This past week has been a rather hectic one for me, with an abundance of work, mostly paper work, taking up most of my waking hours each day.
As a result I have missed out on posting anything here for quite a few days. I’ve even missed the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge for last week!
Now, where in the rules does it say a photo can’t be posted a couple of days late?… No where?… That’s what I thought!
So here I am with my photo, which represents last week’s theme ~ “abundance”.
This photo was taken last year, when our garden produced a massive abundance of extremely tasty food; tomatoes, lemons, limes, mangoes, pecan nuts, chillies, and a number of my favourite herbs, including rosemary, basil, sage, parsley and thyme.
This time last year, the planets must have aligned perfectly, giving us a bumper crop of absolutely everything we grow! The right amount of rain and just enough sunshine, with the right amount of heat beating down upon the earth.
This summer, however, Mother Nature has not been quite so kind to us. Luckily, I have my photos from last year, showing my garden in all of its lush glory with an abundance of edibles, with which to reminisce, until the perfect weather conditions return again.
And the perfect weather conditions will return. Mother Nature is kind that way. 🙂
During January and February, the lovely Káren, editor of the Calm Space, is re-running some of her favourite articles from the past three years and she has given me the honour of again sharing one of my articles.
Thank you so much, Káren! 🙂
The topic of the power of our mind is one that I am rather passionate about. I truly believe that we all actually have control over our lives, through our own thoughts.
If my health fails, I ask myself what is bothering me.
If circumstances in my life are not as I wish them to be, I re-run my thought process of the preceding days.
More and more, I rely on the Universe and my own instincts to guide me through every day.
Why not try it for yourself? Follow your instincts and listen to your heart. Go with the flow and follow whatever journey you find your life leading you towards.
Believe in the strength of the power of intention and suggestion. Allow affirmations to guide you and show gratitude for the miracles you encounter along the way.
Have faith in yourself, believe that your own intuition will guide you towards the right path in life, the one that is just right for you and pay attention to the wonders that will unfold before your eyes.
When learning to mould your life through your own choice and intentions, some changes will become evident immediately, whilst other changes may take a little more time.
This morning I had a visitor. Two visitors, actually.
Time spent with my beautiful eldest daughter is always time well spent. She’s a ray of sunshine in my day, always has been, right from the very day she was born.
She brought with her today “The Man in Her Life”. This is the man who possesses magical powers, having swept my daughter completely off her feet over five years ago, and they have lived happily together ever since.
My daughter’s head has never been easily turned. But she knows what she wants. And she got what she wanted….and so did he!
My daughter’s man values his privacy, so for the sake of today’s exercise, I’ll call him, umm…Bill.
You know when Bill has entered the room, he’s like a whirlwind. And he disappears without ceremony. No long goodbyes for this man! By the time the dust has settled and the swirling leaves have fallen to the ground, he’s vanished.
The value of Bill is in the brief time he spends with you, in the room! The electric currents running through his brain simply bounce off the walls and, if your mind is receptive, it won’t be long before your own mind is buzzing, right along with his.
Bill has presence. He has charisma. And most importantly, he has good instincts.
Many a time I have asked his advice on matters that I have been too close to, to be able to handle objectively. Without so much as a bat of an eyelid, Bill utters a sentence, leaving you with a whole new perspective on the matter at hand.
If I could find a way to bottle his natural ability to find solutions to every matter mentioned to him, we’d be rich, and the world would be a better place to live in.
He’s rarely moody. Nor does he take anything too seriously. Yet he is one of the most compassionate people I know.
Our conversation this morning has left me, yet again, with a million ideas running through my brain. Don’t ask me how the conversation started. I never know what it is that prompts any conversation with Bill. They just happen.
Bill says one thing; I reply, my daughter interjects; before long we seem to all be talking together, hearing every words spoken by each of us!
Momentum kicks in; one idea leads to the next. He leaves you with plenty to contemplate!
I do believe that everyone needs a “Bill” in their life; make that several “Bills”!
He’s an ideas person. What he says makes a whole lotta sense. He gets you thinking.
It occurred to me today that there are many internet based “Bills”; people with ideas, who offer inspiration, who start the ball rolling on any subject matter you care to choose from.
Pick an idea out of a hat. Look it up on the internet. There’ll be someone there talking about your idea, offering suggestions, helping you gain momentum to keep that ball rolling along.
If they’re a blogger, you can begin to interact. They give you ideas. Hopefully, you reciprocate.
You don’t steel their ideas; all it may take is a simple sentence, which leads you to an idea, which progresses to another thought, then another.
Unknowingly, your friend on the other side of the world has brought new meaning to your day.
The same applies to feelings. With so many uplifting websites around, there are some days when I simply do not have enough time to get to them all!
I value my online friends, the “Bills” who inspire my days so often without even realising they have done so.
And I am grateful for my in the flesh Bill, the one who makes my daughters world a wonderful place, who she happily shares with her family. 🙂
Today’s post will be a quick one, basically to keep my commitment to NaBloPoMo and postaday2011.
Not that I have nothing to say…there is always something to say!
It is 8pm on Friday night as I write this. And I’m alone.
Not lonely; but alone.
I feel like a real grown up!
I’ve had the house to myself all day and will be alone all night as well. My family all have places to go and people to see.
This is the first night I have spent alone in the last…um…over twenty five years!
So this is big!
I’ll fill you in on the details tomorrow.
I’m savouring every single moment of this serenity.
For now, I’m going to make the dinner of my choice, watch the television shows of my choice, go to bed in my own good time and wake up tomorrow when I feel like it.
“Never mention the worst. Drop it out of your consciousness. This practice will bring all of your powers to focus on the attainment of the best. It will bring the best to you”. ~ Norman Vincent Peale.
2011 is the first year in which I have actually gone out and purchased a Gratitude Diary and started to make use of it immediately.
You see, it’s all a part of my master plan. I have chosen my word for the year, for the theme which I have chosen to live by throughout all of this year.
My chosen word is “Freedom” and a main aspect of my theme that I am aiming to achieve is freedom from unwanted thoughts.
I love the word “Freedom”. It encompasses such a wide range of aspects, all relevant to the ultimate achievement of my goal to attain freedom.
Like all new habits, banishing unwanted thoughts from your mind takes time. I know that is true for me. The easiest thing to do, and the biggest mistake to make, is to allow your thoughts to wander off, unchecked, when you are wishing to form your new habit!
Reining in your thoughts could be likened to beginning a healthy eating plan, or a new exercise regime. Old habits have a happy knack of dying hard.
But anything worthwhile is worth sticking to and before long a whole new series of habits have taken the place of the old ones.
Another point I will be paying particular attention to is, as Norman Vincent Peale says in the above quote, “never mention the worst”.
If mention of the unwanted must be made, I have discovered through many years of practise that your statement can be turned around, from the negative to the positive.
It’s the old scenario of not saying that your glass is half empty, but rather your glass is half full!
Example : You could complain about not having any room in your cupboards, due to having too much unwanted “stuff” stashed away inside of them….OR….
You could tell the story of how much pleasure you will feel when you have discarded all of your unwanted possessions, leaving you with available space inside the cupboards.
It’s a subtle difference and it can change your whole mindset, by focussing on the positive scenario.
That’s where a Gratitude Diary can make a huge difference to your life, forcing your thoughts into a state of appreciation, hence forming a whole new habit, for you to easily live by.
I’m a firm believer that regardless of how dreadful any situation may appear to be, especially when it has just occurred and feelings are raw, there is always a reason for the event taking place.
Sometimes it may take a little bit of deeper delving into a situation, to discover the message the Universe is sending. Don’t give up ~ search hard enough and you will find your answers.
Stay optimistic, show appreciation and the best will find you. 🙂
Footnote : Today I can celebrate, as this is my one hundredth post here at Home Life Online; Everyday Inspirations.
Today, I am grateful for having come up with 100 ideas for topics to write about! Jo.
In My World 