Inhale. Expand. Exhale. Grow.

Heather hills rolled by, My train speeding me to you. I loved how your eyes crinkled and you held the door. It wasn't like the other times,  With you I was in another place. This place was other-worldly, where time and space became a blur. Dreamlike almost. Infact, it all blurred like a room filled thick with foreign smoke. That heady fog was glorious. Was I dreaming? Long nights, warm air.. You held the liquor and I drank hard. While I spoke of things you said you didn't understand, You would hold me; and in silence I knew everything.' - Zana O'Connell 

'Dont lose yourself in those pools Of negativity my dear, Keep swimming and you will see Beyond your fears, This world is not the darkness, You believe it to be, Soon all the beautiful colours Of living will set you free.' - Zana O'Connell

'Looking into your ocean eyes I felt all the magic of the world. Drowning. You showed me a place only we could see. Electric soul.  We were superhuman somehow. It wasn't that type of love, but it was magical. It will always be. Magical. My ocean eyes.' - Zana O'Connell 

'Like all the magical things in the world, You must close your eyes to see them.' - Zana O'Connell 

'Something magical happens when you let go, When you open yourself up to the world, And let all of it's colours flood in and curse through your cracks, Like lemon sugar on a drizzle cake. It fills your cracks and splits with magical colours, the sweetness that only a lifetime of living can bring.' - Zana O'Connell 

'Standing before me, is the shadow of a man, Who dreamed of a revolution. I dreamed of a revolution.' - Natty, Revolution. Last weekend I came to London, where I'm staying for a couple of weeks working. I am blessed to have some wonderful friends around me; one of which being an old family-friend Dan who's home he is so kindly sharing with me for my stay.  A true angel. Sometimes people show themselves in your life and have a dramatic impact on you without even trying, they bring out all your colours. I've felt more alive and vibrant than I have in a long time being here, surrounded by Dan, our conversation and his wonderful friends. I've talked more, really talked. Real conversation, conversation with deep understanding.. what a personal revolution.  I often find myself struggling with speaking the words in my mind, which is simply down to lack of practice, but the last week my voice has begun to grow in confidence.. The words that  I believe are coming out of ...

To be real. It can be a difficult thing in a world so filled with material dependancies. We live our days in this society so dictated by money and worth and others. Retaining self and realness can get lost along the way. We're all guilty of it. We find ourselves discussing image, possessions and fame almost on a daily basis, especially in my line of work, modelling... It can be unavoidable; but surviving in that requires effort in mindfulness towards self, what it is that is truly important to us. And fundamentally that must always be our values, our personality, our loved ones, our passions and our unique indifferences.  Those little quirks, that little bit (or a lot) of madness we all have is what keeps us real. It is what makes one different from the next, what sparks our interest in another. If we are all cardboard cut-outs of the next, life blurs into a muddle of dullness. What is a life of textbook, correctness?! We must break boundaries, push ourselves out of the box of sam...

I want to share with you a beautiful poem by William Davies... Words to inspire a life with time to stand and stare and in that, live. Absorb and enjoy. With love x Leisure What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep or cows. No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass. No time to see, in broad daylight, Streams full of stars, like skies at night. No time to turn at Beauty's glance, And watch her feet, how they can dance. No time to wait till her mouth can Enrich that smile her eyes began. A poor life this if, full of card, We have no time to stand and stare. - William H Davies 1871-1940

The first of the month. Yes, September is upon us. Another new month has begun. And today, in true British-weather style, it is raining. But instead of the usual greyness that often evokes, today I am filled with a sense of renewal. As though the rain falling on the ground is cleansing, washing away old, staleness and bringing with it fresh new life and growth. Perhaps that is a reflection more of my inner-self, but it is nice to notice the rain in a different light. It is nice not to always have negative associations. I have been home in the UK around a month now; and it has actually been an interesting month. Usually my time back home can be a little slow and sameness often starts to happen.  But since moving my base to Birmingham, away from my hometown I feel free. In a similar way to that that I feel when I'm travelling, here I am not known and whenever that happens it  gives us the chance to develop our identity. Over the last month I've had some wonderful times, I've ...

The last few weeks have been interesting for me... I'm back in England where the weather is decidedly less tropical and my shoes get wet a lot more often, but the advantage is that here I am closer to all the people I love... I can reconnect and that is a wonderful. I've had some lovely time with my sisters and some close friends. However, I haven't taken advantage of being closer to my loved ones as much perhaps as I expected to have... So firstly I want to apologise to those I haven't seen since I came back.  But I can only put that down to a mixture of logistics and my requirement actually for a little personal time right now. Some inner-growth is beginning to flower; some that needs nurturing and listening to carefully so that it can grow.. Into what I'm not quite sure and sometimes the magnitude of where our minds are able to go can be quite overwhelming, but I am at a point where my mind is exploring..  It knows there is more to life than my eyes currently see...