.C. it is such a friendly and social place and if you want it to be a quite time it can also be that with a 4000 population. But after ski-in Red mountain with locals and friends from other parts of the world it is hard not to socialise in the evenings after a great days ski-in.
The ski hill is only 5 minutes away by car and if I want I can ski home down the back of Red mountain.
If i did not live in Wanaka NZ I could easily stay in this lovely place, nestled into the mountain of Red at a 1000 meters, snow in the yard all winter making it a very wintery experience especially over Xmass and New year when it has always snowed giving it a very Xmass like feeling.
I spend most of my days ski-in and I've only missed a dozen days since it opened on Dec 19th and will probably end up ski-in about 100 days, its a very nice lifestyle and when I leave where my home is now my next home will be Wanaka and a similar lifestyle but there we live at 300 meters and its by a lake surrouned by mountains.
They say that home is where the heart is and here is where my heart wants to be now being and ski-in amazing terrain, then when this is over my heart wants to be in Wanaka and New Zealand.
I feel very fortunate to be experiencing this lifestyle and I take nothing for granted, it helps me live in the moment and become a free spirited human being.
If you want to see pictures and read about what I'm up too click on geoffs journey in the left column.
May your life be full of love and compassion, may you be happy, be peaceful and be in Harmony and become Liberated.
Geoff :-)

posted by Geoff's Journey # 11:48 AM 0 Comments

Thursday, October 16, 2008....

Deer near Wanaka

From my friend Donald

posted by Geoff's Journey # 4:50 PM 0 Comments

Saturday, May 10, 2008....

Back in Wanaka

I've now been back in Wanaka almost a month now, its great being back here. I arrived on the 14th April. A friend of mine Dean was on the plane from Auckland to Queenstown and he lives next door so it was a nice Co-incidence especially as he had his car at the airport so I got a lift right to my door.
The first two weeks I stayed in Calums house until the lady moved out of the sleep out. This is my second week back in the sleep out where I really enjoy being, the rural outlook of the mountains etc is awesome. At night the stars in the night sky is a sight to be seen, all the places I have visited and stayed no where compares to the stars here, theres thousands of them.
Also its Autumn here now and everywhere looks very colourful, Autumn is also a time to harvest Apples, pears, peaches, gather Walnuts, chessnuts and mushrooms so I have a good store of them especially the walnuts.

Its also good being back working and earning money again. I'm building a garage for a couple that live in Hawea and I'm also doing some maintenance on our Local Cinema which Calum owns.
For keeping my fitness up I'm back mountain biking the trails of our local forest, its great riding the trails again and today I went for a ride over and around Dublin Bay, I took a friend of mine's dog with me who I'm looking after for a month while he is away in Europe.

The weather has been quite cold lately and after Fridays rain it left some snow up on the mountains, it will probably dissapear as they say snow in May its goe's away.
Hopefully next month it will start to top the mountains up for a good start to the season. I'm not buying a pass here this winter. I enjoyed touring in Canada this year so I've decided I will just go touring when the conditions are good. My plan is to go back to Canada at the end of November for another season so I'm quite happy to wait until then.
If the snow is good I'll be going to Craigiburn for the second week in August where a few friends go and they ski Red too.
Thats about all for now and some thing I say after my Meditations I'd like to leave you with,
May all beings be loving and compassionate, Be Happy, be Peacefull and become Liberated

posted by Geoff's Journey # 8:13 PM 0 Comments

Thursday, April 3, 2008....

4 more dys to go till the end of this lovely season, yesterday two friends and I went to the Salmo/Crestan pass probably for the last time this season. After the weekends 40+cm of new snow it was a epic day at the pass and there has only been arguebly one day better while touring.
3 awesome North and North west facing steep and deep runs, we walked for about 4 hours overall to get to the place where we started the three different runs but it was well worth the skinning (walking) up. Skinning has been really enjoyable this season especially in the Salmo pass region which is very new for me having only been there once before in 2002/3 season. Also touring from the ski hill has been awesome especially on Record Peak having skied it 25 times and hopefully there will be a few more before the close of the season.
There are three mountains next to the ski area two take 30 minutes to walk to the top which is Grey and Roberts which I ski more in December and January then its onto Record mostly in February and March with the occassional hike up Roberts after fresh snow.
I skied 4 runs on Record the day before yesterday which was epic after the 40cm+ at the weekend.

Monday I leave this lovely town of Rossland with its lovely adventurous and social people and the ski hill behind for another season and head to Vancouver for a few days and the a few days at my brother Garys in the Bombay hills south of Auckland then its back to another lovely town and people of Wanaka and Hawea on the 14th.
Its going to be good to be back there again and living in the sleep out at Calums and back to work after 4 months away from work. It is great to have these breaks from work because I'm charged and keen to get back to work especially as I feel it will become more creative in different fields towards the end of the year, looking forward to my continuing journey.

posted by Geoff's Journey # 10:49 AM 0 Comments

Friday, March 23, 2007....

Introduction

Ki-ora,
My name is Geoffrey Ronald Blackler, I was born in Luton Bedfordshire, England, in August 1950.
I emigrated to New Zealand in 1986 and lived in Auckland until December 1993. I then moved to Wanaka in the south Island after my 21 year marriage unfortunately came to an end.
I decided to leave the city and come to Wanaka to learn how to ski and see if Wanaka was as good as it sounded.
As I drove into Wanaka I saw the mountains (2nd Photo), straight away I had a feeling this was the place for me. During the first year here this feeling was reaffirmed to me in many ways, not only did I learn to ski but I also started to learn about the adventure's and positiveness of connecting to nature and the spiritual aspects of life, at the same time becoming aware of how unbalanced my life was up until that time, caused by my conditioning and the negative aspects of materialism in my life.

To coin a phrase, learning to ski put the icing on the cake, it opened up a whole lot of new adventure's for me that took me to heights of over 2000 meters spending sometimes over 6 hours a day having fun like I had never done before.

This adventure alone was enough to lift my spirits to look at life in a new way, there was many more adventure's in the years to follow.

The fourth photo is of a place in Canada where I have started to spend Xmas and new year, dreaming of a white Xmas has always been there for me, now I experience it with ski-in. It would be nice some time in the future for my immediate family to join me in the experience.
The first and last photo's are of the sunrise and sunset from where I live here in Wanaka, Autumn and winter have many of these colorful displays which are truly amazing especially when they happen so regularly. The third photo is of the sunrise on Treble Cone one of three ski fields in Wanaka and the one where I ski.

In 1995 Stay In Touch started as a part time business supplying knee stools and massage tables to locals in Wanaka, then spreading nationwide by advertising in the Healthy Options magazine.
The philosophy of this web site is to bring healing into the home. With the therapies and process's I have experienced over the last 10 years, family members can very easily in a short period of time learn the basics of healing on many levels which could heal the common ailments and Dis-ease within the family, which would free up the doctors and nurse's to spend more time with the more seriously ill patients.

Learning the basic arts of Massage, reiki, yoga and meditation would go a long way to bringing our physical, mental and emotional bodies back into balance especially on a daily or weekly basis in our home. This will also tune us more into the spiritual aspects of our journey here on earth.
I personally use two and sometimes three of these on a daily basis, the fourth, a massage once a week. These are just four of many therapies and process's that can bring about balance.
Our diet and outdoor activity also play a big role in bringing about balance.

At the time of re-writing this I am 57 years old and I have never felt more fit, healthy and in balance.
Friends and people I have adventures with often ask where I get my energy from and I explain that I believe that my life holistically is well balanced.
Through this web site I want to share with you the lessons that I have learned which have brought me the lifestyle that I live.
This web site has two aspects to it, a creative aspect and an experiential aspect.

The creative aspect being the making of fine healing tools mainly from recycled timber to promote and support healing within our homes and communities.
I believe every household could have these two pieces of furniture, along with others I hope to create in the future.
The cost compared to other furniture we buy is relatively cheap and would go a long way for families playing a big role in healing at home.
My first experience of Massage was at 43, after a few months I could not understand why it had taken so long for me to experience this therapy and with a weekly massage I was soon feeling the benefits of being more relaxed within my physical body.
Being a carpenter it was good to have a weekly massage to ease the tensions and stress’s of a carpenters daily life.
In most jobs these days we carry home with us the pressure’s and tensions of living a fast pace of life.

he basic’s in the art of massage is be very simple for people of all ages to learn. Any member of the family who has a hard day at work or an adventurous or sporting day could come home to a nice relaxing massage and feel relaxed and more comfortable in their own home.
It would bring families closer together because touch is another form of communication and sometimes it is difficult to find the right words at any given time, but touch can say lots of things and help people feel nurtured, loved and supported in difficult times.

The Knee stool promotes good posture and in today’s age of the computer we are spending a lot of time sitting and when our posture is good it enhances our focus and concentration.
I also use mine at meal times and sometimes when meditating, sometimes when my knee is tender after work or a very hard days ski-in I just put my leg out in front, it takes the pressure off that knee.
At first it is good to spend short periods on the stool until the body adjusts to the new position

The other aspect of this web site is literal, here I would like to share with you stories, poetry, awareness’s and insights from my life’s experience as I journey on my path.
I try to live in the now as much as I can, but the past often comes to me, either in sharing my experiences to support others in their healing process or as my own issues arise on my journey.
Since 1993 apart from the above mentioned therapies, Circles of Men and other aspects of group sharing have helped in bringing my life into balance and harmony.

Looking at our communities and how separated they have become, I believe community sharing groups are a way for us to come together and express our views and concerns.
There is a section on communities and group sharing on this web site so please browse through.
They are simply ways of Staying in Touch not only with our own journey but with others we meet on our path.

I believe life is all about choices and direction and through this web site I want to offer choices to those that are looking for a change in direction.
Some of my statements especially about the TV and the powers that rule our world may seem like we need to rid them from our world, this is not the case we need these aspects to bring about law and order and to inform us of what is happening in our world, unfortunately what the majority of people see and hear is very negative.
Also these people are in power because we as a nation voted them in and we buy into their coverage, so if we are not happy with what we hear and see then it is up to us to change it at election time and what we buy and see.
If we are going to create peace on earth we need more positive and peaceful information with direction to lift all our spirits to create a peaceful world.

The materialistic world we are living in takes us very much away from what we all desire the most, peace and fulfillment. We go to work to earn money to secure our future and fulfill our materialistic needs. We want the best and the best costs, So we are always chasing the dollar.
As the chase goes on, stress builds up especially through difficult times. The physical body becomes tense and tight, then aches and pains inhibit our movement and freedom.
It not only affects the physical, but also our emotional and mental bodies, which in turn affects our communication with others and the self. There is a bigger part of us that is often ignored and that is the Spiritual aspect of our journey, this I believe is the most important part of us finding a balance.

So please browse through this web site. My experience since 1993 has been a beautiful journey. At first there seemed so much to take in, but in hindsight it would have been much easier just understanding what was important and resonated with me at the time.
The rest,if it is part of my journey I would come to understand later and use in my life when the time was right.
We all have different experiences in life, we are all unique in our own way and what is right for one person will be different for another, there are lots of paths to the Kingdom of God, find your one and accept and support others on their paths.

Change Doe's not happen over night, with the spiritual it is a on going process and we are always learning new stuff.
So be patient, you have your whole life ahead of you, time is a good healer.
Have a great journey, be creative, adventurous, learn to let go, allow change to happen, and take back control of your life and become a free spirited human being to create peace on earth, that I believe is our journey.

I would like to finish with a poem I wrote in April 2001.

My body is a carriage for my soul,
From when I am born until I get old,
He feels all the love and feels all the hurt,
If there is no love he gets covered with dirt.

The more of the hurt, more layers are laid,
Till were on our knee's and we start to pray,
That's when we open up and let god come in,
Then the layer's of dirt starts to get thin,

My soul is on a journey to the Kingdom of God,
Many carriages he may enter, some will be odd,
Many journeys my soul may have to take,
To find the right path to enjoy God's embrace.

Find the right balance with Compassion Love and Peace.

Geoff :)

posted by Geoff's Journey # 1:16 PM 0 Comments