Tag: trust

  • Letters from the Sea

    Letters from the Sea

    From me to you. 🤍

    This Week’s Theme: Living in the Flow

    We are just cruising past Point Augusta, where we stopped to photograph and film the seiner fishing fleet. We watched them set and haul their gear, all in hopes of salmon swimming into their gigantic nets before being brought aboard for their slated fate.

    Life at sea really illuminates what it means to be in the flow. It’s easy to tell when you’re getting a strong current push, the winds are at your bow, or the daylight doesn’t shine when you think it should.

    We left Tenakee Springs this morning, a place that has come to signify the continued flow state of life aboard the Alaskan Gypsy.

    In my past life, living in the city, working 40 to 60 hours a week, fighting hard for my ideal health in mind, body, and spirit, seeking adventure, and longing for a soulmate connection, it felt like I was constantly swimming against the current. Everything felt hard. I was tired all the time. Disconnected from myself. Healing from trauma and loss. Longing for deeper connection while surviving in a life that no longer held the meaning it once did. Knowing there was something more, but not being able to put my finger on it. Afraid to change, yet knowing I couldn’t stay the same.

    Shifting into the flow state is an accumulation of moments, awareness, surrender, and being open to a major shift at any time. Letting Source know you’re available for the next level. The Universe loves clarity. Asking for what your soul truly desires, then being available for it…in both the lessons and the blessings. That’s where we become free.

    The small streams and raging rivers all lead back to the same wild ocean. There is no path that won’t eventually take you home. But swimming upstream is far less comfortable. It’s exhausting, and often incredibly counterproductive.

    My life completely changed when I surrendered. I surrendered to the truth within me, to the Divinity around me, and to the deeper knowing that survival mode wasn’t a place to land. The sandbar in the middle of the river wasn’t a place to stay. The water would rise again. The real peace was found in letting go, trusting the flow, and arming myself with the proper tools to navigate the journey.

    Living aboard the Alaskan Gypsy has been nothing but flow state. There are countless stories I could share, but one has been especially present lately.

    As many of you know, we’ve been sharing our Alaskan Gypsy Life on YouTube simply because we enjoy documenting this adventure. Along the way it’s created opportunities we never could have planned.

    One of those opportunities was a connection with a man named Sterling, who owns and operates Second Growth Homes out of Tenakee Springs on Chichagof Island.

    When he first commented on one of our YouTube videos last spring, Scott immediately felt like he’d met a brother from another mother. Their similarities and interests were almost uncanny. Yet Sterling was surprisingly difficult to connect with. Months passed. We’d receive another comment, then silence again.

    Eventually we were heading toward northern Southeast and decided to stop in Tenakee Springs, regardless of whether we’d get the chance to meet him. We had been exploring communities with hot springs as possible places to spend time during future winters aboard Gypsy. We fell in love with Tenakee, but still didn’t cross paths with Sterling, even after a few days there. It turned out, he was working in a nearby bay. A text came through, but still no confirmation of a future connection.

    On our final passage before crossing the Gulf of Alaska, we happened to enter the very bay where he said he was working. Unsure if he was even there, we were almost ready to turn around when he finally answered Scott’s call on the VHF.

    We ventured farther into the bay and met Sterling, his wife, and their three young children living aboard their sailboat while building a cabin in the wilderness.

    Without realizing it at the time, that meeting quietly opened a new portal for our own lives.

    Four weeks later, after returning to Southeast Alaska, our very first stop happened to be another bay where Sterling was beginning an A-frame cabin. Scott helped with the project while I filmed, and during those few days I found myself deeply connected with my dad’s spirit.

    Two days later we were across the bay in Tenakee, working alongside Sterling and his dad at their sawmill, helping fill a large yellow cedar order. Dreams coming true. Spiritual connections everywhere. I was gifted beautiful moments with their children, meaningful conversations with his sweet wife, and the reminder of how special it is to have fellow liveaboards as neighbors in this wild life at sea.

    On our final day at the mill, knowing I felt ready to begin offering energy healing in this community, I unexpectedly met one of Sterling’s dad’s friends. Through casual conversation she asked for Reiki, and before I knew it, the next portal quietly opened.

    Then, while spending time at the Tenakee bathhouse, I met more women who recognized us from the three-masted sailboat and welcomed us into their community with open hearts.

    There is far more depth to these experiences than words can capture today.

    But the story keeps saying the same thing.

    In the flow is the way to go.

    My ego and Virgo brain still wants to schedule, plan, and figure everything out. It wants certainty. It wants to know what’s happening, when it’s happening, and exactly how it will unfold. I still ask questions, gather information, and create little stories in my mind to satisfy that part of myself.

    Thankfully, it occupies less a small part of my brain these days, because honestly…it’s all worth a giggle.

    What I’ve learned is this.

    It always works out.

    There is very little reason to cling tightly to the plan. The weather changes. The current shifts. A whale suddenly appears and reminds you to stop everything.

    Whether at sea or on land, living in the flow with intention, adaptability, flexibility, and openness to your highest good creates blessings and opportunities beyond anything we could have orchestrated ourselves.

    Ego death, surrender, and letting go can be incredibly painful. They’re a process. They’re a journey. And perhaps they’re exactly why we’re here. Our souls are here to remember who we truly are and to learn the lessons that help us return home.

    Nothing is without purpose.

    We are exactly where we are meant to be.

    So the next time life presents you with an opportunity, ask yourself:

    Am I swimming upstream…or am I allowing myself to be supported by the flow?

    This week in our Expansion Women’s Circle we’ll be exploring what it means to live in the flow and simple practices that help cultivate this way of being. I’ve found that sharing in community softens the noise in our minds, and that love, connection, and gentle guidance are always safe places to land.

    You are warmly welcome, and I hope we’ll see you Wednesday at 5:15 PM AKST. Please email me at: audrey@changingtidesenergy.com for the link to join.

    Thank you for being here, in the flow state of this wild and beautiful ride.

    Blessings,

    Audrey

  • Letters from the Sea

    Letters from the Sea

    From me to you. đź¤Ť

    This Week’s Theme: Who Holds You When You Crumble?

    There’s something about the open ocean and endless nights that really humbles you. A time of complete surrender, letting go of any essence of control you may think you have.

    I am not the captain of this vessel, thankfully, my partner Scott is experienced and wise at the helm, but neither of us have an impact over the elements, the swell, the wind, the current or waves. We can tend to the forecast and make sure the oil is changed and gauges running at good pressures and temperatures. We can ensure the fuel tank is full and the galley is tidied for the journey. You can prepare, but you can’t plan for the unexpected. 

    Scott is raising a sail as I write. Utilizing the frustrating headwind to his advantage, which will only truly be to our advantage after changing course, shifting directions, altering plans to try to maximize the current circumstances out of our control. 

    We’ve been traveling for 48 hours nonstop in open water. The hum of the engine can soothe you to sleep or grind at your nervous system. Maybe even, both I dare say. The waves are crashing over our buoyant bow as I type. I should be videoing this for our YouTube, but instead I will seize this moment and intention. Intention to share, in surrender, in peace, and in clarity, no matter what circumstances or storm may come your way. 

    Life trauma doesn’t knock before entering. It doesn’t ask for permission before coming in and taking over your safe, secure, and loving space. It can show up by surprise. It can show up unexpected, at any hour of the day. It can show up at any age, any year of your life, maybe even before you were even brought fully earthside. 

    Who holds you when you crumble? Who tends to the darkness in your soul when the storm comes late at night? 

    Learning to take the reign of your own inner sails is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself in this life. It can be some of our greatest lessons. Learning to nurture and love ourselves, tie the lines and point the nose in the right direction, despite the wavering conditions around. 

    Often times in life we expect others to fix it, to change, to create a different reality for you. But, no matter the conditions, no matter the sea state, no matter the turbulence within – it is our responsibility. Our responsibility to find peace, to heal, to love, to connect with the Divine spirit and guidance, to remember that we are one and not separate from at all, to access and shine our natural light and highest expression. 

    Yes, we can make choices in life. We choose if we go out to sea. We choose who we allow to captain our ship. But underneath all of it, is a choice to regulate, to grow, to nourish and nurture, the undeniable and surrendered part of you, in love, in healing, and in peace. Something that we can access no matter the conditions or circumstances. 

    It’s a practice. Surrendering. Letting go. Taking the lead of our destiny. 
    But once we let go, and release others the responsibility of our happiness, and release our responsibility to others happiness, we can access a deeper freedom then we have known on this earthly realm. 


    It doesn’t mean you don’t access connection and love, and share help and tenderness – it just means we are on solid footing, no matter the conditions around. 

    It takes work, effort, awareness, and consistency. It takes self love when we fall down and the courage to get back up again. It is within us all. Without attachment to our circumstances, in peace and in love. 

    The topic of surrender and letting go will be what we discuss in this weeks Expansion Circle. The theme will be around the Serenity Prayer:

    God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.

    The courage to change the things I can.

    And the wisdom to know the difference.

    Thanking you for being here with me. Blessings.

    Audrey

    ***Please email audrey@changingtidesenergy.com if you’d like to join our weekly Women’s Expansion Circle on Zoom.

    ***If you’d like to watch this Letter being shared aboard the Alaskan Gypsy, click here.