An Authentic Life

January 2, 2014 Joanne17 Comments

For over a week now I have pondered my first post for 2014, knowing what is in my heart, but where to find the words, I contemplated?

I should never have bothered my brain, as the words arrived by magic in the form of an email this morning, from Rhonda Byrne, creator of The Secret.

“The New Year’s Resolution That Will Change Your Life

There’s one simple message that’s threaded through my books, and it’s the most important message anyone can hear if they want 2014 to be the best year of their life.

Do whatever you can to feel good, because when you feel good, life will be good. The better you feel, the better life will get! Think about, talk about, and focus on the areas of your life that make you feel good, and temporarily keep off the subjects that don’t make you feel good. When you do this one simple thing, everything in your life will get better, whether that’s better relationships, health, money, or better circumstances with your job. Nothing in your life can ever improve until you feel better, and when you feel better, everything will improve. Make feeling as good as you can your number one priority for 2014, and it will be the best year of your life!” ~ Rhonda Byrne.

……which brings me to the point of why I needed these words.

For the last few years I have considered, rather than making New Years Resolutions, what would my theme be for the coming year? Some years, the word I am searching for simply pops into my mind unannounced, other years I have floundered around, searching for my word, without any luck. It always arrives eventually, when I have forgotten my desperation for such a word and I least expect to ever discover it.

“As you become more aligned with the truth of who you are, the question of liking yourself goes away. It is a natural state of being.” ~ Rachel Archelaus

This time, the word arrived during December, unannounced, without even so much as a tap on the door of my subconscious mind. It arrived disguised as a feeling, a longing, a simple knowing that this is the direction my life must always take.

My word steered me, ever so gently, into the feelings of knowing that from that day forth and forever more, I must live my life as an authentic human being. So you see, my actual word for 2014 found me and began to weave its magic at some time during December, or, I began my authentic life at that time rather than awaiting January 1. Which came first, the date or the word, is of no consequence, and I don’t remember the date, for it flowed smoothly into my life and took hold of its helm.

Rhonda Byrne’s words resonate with my soul ~ do whatever you can to feel good ~ I feel good when I am living my life as the real me, the authentic me, the person I am when I stop trying to be what I perceive others believe I am, the person I was as a child before other well meaning beings decided what I should be and began steering my life for me.

That last train of thought rattles my equilibrium, so I will banish it from my brain. Old thoughts, old habits, old perceptions, must go, if I wish to improve the content of my life as another year unfolds.

“Make a pact with yourself today to not be defined by your past. Sometimes the greatest thing to come out of all your hard work isn’t what you get for it, but what you become for it. Shake things up today! Be You…Be Free…Share.” ~ Steve Maraboli

I already know, from both endless reading on the subject and having lived on this earth for over half a century (my god, I sound old!) that if you yourself are not happy, no one around you will be either. Happiness breeds happiness ~ isn’t that a comforting thought? It is so much easier to be happy than it is not to be and the condition is contagious!

The following check-list that I came across recently poses the question “do you love yourself?” and asks are you…

* Following your heart’s desire.
* Taking care of your own needs.
* Taking responsibility for your life and happiness.
* Treating yourself with gentleness and kindness.
* Laughing often.
* Being yourself inwardly and outwardly.
* Spending time with people who make you feel good and limiting the time you spend with people who don’t.
* Forgiving yourself for what you perceive you’ve done wrong or haven’t done.
* Accepting yourself the way you are.
* Allowing love into your life.
* Spending regular time having fun and playing.

All of the above options are available to anyone, with just a simple adjustment of mindset and a touch of determination. It’s a way of life, not a grand announcement. No one need be hurt in the pursuing of one’s dreams of authenticity and any souls who cannot cope with the reality (of you becoming authentically you) will exit the stage of your life over time. I know this, therefore tolerance to change is also required.

“How desperately difficult it is to be honest with oneself. It is much easier to be honest with other people. What is true is invisible to the eye. It is only with the heart that one can see clearly.” ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

If I am to be completely honest, which is a prerequisite to being authentic, I have edged my way toward authenticity for many years already. It’s a habit, just as surely as any way we choose to live.

I’d really love to hear everyone’s thoughts on 2014. Have you a chosen word which will steer the course of your world throughout the year? This year has a positive feel about it to me, for no other reason than it’s just the way I feel!

Australia · friends · new · new beginnings

As 2013 draws to a close ~

December 31, 2013 Joanne12 Comments

I found this advise on Facebook somewhere, at some time, not knowing who wrote the words, but wanted to share them as I write this with only ten minutes left in 2013.

Happy New Year to everyone….and as we begin 2014 at various times during the upcoming hours, plan on this new year being the beginning of something really special. There’s nothing like a new year to wipe the old slate clean of all we don’t want in our lives, to make room for all of the new and amazing people and things we wish to have surrounding us!

Australia · cooking · daughter · happiness · sewing

Christmas is in the air….

December 15, 2013December 15, 2013 Joanne11 Comments

Always the helper. :) — Always the helper. 🙂

….and I think I can smell Christmas dinner roasting in the oven and the beautiful scent of the real pine Christmas trees my dad used to chop down every year in the bush, haul up onto the roof of the car and bring home for mum and I to decorate in the lounge room.

My imagination is working overtime, as is my body, seated mostly now in front of my sewing machine, as I spend my days madly sewing away at the last few orders that I must deliver this week.

I’m really looking forward to Christmas this year. The house is decorated, most of my shopping is done and my daughter and I have planned our Christmas cooking days for early next week. This is what Christmas is all about, isn’t it, the get-together with loved ones, the food, the gladness, listening to Christmas carols, relaxing. In Australia, it also mostly includes a swim in the pool after a huge Christmas dinner has been devoured, or falling asleep on the coolest available couch we can find around the house, preferably in front of an open window with a cool breeze blowing through.

For now though, for me, it’s back to work. So much to do, so little time! Yet I’m happy and organised and filled with anticipation.

Has anyone considered what their “word” for 2014 will be yet? Most years I struggle for ideas, this year though I already know what mine will be. But more about that later; the rest of 2013 is still here and to be enjoyed. 🙂

My other daughter (not the afore mentioned who loves to cook), knowing how much I love the Christmas carol “The Little Drummer Boy”, sent me a link to the song which I’d like to share with you all. It gives me goosebumps to hear this song, no matter what version it is I’m listening to. That little boy sure had amazing insight over two-thousand years ago, knowing the birth of this baby to be something special, and here we are, still celebrating his birth so many years later. And what better gift for the drummer boy to give the baby than that of his music. Priceless.

“When someone shares their favourite songs with you, embrace them, because they’re giving you a small glimpse into their soul.”

Here I give you a small glimpse into my soul ~

reading

BerkelouW

November 22, 2013November 23, 2013 Joanne10 Comments

With ideas of putting my self-proclaimed title of “Most Inconsistent Blogger in The Universe” behind me, I’ve decided to take you for a look around one of my favourite book stores. (I hear a collective gasp of “what, two posts in the one week?”) Of course, I cannot leave this shop without being poorer of pocket yet richer in knowledge, but hey, what is a great bookstore for, other than to go into them and buy books?

Reading nooks, so private, so peaceful... — Reading nooks, so private, so peaceful…

This place has atmosphere, it’s inviting, there’s even a coffee shop right next door. Comfy couches are in abundance, as are ladders and stools. The staff is friendly, helpful, and somehow manage to keep track of the ca-zillion books in the place. I browsed for hours in search of a book, any book, by Rumi. A couple of days later I returned and approached a helpful person who walked straight up to the shelf where Rumi could be found. (Hadn’t I already looked there?) These Rumi’s were new books. You may, she suggested, look in the used book poetry section (yes, they stock both new and second-hand books!) but she felt quite sure that any second-hand Rumi’s that came through the door were grabbed almost before they hit the shelves. I looked. She was right. Of course.

Shelf after shelf of books... — Shelf after shelf of books…

Some of the books are so valuable that they are displayed behind glass doors, under lock and key, behind the front counter. Other books are valued by their age, the price-tag being irrelevant to book lovers (like me!)

I love the matching series of books so often found here, in the second-hand section.

The Jane Austen series of five books that followed me home (or I may have just purchased them, blind to the asking price) are a third edition hard back series, published in 1933, with each book selling individually at that time for the princely sum of seven shillings and sixpence. I’m not brilliant at maths, but according to my calculations, (and some help from Google,) taking into account the basic wage of the day, conversions of pounds, shillings and pence to dollars and cents and the inflation rate, I estimate the books to have cost the equivalent of $125.00 AU in today’s money, each. Which leads me to a further thought, just how accessible were books back in those long-gone days, if the cost was so high? Or perhaps Jane Austen had reached a pinnacle in her popularity, increasing the value of her work?

My Jane Austen finds, safely tucked up on one of my book shelves at home.

Adding to the character and the atmosphere in the store is the polished cement floor throughout all the main area, reading rooms and comfy book viewing nooks.

Did I mention where these rooms of beauty, warmth and indulgence are? Just twenty kilometers inland from Noosa Heads (the destination of my very recent holiday) sits a sleepy little village by the name of Eumundi. The whole village comes alive every Wednesday and Saturday with a huge market-place, making Eumundi a must-visit area for those who prefer the non-commercialized village markets any day over a huge, ritzy shopping centre.

I may have written something about Eumundi way back in the archives of time. Let me check…..here ’tis, and it goes way back to the early days when this blog was just a baby in August 2010. I aptly named the post “The Town that Time Forgot”.

Surrounded by books, books high, books low, books everywhere. :) — Surrounded by books, books high, books low, books everywhere. 🙂

I’ve lost track of the number of books I have read during this year, so I really must be more organised next year. (Note to self ~ add a Currently Reading tally into the side column of my blog. Further note ~ remember to read this note!) Currently, I’m reading “Committed” by Elizabeth Gilbert, which is the follow-up to her earlier book and travel diary, “Eat Pray Love”. I swear that whilst reading the first third of the book, every mouthful of food I ate tasted better than ever before! (You’ll know what I mean if you have ever read the book!) Prior to that, I read Yann Martel’s “The Life of Pi” and before that I became inspired to read an Australian novel turned mini series, “Cloudstreet”, written by Tim Winton, when my son brought it home from school, being his novel to read during second term of school. I’ll have to think about what I read before “Cloudstreet”, that’s why I need to keep tally….

(no, wait, it was Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal Dreams”!)

birthdays · daughter · happiness · laughter · reading · son

When on holiday…..

November 19, 2013 Joanne8 Comments

Why must it be that the best laid plans of mice and men, (and women,) often go astray?

Whilst working at my sewing machine during the past few weeks I’ve dreamed about my planned time away from home, on holiday, in Noosa, spending time at a resort I have visited many times before, picturing the free time I would find, the blog reading I could catch up on, the posts I would be writing, the books I would read from cover to cover, along with spending time visiting some of my favourite landmarks in the area with my family.

So here I sit at my computer, finally penning (typing, actually) a blog post, on the last day of my holiday.

Where did the last week go? I need another week away!

A great restaurant for a birthday celebration.

Such collective plans my girls and I had made before we left home! We would visit the markets at Eumundi and have a family dinner at a lovely restaurant on the river in Noosaville on the Saturday night, that being an early celebration for Emma’s birthday in December. Those plans were kept. The markets were fabulous, we walked around ooh-ing and ah-ing at everything and buying some irresistible items, after which we realized that we had spent the grand total of five-and-a-half hours shopping! No wonder our feet were sore.

Hayley could only spend the weekend with us, so Emma and I had to manage without her on the other days, which was sad, but manage we did, with a trip to the Ginger Factory at Yandina (we took Hayley there the next day as well, just for a quick visit!) and yesterday before Emma had to leave to go home again we went into the Sunshine Coast hinterland to visit Montville.

Alone, I have walked around the boardwalk area at Noosa Beach and I’ve also taken a couple of walks along the river, one taking me to a cute little second-hand bookshop that we had discovered years ago when we were here holidaying with our very young children.

I think that today may be the first day that we haven’t had any rain here during the last week. I also think that on some days we have experienced the full gamut of seasons. On my first day here the weather turned so cold that I needed to wear the “for when it turns cold” cardigan that I had packed but never dreamed I would need. Most days have given us at least a few hours of the less-than-pleasant, typical humidity to be expected in this area and something a little unexpected at this time of year as it usually occurs during the hotter summer months is stormy weather, including gusty winds and even hail.

Notwithstanding the unpredictable weather, we have had a wonderful time here, but where did my quiet moments, which I expected to have each day get to? My days seem to have come down to the question of do I enjoy the moment, or write about the moment? I have chosen to enjoy. The writing can come later.

On Sunday morning the boys came with us for a walk along the shore of the lake.

And the reading, did I get any done? Well yes, seeing as you ask, I did! I finished one book, bought another which I have started to read, didn’t read the book I had brought to read and I bought six craft magazines which have inspired me with some sewing projects for when I get home.

Tomorrow morning I head back home again, leaving Noosa behind, and yet again I will leave with beautiful memories and expectations of my next visit here.

Emma and I are already planning our next visit. 🙂

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