Category: freedom

Changes · freedom · summer

We are Becoming…..

Joanne4 Comments

“You must constantly ask yourself these questions: Who am I around? What are they doing to me? What have they got me reading? What have they got me saying? Where do they have me going? What do they have me thinking? And most important, what do they have me becoming? Then ask yourself the big question: Is that okay? Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” ~ Jim Rohn.

The month of January is often a challenge for me, in many ways.

With children home from school for most of the month, it is difficult to find any time to be peaceful, when they have music playing constantly in the house. I look forward to the house becoming quiet for a change, and hearing the sounds of silence yet again.

And there is always the heat issue, including our rainy season in the sub-tropics, which contributes to the humidity. Funnily enough, though, this summer has been unseasonally cool, an unexpected luxury which I am revelling in! While I have expected the heat to arrive I realise, with huge amounts of delight, that with each day of little heat, we move one day closer to autumn, when the weather will become cooler again. Ah…bliss!

None of us has any control over summer school holidays or the weather, so we might as well accept the inevitable and find the pleasure in each moment of every day. We can’t change these things.

It is incredibly easy to find the pleasure behind the noise in the house all day. The noise tells me that my children are still young enough to live at home. I can enjoy their company and they are indeed very good company!

And the warmer days allow myself and the rest of my family the freedom to enjoy our swimming pool, finding relief from the humidity of the days.

What we are becoming, on a personal level, is a matter in which we do have some control over. We have the choice of how we allow the people who we interact with throughout our lives to affect us.

Everyone we meet can, and does, influence our behaviour at the time of our meeting. They may also shape our future thoughts and feelings, unknowingly painting a picture of the person we have become, who we are constantly in the process of becoming.

The month of January has given me the opportunity to ponder the question of who we are becoming, taking my mind off the few days when it has been warm and when I have missed my solitude, and it is with much pleasure that I have written these thoughts in my article at the Calm Space this month, “An Infinite Work of Art ~ You”.

 

 

 

freedom · friends · hare · summer

Where the Wild Creatures Live

Joanne4 Comments
A wild baby hare, spending the day inside, in the coolness of our shower.

We had another unexpected little garden visitor here this morning. This creature, as opposed to the frogs and cicadas, was a quiet little thing.

At first we were not sure whether it was a baby rabbit or a hare. Either way, it would not have survived the day where it was, out in the full strength midday sun, all alone.

We put the little fellow into our shower recess with a saucer of cool water, while we scoured the internet for information on him.

By later this afternoon we had concluded that he was a wild baby hare. If we tried to domesticate him, he would have no doubt died within a short space of time. Hares need to be free to survive.

We often see fully grown hares around the garden, so it would be logical to believe that is what he is.

According to the information that we read, he needed to be returned to the garden at the end of the day, when the heat of the day had subsided; to around the same place he had been found.

We found a sheltered area, with plenty of hiding places and shelter from the elements, and left him with another shallow dish of water.

It would be nice to think he will continue to survive in our garden. I’m quite happy to share our garden with all of these harmless, wild creatures.

Such a little cutie!
cows · daughter · freedom

Over the Back Fence….

Joanne2 Comments
Possum

When my first child left home, rather than being the emotional ordeal some would imagine it to be, I felt very excited for her, as she embarked on the next phase of the journey of her life.

The time was right for her to spread her wings and discover the adventures awaiting her out there in the magical world of adulthood.

I knew she would never be far away from me. Even if distance separated us, she would always remain close to me in my heart.

As it turns out, there isn’t an awful lot of distance between us, as she lives only about a ten minute drive from home and I see her nearly every day of the week, as we work together!

Over the past three or four years, my girl has become more herself, rather than a reflection of the person she thought her parents wanted her to be. And it is a wonderful experience, getting to know the adult version of the sweet little girl we nurtured for so many years.

Although she has matured into becoming her own person in recent years, one aspect of her personality has remained constant throughout her entire life ~ she loves animals.

It is a regular occurrence for me to receive an email containing a photo of her latest “friend” who she has discovered inside her home or out in the garden.

The cute little possum in the night time photo above is one of Hayley’s little visitors.

Over the back fence of Hayley’s house is a large expanse of grassy paddock. In its glory days, the area was once a well kept golf course, which contained a very well known country club, well frequented by locals and visitors alike.

Somewhere over the years, the club managed to go belly-up and the area is now kept reasonably in check by a herd of cattle!

Over the Fence

Not a cow lover herself, despite her love of animals, Hayley knew I would fully appreciate photos of her bovine visitors.

As you can see in this photo, in the foreground is a small metal gate, which leads out from Hayley’s back garden into the expanse of grass, which was once the golf course.

Grazing Cows

Tomorrow I will show you a series of photos which require no words. The expressions on the face say it all! But you’ll have to wait ‘til tomorrow for the whole story.

Clue ~ the story involves the cows….and one of Hayley’s closest friends! 🙂

freedom · spiritual

Where the Mind is Without Fear

Joanne2 Comments

I’m sharing with you today a poem that I have come across, by a poet I had never heard of before today. Rabindranath Tagore, I have discovered, was from India, perhaps explaining the spiritual note to his poem.

I enjoyed this poem on so many levels. I trust you will enjoy it too. 🙂

Where the Mind is Without Fear ~ Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Changes · freedom

On The Brink….

JoanneLeave a comment

My son starts at his new school tomorrow. And whilst saddened by the end of his summer school holidays, as he is every year, he is also excited.

Such is his anticipation and joy at starting his new school, he told me that he can’t describe how happy he is. The words escape him!

My son isn’t the only one trying to contain his anticipation of the events about to unfold.

The latter months of last year brought about many changes in my life also. With the groundwork begun and the foundation stones set in place, this next week is my time to continue on with my plans, which have been temporarily put on hold due to the Christmas and New Year break.

It isn’t all about making changes, though. It’s also about learning; and reading. It’s about new knowledge, knowledge which has always been there, but I just wasn’t ready to hear.

Reading, research, action, planning, working….

Listening with my heart, following my instincts, new beginnings….

Working towards finding answers; at times momentarily revisiting the past to make further progress into the future….

Travelling, making memories….

Taking stock, discarding that which is no longer required, simplifying my mind, my life….

Just as Pocahontas did, I will listen to and follow the wind.

The feelings of freedom are already there. The Universe has plans, and my heart is open to listening to the messages I receive as the days, months and the year unfolds.

Are you listening with your heart wide open to the plans The Universe has awaiting you?

When you are looking for change, and want the change, and feeling the change you are wanting, it will begin to happen.

Events will unfold before your eyes, showing you the correct path to follow to bring about the changes you are wanting.

Begin each day with your eyes wide open. You won’t miss a thing.