18th August 2013
Welcome!
During the snow of December 2010, I started to write yet another book. Maybe ‘by the magic of snow’ this one would actually ‘get’ finished ... and even published.
My purpose in writing is to share the story of how I came to see life differently, how life came to be a magical game of Cluedo meets Aladdin’s magic carpet!
Sitting in my happy place, my back doorstep - between worlds as always - today 18 August 2013, I have the uncontrollable urge to share my story immediately via the blog on my recently launched website.
Those of us who believe ‘when the Master is ready the student will appear’ and vice versa will no doubt also agree that when the storyteller is ready the listeners will arrive. So today, I launch my story knowing that those of you who are meant to read it will have found it in your own magical way, when your time is right.
May your MAGIK go with you always,
The Beginning - 06 December 2010
Today I am not where I am supposed to be BUT I am exactly where I am meant to be. I rearranged the papers on my kitchen table. I’d like to say I tidied and filed them but the truth is I shuffled them around a bit, re-made bundles pertaining to the same topic and out it popped; the page headed ‘Stories’. This was the list of amazing stories of things that have happened to me over the last ‘not sure how many’ years. As I reflect now it is quite possible, amazing things were always happening to me but I just did not notice. Then, just as I had the thought ‘I really should get around to writing that book’, I walked back into my sitting room, just as Sybil announced on TV3 that “there are only 11 days left”.
I thought ‘My God, Christmas has hardly crept up on me that quickly?’, only to learn that the countdown was for the Write a Bestseller competition and that December 17th was the last date for entries. In that moment, I knew I had only 11 days!
Knowing in my heart and soul there is no such thing as a coincidence, I thought, ‘Phew - I still have a bit of breathing space before Christmas’ which was quickly followed by ‘you can’t avoid it any longer Maria Bourke!’
So I vowed there and then to get typing … later, after I dossed off up town for a coffee and a chat. Now who could I find to distract me so I could delay the inevitable? But inevitable it was and inevitable it is. The book MUST be written! Now!
I have to make a further confession! Until last week when the big freeze brought life as we know it in Mullingar, not to mention all of Ireland, to a near halt I had never seen morning TV. I had never seen ‘The Morning Show’ or enjoyed the company of Sybil and Martin nor was I aware of any deadline that I should be working towards. However, since then, The Morning Show is a ‘must see’ because 10 days from now the book MUST be finished and I must post this manuscript.
Today is Book Finished (BF) in ten days – aka BF 10 - my countdown has begun!
Background to BF 10 …
This morning when I awoke, I was reminded that December 6th had always been a day of change for me. Twice I had started new jobs on Monday December 6th. Today was the start of something new and I knew it! I woke up with a sense of change. I knew something momentous was about to happen. Today I should have been coming home from Leeds and right now, I should be playing with my nieces. We had planned a sisters’ reunion in Leeds but the Great Weather Master had plans of His own.
The last time snow disrupted my travel plans I was heading to Australia in spring 2006. As a result of a three-day delay on that occasion, I had breakfast with a fellow Irish traveller in Singapore Airport who handed me a small scrap of paper with a Book Title and Author.
While I have no idea what became of that scrap of paper, the book found me several months later, when I was ready for it. It was the next piece of vital information and direction in a life that was transforming beyond recognition; a life now mine but resembling that of an unknown stranger.
It is 14.46 on 6 December 2010 and I have started!
I’m back in my cosy sitting room with a nice fire on. Laptop on my knee. Yes! I am ready to share some of my ‘crazy’ tales with the world. To be honest on some level I believe I have no choice as the Great Weather Master may inflict a complete Ice Age on us all until I finally take action. There are no coincidences. The elements and TV3 are conspiring to force me to take action. I must pen my masterpiece or inflict an epidemic of cabin fever on Ireland.
Now as I say goodbye to every last morsel of resistance I am feeling truly excited!
Where it began …
Just like the lyrics of Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline song ‘Where it began I can’t begin to know!’, my first awareness of ‘it’ was allowing myself to be guided to a corner in a newsagent shop in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and picking up a particular book and buying it. I already had two books with me. I did not need another book. I had no intention of browsing in a newsagent. Most importantly at that time, I was not given to acknowledging, much less following the little voice within me that was constantly trying to get my attention. That little voice was a nuisance as far as I was concerned. It caused me to doubt decisions I was making. It caused me to feel confused and unsure of myself. It caused me to feel uncertain of the plans I was making based on analysis and logic. In short, that little voice was causing me a lot of needless stress. It even caused me to question – but only to myself - if I was a bit off the rails?!
Do ‘normal’ people have voices in their heads?
At the time, I had an export sales job with a small Irish company. I was responsible for establishing and managing export markets in mainland Europe. The novelty of business class flights and hotel stays rapidly wore off. I spent my evenings travelling to be at my next meeting location, writing reports and reading while feeling guilty for not being home with my three small children.
That evening, I was flying home to Dublin for the weekend, paperwork in hand, luggage checked in and two novels already in my handbag to fill my time once my reports were written. Amazingly, given my reluctance to hear, much less heed the ‘voice’ that nudged me, I bought the book The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield. Not only did this book make sense of the experiences I was having - the telepathy, the coincidences - it was advising me to rely on my inner voice and to expect to be guided to the next encounter, the next piece of information, the next sign. I was learning to reconnect with my inner wisdom, to trust the Divine guidance of ‘my little voice’ and to hear the yearnings of my soul.
If you’d like to read the whole story, my book is available to purchase here on my website in paperback and on Amazon for Kindle or in paperback - Amazon UK / Amazon.com
You’ll find more information about the book, the complete My Kinda Magik range including a review here.
