Wow! What a month it has been!
On August 4th I had my first session with Jan from Elemental Healing (http://www.elementalhealing.com.au/index.htm) and so began my journey back to myself. I have been lost for a long time... and Jan helped me find myself again.
In hindsight I have been through a lot in the past 3 years... I left my home of 15 years to move back to Melbourne, a place where I never really felt that I had permission to be me because of family pressures. I thought that I had grown up enough to not succumb to the pressures but I was sooo wrong! I tried to be what people expected me to be 'cos I just wanted to be loved and accepted and in doing that I became a person that I didn't connect with and didn't understand and didn't like very much. I was angry so much of the time because I felt forced to be who I was not, only I was the only one forcing this.
Since moving to Melbourne I haven't had the spiritual guidance that was so much a part of my life in Canberra and I have been searching and searching for what was within me all this time. Chronic pain can really destroy your life if you let it. It gives you permission to feel sorry for yourself and helpless and weak and it is so easy to fall into that deep, dark pit and soooo very hard to pull yourself back out. When you are already in the pit and then you suffer the loss of a child... well, God help you to stay alive - and he did!
I can't remember all the steps along this journey to where I am now, but I know that there are 4 people that I really need to thank besides my immediate family of course - Olga Dossa, Chantal Imbach, Kerryn Flatt and Jan. My family has always been there for me - my husband, my children, my Mum, my 2 sisters, my brother in law and my nieces are an amazing support system and I don't know where I'd be without them but grief is a funny journey and when you are grieving over the loss of a family member your family can't actually help you because they are all grieving too.
Jan helped me because I paid her to do it, but she is a very special woman and I am blessed to have found her and look forward to many years of growing into a better person with her phenomenal guidance. Olga, Chantal and Kerryn are 3 very special friends who have helped me to rediscover the part of me that I love by loving me, and in doing that they have helped me out of that deep dark pit that I dug for myself over the past 3 years.
And now... this weekend... I feel invigorated. Mum and I launched our business yesterday by holding a stall at a school fete to promote our new range of clothes - "Twirly Skirts"... we had no sales but lots of great comments and I have rediscovered my love for sewing that was put on the back burner for 10 years. Who knows if this is going to be a successful business, I believe it will be in time, but more importantly I feel so alive because I have put myself out there. I am creating... I have started a new path on this journey of life and I am so excited about what lies ahead. I have hopefully found a way to contribute to my family's income whilst staying home for my children while they are in Primary school and I am passionate about what I am doing.
I remember reading somewhere "What would you do in life if you knew you couldn't fail?"... I think I was inspired by my 9 year old daughter when she ran a very successful fundraiser and I have put myself out there and look forward to reaping the benefits.
Life is soooo very awesome!
Sunday, 18 September 2011
Sunday, 21 August 2011
Is a 9 year old capable of organising a fundraiser?
To me this is a true example of what a Montessori education can do for a child... she has learned a can do attitude, she has learned to set small achievable goals for herself to ensure success, she has learned to break up large tasks into smaller tasks, she has learned to commit and see something through to the end. A lot of these I have had to wait 40 years to learn!
About 3 weeks ago, when my nine and a half year old daughter, Amy, asked if she could organise a fundraiser to support CupCake Day for the RSPCA I said "Of course", because I want to support the causes she believes in. I fully expected to do most of the work, after all she's only 9 years old!
That week Amy registered a fundraising page on the RSPCA's website and downloaded the editable PDF file that the RSPCA distributed and added her info to it and then we discussed how she could distribute it. We talk about handing out invitations, emailing, posting fliers, doing letter box drops around the neighbourhood and various other options. She decided she would just ask the principal at her school if she could put up some fliers on the noticeboards around school and then send emails to those we knew personally. And so she did it.
A few days later I asked if she had done any further planning - she showed me a diagram of how she wanted the house set up, her list of the types of cupcakes she wanted and her decorating ideas, and some suggestions for a playlist of songs she wanted to play in the background on the day (all animal themed songs of course!). So again, we sat down together and did some planning. She made a shopping list and a job list and then SHE made a timetable for herself for the 2 weeks leading up to the day, assigning various jobs to each day. At that point I realised that she should be organising all the parties at our house - I would be so much more relaxed on the day!
From last Thursday she has been totally focused on the event - making the banner, cooking and icing cupcakes, checking off jobs on her list and assigning them to other people where possible. She wrote her speech and practised it a few times and then summarised it into point form. She organised a raffle prize and made the necessary plans to ensure it was all right to go.
On Friday night she told me that she was having trouble sleeping because she couldn't stop thinking of all the things she had to do - anyone relate to that?! We discussed some ideas for coping with stress and she slept well on Friday and Saturday night - thank goodness!
On Friday she and her friend Matthew made the first batch of cupcakes and she started her banner with Dad. On Saturday at 10am she was still on the computer doing to-do lists and so I gently reminded her that the time for planning was over and it was time for doing now. Well, that's all the reminding she needed. She finished the banner, cleaned up her room, went shopping with Dad, and did a million other little jobs that had to be done.
When Breanna came for a sleepover on Saturday night she ensured that Breanna was happy to help and that she had jobs she wanted to do. She did the same for her 5 year old sister Charlotte, who might have been even more excited than Amy about "Cupcake Day" because she was allowed to feel so much a part of the planning!
I was expecting that on Sunday morning that Amy would just want to sleep in and spend time with Breanna, but she was on the ball again - setting up tables, setting up the tea/coffee station and organising where the different types of cupcakes would go so that they would be in a pattern ;-) Breanna, Amy and Charlotte had even made signs to identify the different types of cupcakes. They were all watching the clock on Sunday - it was such a loooong morning!
2pm finally came and people started arriving and she was a very cordial host. She sold raffle tickets and socialised and from 3:30pm started asking if she should do her speech, but some people hadn't arrived yet.
At 4pm, she decided it was time to make her speech of thanks, and so she did with confidence and grace. She was ecstatic over how many people turned up to support the RSPCA. She surpassed her fundraising goal of $50, raising over $230! And of course then started the "Well, next year I think I should..." ;-)
Naturally, not everything she envisioned in her plan became reality, because as humans I think we tend to lose sight of how much we can fit in a day. It was a good lesson to learn. The best result was that at the end of the event on Sunday afternoon she said that it was even better than she imagined.
So over the last few weeks I have been in awe of my very capable 9 year old daughter and so very proud that she not only came up with the idea but showed commitment by seeing it through to the very end. She even helped clean up - a little ;-)
She complained of a tummy ache and loss of appetite last night but then started colouring in the doodle book she received as a gift that afternoon and she commented "Wow Mum, it's like all the stress I was feeling has been transferred down through my arm to the paper", and so she even discovered a way to de-stress, all by herself.
I am so very excited that the day was successful and can't wait to see what this amazing girl, who I am blessed to have as my daughter, will teach me next. Amy, my darling daughter, you are truly awesome (far from perfect! but totally awesome!)
About 3 weeks ago, when my nine and a half year old daughter, Amy, asked if she could organise a fundraiser to support CupCake Day for the RSPCA I said "Of course", because I want to support the causes she believes in. I fully expected to do most of the work, after all she's only 9 years old!
That week Amy registered a fundraising page on the RSPCA's website and downloaded the editable PDF file that the RSPCA distributed and added her info to it and then we discussed how she could distribute it. We talk about handing out invitations, emailing, posting fliers, doing letter box drops around the neighbourhood and various other options. She decided she would just ask the principal at her school if she could put up some fliers on the noticeboards around school and then send emails to those we knew personally. And so she did it.
A few days later I asked if she had done any further planning - she showed me a diagram of how she wanted the house set up, her list of the types of cupcakes she wanted and her decorating ideas, and some suggestions for a playlist of songs she wanted to play in the background on the day (all animal themed songs of course!). So again, we sat down together and did some planning. She made a shopping list and a job list and then SHE made a timetable for herself for the 2 weeks leading up to the day, assigning various jobs to each day. At that point I realised that she should be organising all the parties at our house - I would be so much more relaxed on the day!
From last Thursday she has been totally focused on the event - making the banner, cooking and icing cupcakes, checking off jobs on her list and assigning them to other people where possible. She wrote her speech and practised it a few times and then summarised it into point form. She organised a raffle prize and made the necessary plans to ensure it was all right to go.
On Friday night she told me that she was having trouble sleeping because she couldn't stop thinking of all the things she had to do - anyone relate to that?! We discussed some ideas for coping with stress and she slept well on Friday and Saturday night - thank goodness!
On Friday she and her friend Matthew made the first batch of cupcakes and she started her banner with Dad. On Saturday at 10am she was still on the computer doing to-do lists and so I gently reminded her that the time for planning was over and it was time for doing now. Well, that's all the reminding she needed. She finished the banner, cleaned up her room, went shopping with Dad, and did a million other little jobs that had to be done.
When Breanna came for a sleepover on Saturday night she ensured that Breanna was happy to help and that she had jobs she wanted to do. She did the same for her 5 year old sister Charlotte, who might have been even more excited than Amy about "Cupcake Day" because she was allowed to feel so much a part of the planning!
I was expecting that on Sunday morning that Amy would just want to sleep in and spend time with Breanna, but she was on the ball again - setting up tables, setting up the tea/coffee station and organising where the different types of cupcakes would go so that they would be in a pattern ;-) Breanna, Amy and Charlotte had even made signs to identify the different types of cupcakes. They were all watching the clock on Sunday - it was such a loooong morning!
2pm finally came and people started arriving and she was a very cordial host. She sold raffle tickets and socialised and from 3:30pm started asking if she should do her speech, but some people hadn't arrived yet.
At 4pm, she decided it was time to make her speech of thanks, and so she did with confidence and grace. She was ecstatic over how many people turned up to support the RSPCA. She surpassed her fundraising goal of $50, raising over $230! And of course then started the "Well, next year I think I should..." ;-)
Naturally, not everything she envisioned in her plan became reality, because as humans I think we tend to lose sight of how much we can fit in a day. It was a good lesson to learn. The best result was that at the end of the event on Sunday afternoon she said that it was even better than she imagined.
So over the last few weeks I have been in awe of my very capable 9 year old daughter and so very proud that she not only came up with the idea but showed commitment by seeing it through to the very end. She even helped clean up - a little ;-)
She complained of a tummy ache and loss of appetite last night but then started colouring in the doodle book she received as a gift that afternoon and she commented "Wow Mum, it's like all the stress I was feeling has been transferred down through my arm to the paper", and so she even discovered a way to de-stress, all by herself.
I am so very excited that the day was successful and can't wait to see what this amazing girl, who I am blessed to have as my daughter, will teach me next. Amy, my darling daughter, you are truly awesome (far from perfect! but totally awesome!)
Friday, 12 August 2011
Olga
It has been a difficult decision - who/what to write about next and finally this morning I was able to make the decision.
Eternal love and gratitude to Olga (a parent at the school my girls attend).
Olga and I have an unusual relationship. We've never really sat down to coffee together or joined in any volunteer activities together. In fact I think we've only attended one social event together in the 18 months we've known each other and yet I feel like we know each other so well. We meet in the playgrounds at school and stop and chat for a while and then continue on with our lives. The thing is when we "chat" I can almost feel myself reconnecting to the beautiful, spiritual person I once was, long ago before I allowed life to make me bitter and angry.
Olga too has been a very intellectual person (an accountant by trade) until fairly recently and I think what I feel is that we are somehow travelling on a spiritual journey together, but separately. The conversations I've had with Olga, and reading her amazing blog (http://olgastuff.blogspot.com/) incites a stirring within me, like the call of God to return to the path that I strayed from many years ago.
My life is undergoing a transformation at the moment and it started about a month ago, just before Cara's 8th birthday. I'm starting to take responsibility, ownership and acceptance of where I am in life and acknowledge that only I can change it.
I am reconnecting with Louise L Hay’s teachings and starting to use my affirmations again. I feel the need to meditate again, although I am still struggling with putting time aside for that. I am realising that all paths that I have travelled over the past 4 years show signs of lack of self worth, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I am starting to realise how much of what I say is negative in some aspect and I’m trying to change it to positive. It must be working because now I’m attracting the most beautiful people to my life and the people who have reflected my negative view of myself seem to be around less.
And so today, I am grateful for that part within me that recognised a reflection of myself within Olga, and I am ever so grateful to Olga for opening her heart to mine. Today I have changed the name of my blog to “My reflections and lessons in life” - and I can't wait to see what is around the corner. How much better can life get?
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
Day 3 - My husband
Well, you all know how it goes - you can't live with 'em and you can't live without 'em ;-)
My husband, Jeremy, is without a doubt my soul mate, my best friend and my true love. Unfortunately we met late in life - I was 29 and he was 31. We got married 3 years later, 11 years ago now, and I still love having him around - most of the time. We share a blessed life and 2 gorgeous daughters and the loss of 2 precious babies.
For a while he worked from home and we spent 24 hours a day together and I long for those days again. I long for the time when we were not both exhausted at the end of the day... when we could spend hours talking about life and love and our beliefs and our experiences before falling asleep in each other's arms. I know those days will come again, but at the moment it's hard slog.
My darling husband has not had an easy life being married to me. I was in a car accident in 1994 that left me with a chronic whiplash injury. This has meant that I am not as physically able as most other people. More often than not he would have to come home from a mentally exhausting day at work to a physically useless wife.
I'm a stay at home Mum but I can't say that I'm a housewife, I am home primarily to be there for my children - what a luxury. I cannot scrub a shower or a bath or mop the floor or vacuum the stairs without having to be in bed for a day or two afterwards. This wasn't an issue for most of our married life because we could always afford a cleaner. Well, this is not a luxury we can afford any more and so the heavy cleaning usually falls onto his shoulders.
He never, ever complains about the state of the house no matter how bad it gets (and believe me it has gotten quite bad over recent years). He makes no negative comment when I just open a tin of soup for dinner because I am physically incapable of doing any thing else... he just hugs me and says "Bad day my darling?".
Almost every night he has to massage my neck or my backs or my legs - not as a prelude to intimacy but so that my pain levels will decrease enough for me to be able to sleep. Almost, every weekend he takes over the role of primary carer to give my body a much needed break.
I am grateful for his honesty, even though at times it is hard to hear. Sometimes I wish he would just support me because I'm his wife, but then maybe I wouldn't be able to trust what he says as implicitly as I do. He drives me insane with his need for detailed explanations, but I remind myself that I should be grateful that at least he is participating in the conversation and trying to understand rather than just switching off. I love and admire the father that is constantly evolving in him. If our girls grow up to find a husband and father even half as patient and even tempered and loving as he is they will be very lucky indeed.
Most of the time I'm grumpy and appear ungrateful for all that he does for me, but deep down inside I know that I am amongst the luckiest of all women in the world - I have a man who provides for me and for our children, someone who loves me, cares for me and always comes home to me. I have found that elusive soul mate, someone who sees all my faults (and I have many!) and still loves me. I sometimes wonder (out loud) how long he will put up with me and his answer is always the same "Forever". I hope with all my heart that I don't drive him away but I can't say that I'd blame him if it ever happened.
Today, even though we had a massive argument less than 4 hours ago, I am grateful for my darling husband Jeremy, whom I love with all my heart and all my soul and I look forward to the day when we have enough energy to once again communicate with patience and tolerance like "in the old days". I love you my babe xxxoooXXXOOO
My husband, Jeremy, is without a doubt my soul mate, my best friend and my true love. Unfortunately we met late in life - I was 29 and he was 31. We got married 3 years later, 11 years ago now, and I still love having him around - most of the time. We share a blessed life and 2 gorgeous daughters and the loss of 2 precious babies.
For a while he worked from home and we spent 24 hours a day together and I long for those days again. I long for the time when we were not both exhausted at the end of the day... when we could spend hours talking about life and love and our beliefs and our experiences before falling asleep in each other's arms. I know those days will come again, but at the moment it's hard slog.
My darling husband has not had an easy life being married to me. I was in a car accident in 1994 that left me with a chronic whiplash injury. This has meant that I am not as physically able as most other people. More often than not he would have to come home from a mentally exhausting day at work to a physically useless wife.
I'm a stay at home Mum but I can't say that I'm a housewife, I am home primarily to be there for my children - what a luxury. I cannot scrub a shower or a bath or mop the floor or vacuum the stairs without having to be in bed for a day or two afterwards. This wasn't an issue for most of our married life because we could always afford a cleaner. Well, this is not a luxury we can afford any more and so the heavy cleaning usually falls onto his shoulders.
He never, ever complains about the state of the house no matter how bad it gets (and believe me it has gotten quite bad over recent years). He makes no negative comment when I just open a tin of soup for dinner because I am physically incapable of doing any thing else... he just hugs me and says "Bad day my darling?".
Almost every night he has to massage my neck or my backs or my legs - not as a prelude to intimacy but so that my pain levels will decrease enough for me to be able to sleep. Almost, every weekend he takes over the role of primary carer to give my body a much needed break.
I am grateful for his honesty, even though at times it is hard to hear. Sometimes I wish he would just support me because I'm his wife, but then maybe I wouldn't be able to trust what he says as implicitly as I do. He drives me insane with his need for detailed explanations, but I remind myself that I should be grateful that at least he is participating in the conversation and trying to understand rather than just switching off. I love and admire the father that is constantly evolving in him. If our girls grow up to find a husband and father even half as patient and even tempered and loving as he is they will be very lucky indeed.
Most of the time I'm grumpy and appear ungrateful for all that he does for me, but deep down inside I know that I am amongst the luckiest of all women in the world - I have a man who provides for me and for our children, someone who loves me, cares for me and always comes home to me. I have found that elusive soul mate, someone who sees all my faults (and I have many!) and still loves me. I sometimes wonder (out loud) how long he will put up with me and his answer is always the same "Forever". I hope with all my heart that I don't drive him away but I can't say that I'd blame him if it ever happened.
Today, even though we had a massive argument less than 4 hours ago, I am grateful for my darling husband Jeremy, whom I love with all my heart and all my soul and I look forward to the day when we have enough energy to once again communicate with patience and tolerance like "in the old days". I love you my babe xxxoooXXXOOO
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Day 2 - Montessori
Today I am soooo very grateful for Montessori.
(Warning – this has turned out to be a very long post – sorry!)
Montessori re-entered my life when Amy was just 18 months old and a Mum from our Mother’s group was talking about it. I went to a Montessori school myself for my first few years of schooling and talking about it awakened something inside me.
Jeremy and I went to check out the Parent Toddler group and were immediately sold. To see children as young as 18 months old preparing their own morning tea snack with so much pride – cutting pieces of fruit and apply spread to crackers, to see them eat on china crockery and use glasses instead of plastic cups, it was so refreshing. The order in the classroom was also very appealing and to be witness to the fact that it was the children who kept the order was quite an eye opener.
We had no intention then to send Amy to a Montessori primary school but when the Open Day arrived we went along to check it out. Wow! How amazing was this system of learning. I did an observation in a Montessori classroom for about an hour (the best way to see what it is really about) and I was blown away. To see children as young as 3 years of age directing their own learning was awesome - they weren’t being told what to do, they were CHOOSING to learn. They were engaged and focused and taking so much pride in their work.
Now, I’m no Montessori expert and definitely not a perfect parent but this is my experience of Montessori…
The classroom is almost always immaculate with trays of activities set out in different areas – practical life, literacy, numeracy, botany, geography, etc. Each and every activity set out on the trays has a defined purpose – whether it is to develop fine motor skills or just to develop concentration or balance or control or a new skill, whatever it is – it is defined. The classroom director takes time to show each child how to complete the activity successfully the first time and then they are left to choose it at will and perfect it. The children aren’t just put in the room and left to their own devices to find imaginative ways to use all the materials. When they start in the classroom, at just 3 years of age, it’s all about practical life work – pouring, spooning, polishing, cleaning and so much more… because this is what they are capable of, successful at and take pride in.
As their skills develop they are drawn to the other areas of the classroom – the numeracy or literacy or geography or botany, and the amazing thing is that they are drawn there because their brain is ready to learn about that area and so they absorb the information easily and readily. Some children are drawn to the maps before they are drawn to writing, some are drawn to botany first, they are all individual and I would be very surprised if anyone two children followed exactly the same path.
The classroom director and assistant are amazing. They have the ability to just stand back and observe and gently guide each child to their next job – something just challenging enough to engage them but easy enough for them to complete it successfully. This is one area in life where I fail dismally as a mother – I am still developing the ability to stand back and watch and allow my child to struggle a bit until they finally achieve that sense of success “all by themselves”. I keep intervening, to do it for them, to make life easier for them – but… I am aware and I am learning.
I believe that it is this continual sense of success in the classroom that develops the child’s intrinsic love of learning. There is no-one saying “No, not like that”… the material is designed in such a way that if the activity is not completed in the way that is intended then the material will allow the child to self-correct.
The other big thing I love about Montessori is that because the children are all learning at his own pace there is no concept of one child being smarter than another or not as capable. With the 3 year age range in each classroom the children are free to do a variety of activities that span that 3 year age range and the director is confident and ensures that by the end of the 3 year cycle each student leaving that classroom will have covered every task required for building the foundation for their next 3 years of learning.
The lessons of grace, courtesy and respect are so evident in a Montessori classroom. At a birthday celebration we had for Charlotte last week, all the children sat in a circle while they were served their birthday treat (2 cupcakes) and not one of them commenced eating until every single child had been served. Each lunch time they sit at a table to eat their lunch – they have their own placemat and plate and glass and they set their place, unpack their lunch, eat and then clean up after themselves.
If a child wants the classroom director’s attention they place their hand on her shoulder and she gently touches their hand, whilst completing her conversation, so that they know that she is aware that they are waiting. The child then lowers her hand and waits patiently by the director’s side until she is ready to speak to them. There is never any sense of urgency in any of these actions, it is just beautiful.
When the director wants the attention of every child in the classroom, she picks up a tiny bell on her desk and makes the softest sound with it and movement in the classroom stops almost immediately and all eyes are focused on her within a minute. This has happened many times whilst I have been volunteering in the classroom and I don’t even hear the bell, I just notice the hush. It is amazing. The classroom is always so serene. Now children will be children and there are exceptions to this rule, but they are so rare that when it happens everyone notices and comments ;-)
Another thing that keeps us (Jeremy and I) at Montessori is seeing what comes out at the other end. The children who graduate from this school are extraordinarily mature, respectful and polite. I don’t know if it is because of their parents or because of their education – I have a sense that it is both because I believe that parents who choose to send their children to a Montessori must hold the same values that are taught at the school.
I have been accused of molly-coddling my children because I teach them to respect other people and their personal space – apparently I’m not teaching them to cope in the real world, where people push you around, and step on you, if they have to, to get where they are going. This is yet another reason why we stay at Montessori. The children are taught to respect each other’s space and work and belongings, they are taught to help each other if they can instead of just leaving the slow ones behind, they are encouraged to be role models and take pride in that job and so much more. If every child in the world were taught these “age old” values then maybe the world would be a better place for everyone.
There are so many people out there who think that Montessori is just an elitist, private system for parents who have money to throw around, looking for an alternative style of teaching. Well, we are Montessori parents and we struggle each term to find the money for the school fees (and at our school we are definitely not alone in this struggle), not because we want our children to attend a private school but because we feel that Montessori will give them the best grounding for their future.
Once upon a time it was easy to find the money but in the last few years it has become increasingly more difficult for one reason or another. As parents we have made a commitment to their Montessori education and if our only option was to sell our home to fund it then that’s what we will do – that is how strongly we believe in Montessori.
We received our children’s portfolios this evening and, as I was reading Amy’s with her, she told me proudly that she could do addition, subtraction and multiplication in her head and that her teacher was going to teach her how to do long division in her head and (in her own words) “I’m soooo excited!”
My children love to learn and I believe I have Montessori and their classroom directors to thank for that. Amy, at 9 years of age, will sit at the computer at home and start a research project – just for fun. Charlotte, at just 5 years of age, will sit and read her reader and practice her new chart of words just because she wants to achieve success. I never push my children to do “homework”, it has just become part of their lives because they want to learn. They are both normal children – they are not geniuses or nerds or “brainiacs”. They are just children that love learning.
If I start going into what Jeremy and I have learned as parents through Montessori you’ll be reading for another 10 pages, so suffice to say we believe Montessori has helped us to be the best parents that we can be. It has and continues to provide the tools and knowledge that we have required to develop independence, confidence, resilience, caring, compassion and so much more in our children, and we believe that their Montessori education is one of the greatest gifts we can give them in life.
So, today I am ever so grateful to the Montessori system of education… thank you to my Mum and Dad who introduced me to it, to my grand-aunt who lived it, and all the people who continue to teach me each and every day of my life – At Canberra Montessori – Christy, Daja and Christine and at PVMS - Greg, Lynn, Grace, Bri, Annette, Kerryn, Glenn, Roisin, Shelly, Jeanette and soooo many more.
Monday, 20 June 2011
Day 1 - Life
Today I begin my 365 days of gratitude and today I reflect on what I am most grateful for... LIFE!
Life with its up and downs and turns and twists, every day brings at least one new lesson when I stop to take a breath and actually think, instead of just doing. What a glorious gift life is - the chance to wake up to a new day, every day and see what it brings. Sometimes it's laughter, sometimes it's reflection, sometimes it's sadness and so many other things. I wake up with a plan in my head and when I go to bed I often think to myself "Well, I didn't tick even 3 things off my list but what a day!".
"Life" is why I am here on this earth - to see what surprises come my way. I open my eyes each day and groan with pain because I have yet to uncover the reason for the pain - maybe tomorrow I will open my eyes and my heart and my head and I will finally learn what life is trying to teach me... or maybe it's not time for that lesson yet.
Obviously today life is telling me to stop and smell the roses and take time to reflect each day on what I am grateful for in life... today I am listening... I wonder what life will bring me tomorrow ;-)
Life with its up and downs and turns and twists, every day brings at least one new lesson when I stop to take a breath and actually think, instead of just doing. What a glorious gift life is - the chance to wake up to a new day, every day and see what it brings. Sometimes it's laughter, sometimes it's reflection, sometimes it's sadness and so many other things. I wake up with a plan in my head and when I go to bed I often think to myself "Well, I didn't tick even 3 things off my list but what a day!".
"Life" is why I am here on this earth - to see what surprises come my way. I open my eyes each day and groan with pain because I have yet to uncover the reason for the pain - maybe tomorrow I will open my eyes and my heart and my head and I will finally learn what life is trying to teach me... or maybe it's not time for that lesson yet.
Obviously today life is telling me to stop and smell the roses and take time to reflect each day on what I am grateful for in life... today I am listening... I wonder what life will bring me tomorrow ;-)
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