Good morning blind wisdom seekers!

Well, with my bag half packed, I’m nearly ready to head off on my South American adventure! I was out speaking to a group of students at Taieri College yesterday and I was telling them “who would have thought that someone could go blind and then get to go to visit the 7 wonders of the world!” Nuts eh? Sometimes life doesn’t make sense but we most often focus on when it doesn’t make sense in a bad way. Seldom in a good way. I guess that is what Silver Linings are all about. Going through adversity and coming out on the other side in a better place! As all the old sayings go, it doesn’t matter if you get knocked down, so long as you get back up! But what gets us back up? Depending on what school of personal development you attend, the choices can be various. The Julie Woods school of personal development would say focusing on what you can do, setting goals and saying why not! They are the three things that have taken me from sitting on the couch to visiting the 7 wonders!

This trip I will be focusing on what I can do when I write my sensory diary every day. One thing I smell, hear, taste and touch! I wonder what they will be! There’s one thing for sure; they will help me paint a picture in my mind of a place in the world that is so foreign, that for just one day will be my familiar!

My familiar for this week however is:

1 the feel of the rope Jo uses to pull me around in the morning – she doesn’t really pull me but it’s what it looks like and what people think!

2 the feel of Robyn’s delicate hand as I shook it yesterday – Attitude TV producer!

3 the sound of Robyn saying “you make my job easy” – ha ha!

4 the feel of me putting on the crazy big glasses for the shoot!

5 the smell of the Japanese food at Jitsu for lunch! Num num num!

6 the sound of the kids at Taieri College introducing themselves to me in the way I shoed them!

7 the feel of the chocolate that got all up my arm and all over Megan’s vest! Oops Megan – I hope your mother doesn’t go mad at your attempt at blind baking!

8 the taste of the orange macaroon I had at Number 7 Balmac after the shoot yesterday!

9 the sound of Ron coming home!

10 the feel of the couch as I slouched in it last night!

Adios all for a month! I’ll be off the bloggesphere while I am in South America. Have a wonderful month and maybe I could set you a challenge of writing a sensory diary from September 13 – October 13 for the month that we are away! Why don’t you write something you smell, hear, taste and touch for those 30 days and see what you discover!

I may not see but I can smell

And taste and touch and listen

And when I do this every day

I find my optimism!