365 Inspirations—199: Exciting News

Friends on Kehena Black Sand Beach, Big Island, HI 

“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.”—Henry David Thoreau

I'm not very good at hiding exciting news. I was going to wait, but why?

Yesterday I wrote about the importance of valuing yourself and I also wrote about how each of us gets to choose how we define ourselves. You can call yourself a painter, a blogger, a basket weaver, a candlestick maker, a parent, a doctor, a community organizer, a bird lover, a friend, a fellow human being or whatever you wish.

Today I'm going to call myself a soon-to-be artist-in-residence! I received an e-mail from Kalani, a  retreat center on the Big Island of Hawaii, inviting me to be an artist-in-residence and a featured writing workshop leader at the Hawaii Yoga Festival in November.

Kalani is the largest retreat center in Hawaii and will be the host of the Hawaii Yoga Festival.

I'm honored to be invited to participate in this amazing event and to offer writing classes in November. I'll also be using some of the time to write/research a book I'm working on.

How did I find this lovely retreat center tucked away on the Hilo side of the Big Island of Hawaii? By sheer luck!

Yoon conducted a yoga retreat on the Big Island in the Pahoa area last March. We had heard about a famous black sand beach where you could swim with dolphins and woke up early one morning to do just that. When we arrived, lots of people were on the beach doing yoga. I found this very interesting because we were also on a yoga retreat.

While I was floating out in the waves, people began pointing in my direction from the shore. Right then and there, a spinner dolphin put on a huge show inches from where I was floating. Then pods of them came in and we were swimming with them. I even got to see them up close under the water with a mask.

My husband Yoon making a whale tail on Kehena Beach

It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Afterwards, we were driving home and saw what looked like a shop or restaurant on the left hand side of the street. We walked in to the shop and were greeted with warm smiles. We ordered lunch and sat outside near what turned out to be the yoga studio. That's when we realized that this peaceful place was Kalani!

Having lunch at Kalani with friends on our yoga retreat

Afterwards, I researched Kalani and now I'm going back to this magical corner of the world once again as an artist-in-residence. We just never know what we might discover on this journey called life and where those discoveries will take us next! 

Are you good at hiding exciting news or do you share it right away?