Susie Surtees Life Designer

Sometimes the beauty of human connection swells your heart and takes your breath away …

Susie Surtees — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 02:56:26 +0000

Trust me. Your heart will never be quite the same after you look at the exquisite, beautifully ‘seen’ photos of this extraordinary wedding taken by my friend Nina Claire. Photography at its most sensitive. People at their most loving and connected best. Coming together to honour and love two people in ways not often seen in […]

Don’t fence me in.

Susie Surtees — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 00:08:45 +0000

A dozen years ago, when I drew and painted as an eager two-year visual arts student, I grew such a honed awareness of the edges of physical objects that it drove me crazy for a while. Looking at edges in this focused way seemed to separate me from my longing to see and represent the essence […]

Thoughts on pinecones, ripening babies, and fast and slow energies.

Susie Surtees — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 23:48:16 +0000

Reblogged from Susie Surtees Life Designer: One summer morning at Black Hill, a mother and her girl and boy walked towards me down the uneven shade-dappled slope, the small boy's gaze fixed on a huge pinecone in his dimpled hand. "That's a big pinecone!", I said as we drew level, my thoughts turning to the small forest […]

Do You Want Flies with That?

Susie Surtees — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 07:01:28 +0000

Sometimes it takes a leap – or a bite – of faith to fit in. Stepping over a tangle of dogs sprawled in the dust outside the office on my way to lunch, I heard a woman’s sing-song voice call my name as I began crossing the sun-baked rectangle I’d already privately named ‘the village brown’. Brand […]

Rare Flower

Susie Surtees — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 23:12:54 +0000

Empathy blooms in us through a tender appreciation of the people – the ‘rare flowers’ – around us. I wrote this piece about a treasured neighbour earlier this year (names are changed). Beatrice Southall’s eyes are the colour of milky forget-me-nots. In her tender youth, did anyone, trembling with desire, ever gaze into them and […]

Point of View

Susie Surtees — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:59:24 +0000

Seeing the world through other realities expands, brings deeper connection. Point of View by Susie Surtees I shift weight, wings outspread. A soft fire ripples from this silent blistering crag. On a hatch of sticks across the variegated valley she waits, patient wings aloft over downy nestlings. A slither, deep below. Ungripping, wings hugged close I plummet – […]

Stepping out …

Susie Surtees — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 22:51:19 +0000

Reblogged from Susie Surtees Life Designer: Photo: The Long Spit Nature Reserve, Marion Bay, Tasmania, March 2011. As soon as my fingers closed around this beguiling shell a few days ago on a pristine Tasmanian beach, a heck of a lot of hairy red legs thrust out and waved menacingly at me before abruptly pulling back. Startled […]

Thoughts on pinecones, ripening babies, and fast and slow energies.

Susie Surtees — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 07:38:19 +0000

One summer morning at Black Hill, a mother and her girl and boy walked towards me down the uneven shade-dappled slope, the small boy’s gaze fixed on a huge pinecone in his dimpled hand. “That’s a big pinecone!”, I said as we drew level, my thoughts turning to the small forest encoded in the seeds of the spiky […]

Am I there yet? Lessons from map reading in Louisiana (or, how will I know when I’ve arrived?)

Susie Surtees — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:46:16 +0000

The map is unfolded on my lap. It’s a steamy Louisiana summer morning and we’re speeding away from New Orleans for the day on a ribbon of causeway across sparkling Lake Ponchartrain. It’s my job to guide us to a ‘there’. An antebellum plantation mansion on the Mississippi. We’re rolling along to meet the westward highway, and […]

Life’s meant to be simpler and sweeter.

Susie Surtees — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 23:27:22 +0000

What do I want for you in 2012? I want you to live well and love deeply. To flourish in your relationships, your work, your business. To shine into the world with your skills and talents and embrace your opportunities with ease. To set your own course and sail into life from a place of strong, wise, […]