Questions and answers

There is a woman in the community with whom I often stop to chat when I am out riding my bike and she happens to be outdoors as I pass by her home.

A few mornings ago, she said that she had been thinking of some questions she would like to ask me.

There is a huge difference between people who ask questions from an inquisitive perspective and those who ask for the purpose of provoking thought, encouraging stimulating discussion and/or gaining deeper understanding of a person, place or thing.

I knew that her questions would be of the latter variety; she is someone who strikes me as always being genuinely interested in people and in the workings of life and the Spirit.

I have decided to share her questions and my responses. Of course, the answers written here are not exactly what I told her all those days ago, but they give the gist in an expanded form.

What made you move to Tobago?

Intuition. In late 2011 into 2012 I was in India with two international creative peers working on a film and dance project (Transforming Steps) with survivors of sex trafficking.

Following this, I was in England for two months working on the second leg of that project. There is a "voice" that sometimes speaks to me very clearly and I listen to it, even if it may seem inexplicable to me or others at the time. (This is the voice which, on January 8, 2001 clearly told me: "You will never smoke again" – and from that moment on, I never smoked or had any desire to).

As a result, I listen to that voice. While in London, I heard or felt it say, "Do not go back to Trinidad." At that time I was on the verge of going to live in Canada, but fate stepped in to change that and I followed the inexplicable directive that guided me to Tobago.

I knew very few people and had no specific work set up, other than knowing I would teach yoga. To cut a long story short, life unfolded to enable the move as the next natural step.

Do you have any regrets about moving to Tobago?

No. Living here gave me time and space to awaken to different parts of myself, inclusive of a major aspect of my life purpose – working with and for disadvantaged and underprivileged animals, to improve the quality of their lives and enable greater understanding of their needs, rights and humane ways in which they must be treated.

Do you feel integrated in the community? Do you feel that you belong?

Occasionally I feel a part of it. Most of my connections here have been made on account of the assistance I have given to animals or people. I realise how I am generally known or thought of, when some people call out or refer to me as: “Vet Lady,” “Animal Lady,” “Yoga Lady” or “Love Lady.”

I don’t think I will ever feel that I fully belong to a specific place. I see myself more as belonging to the universe.

Although I was born in Trinidad, I never felt that I belonged to it or that it defines who I am. Similarly, I do not feel that I belong to Tobago or could be a part of it in the way that I perceive people born on this island know that they belong. Anyone else will always be an outsider.

The "place" in which I feel I belong is within myself. So wherever I am led, I am at home (within) and am naturally inclined to give the best of myself to that place – to benefit living beings and the environs. What is the point of living somewhere unless we give of ourselves to improve and elevate it in some way?

I feel protective of Tobago and am sensitive to any possibility of it being abused – through lack of respect for living beings and the environment and, in terms of leadership, through misguided, selfish or mercenary mandates that do not consider the overall welfare of all. I would feel this about any place in which I live.

What legacy do you want to leave for the island?

I may not always live here and may not die here, but I like to think that whenever/however I depart, I have left an intangible legacy – increased awareness of and desire for action towards the betterment of life for all living beings.