A Spring Voyage To Serenity Island

Do you feel yourself drifting from where you wish to be? Are you finding it difficult to keep up with demands, pressures, and expectations that you do not want to comply with, yet feel you have no choice? Or have you taken on too much in the excitement of abundant intentions and possibilities at the start of this year?

The Return to Serenity Island offers a gentle invitation to slow down, pause, and reconnect with your inner creativity in a spirit of playful rest.

As January ends and any excitement we may have felt from the novelty of the new year returns to normality, I am re-opening The Return to Serenity Island for a Spring voyage

We had our final “Autumn 2024” picnic this week, and there was a sense of peace and calm within the group as we paused for a moment to connect with the needs, desires, and hopes we were carrying.

I shared a brief narrative soundscape at the beginning, which featured this poem by Wendell Berry.

The wild cherries ripen, black and fat,
Paradisal fruits that taste of no man’s sweat.
Reach up, pull down the laden branch, and eat;
When you have learned their bitterness, they taste sweet.

– Fall by Wendell Berry

Learning To Taste Sweetness

There is something beautiful about the image of sweetness as something we discover within ourselves. It’s not about the literal taste or flavour but our experiences with the gifts hanging from the metaphorical branches around us. As we learn to perceive the beauty in the ordinary elements of daily life, the bitterness or sharpness we might have encountered initially begins to dissipate as we find a source of comfort, safety, and home in these accessible and familiar places.

Serenity Island Soundscapes

Someone shared this message in our new Serenity Island WhatsApp group. It captures the essence of the course and my endeavour to create something that would allow us to explore, grow, and play in sustainable, meaningful, and life-affirming ways.

“When I couldn’t sleep in the early hours, I thought about what was said at our picnic yesterday about the uniqueness of Andy’s soundscapes. They’re very different from ‘normal’ relaxation or meditation audios, even those with music.

A good example was the visceral experience of reaching the branches with my hand when listening to yesterday’s picnic soundscape. The soundscapes don’t focus on inner sensations or challenges or offer a key or magic formula to fix something: “You’d succeed if you just did it right (and if you don’t, well, then you must be doing it wrong).”

Instead, they gently place you in a safe space where you can explore whatever needs exploring – not stuck inside yourself and your thoughts, but connected to the world around you with all your senses in a calm, tranquil way. Not to the busy world around me but to my own Serenity Island.

For someone like me, who spends a lot of time in my head, that feels so freeing. It gives me hope and a sense of possibilities without any pressure to rush. For that moment, I accept myself – and feel accepted. And most of all, I feel connected. Someone is with me; I can feel and trust that unexplainable ’support from below’. It’s weird, lovely and unique.”

Serenity Island Picnics

Our first picnic for Spring is in February. These gatherings (on Zoom) allow us to meet, share, and explore together. We listen to a short soundscape, chat about our experiences around the island, and do a reflective play prompt together.

These aren’t part of the course materials, so if you don’t want to (or can’t) attend, you won’t miss anything. Instead, they are there for anyone who would appreciate a regular rhythm and a chance to connect with like-spirited folk going through the course.

Our Whatsapp Group

We have a new optional Serenity Island Whatsapp Group. It provides a place for those who want to keep in touch on weeks when there are no live picnics. The soundscapes and play prompt are also delivered to the group after our Zoom sessions. So, if you can’t make them live, you can engage in your own time (and revisit whenever you like).

12 Months of Picnics

You get access to the course materials and live sessions for 12 months, which means by signing up for Spring, you will also have access to the Autumn 2025 picnic sessions. I want you to feel like you can slow down, go deep, and know there will be an opportunity to return to it again. Someone expressed gratitude for this last night because it takes the pressure off things that need time to untangle and grow.

Postcards From Serenity Island

At the end of last year, I created these postcards from Serenity Island. They will show you around and set the tone for what you can expect if you sign up.

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