The First Post

This is the very first post of a brand new blog. I hope this blog will serve two purposes. The first to share with you my life in the present - living on our small yacht on the west coast of Scotland, and the second, my philosophy of connecting with the outdoor realm.

As the days and weeks unfold I will be developing this website as a means for me to share with the wider world much of the wisdom I have accrued through my years. I have been fortunate to have lived a very rich life so far and I would like to share what I have learned through my professional experiences working in the outdoors as a guide and an instructor, as a facilitator, as a wilderness therapist, as a psychotherapist and counsellor, as a mental health development worker, as a jewellery artist, and as a sea kayak guide.

I turned fifty in August. This is an age where I think that I now have permission to speak of my wisdom, almost as if I consider myself an elder. In a way I have been waiting for this moment in my life where my half century of living validates all that I have acquired through personal and professional experiences. I am under no illusion that what I am willing to share is not of vital importance, but I do think that if you have an interest in the outdoors, working with people in the outdoors, wildness, and nature, then I may have insights that may be of use to you.

When I worked for Outward Bound in the '80s there were senior instructors and senior staff who would make themselves available so that junior instructors could bend their ears about activity ideas, group issues, and expedition route plans. Their depth of experience and their willingness to share their knowledge was invaluable to inexperienced instructors who were hungry for knowledge. The small tips and nuggets of advice that they gave, which they thought may have been insignificant, were actually gems of wisdom that proved to be invaluable. Through these informal interactions between the experienced and the not so experienced our profession as Outward Bound instructors flourished because the collective knowledge base simply grew and grew.

I don't work at a centre anymore and I don't have a means where I can sit with others to share, to chat, and to learn.

This blog then is my attempt to recreate as I remember it, the moments in the Outward Bound Aberdovey staff room after the evening meal. This was the time when the instructional staff were all together for the half hour before heading out for the evening activities. The moment that the senior staff would plonk themselves down next to a more junior instructor and ask the simple question - "How's it going then?"

So began the sharing of knowledge - the passing on of wisdom.