Tag: quotes

Australia · autumn

“Gilding the Morrow”

Joanne4 Comments

 “Ah, Hope! What would life be, stripped of thy encouraging smiles that teach us to look behind the dark clouds of today, for the golden beams that are to gild the morrow”. ~ Susanna Moodie.

Whilst many prefer the bright blue skies reminiscent of favourable weather, the photo above shows that there is just as much beauty in grey skies.

This photo, looking north across the ocean at Burleigh Heads beach on Queensland’s Gold Coast also proves that, contrary to popular belief, it does rain in Queensland!

The late autumn weather on the day was indeed very chilly, but I could not resist the opportunity to linger amongst the elements, enjoying the grey cloud formations as they presented themselves.

Just as in life, there were indeed golden beams of sunlight hiding behind the grey clouds, awaiting the exact right moment to shine their way through, reassuring us yet again that they will always be there to “gild the morrow”.

After the photo session, a hasty retreat was made back to the warmth of my awaiting car. A cosy jacket would have come in handy that day!

 

Australia · autumn · gratitude · Mount Warning · Tweed Valley

Autumn Sunset

Joanne6 Comments
An autumn sunset over Mount Warning

“How fine has the day been, how bright was the sun,

How lovely and joyful the course that he run!

Though he rose in a mist when his race he begun,

And there followed some droppings of rain:

But now the fair traveller’s come to the west,

His rays are all gold, and his beauties are best;

He paints the skies gay as he sinks to his rest,

And foretells a bright rising again.” ~ Isaac Watts.

With summer now behind us, Mother Nature has taken it upon herself to have her last hoorah of hot summer’s days and nights, which we know to expect during the months of the summer season.

During this afternoon, I noticed the temperature had reached 31 degrees Celsius, a hot day for this time of year.

But when you see the brilliant red formations of clouds in the western sky late in the day, it is so worth the unseasonal heat!

Following my previous photos of Mount Warning, The Mesmerising Mountain, I just had to add yet another magical photo to the series. How could I resist?

“Come watch with me the shaft of fire that glows In yonder West : the fair, frail palaces, The fading Alps and archipelagoes, And great cloud-continents of sunset-seas.” ~ Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Looking to the west of Mount Warning
advice · Changes

Accepting Changes…and Changing What We Can

Joanne2 Comments

“God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it’s me”. ~ Author Unknown

The wheels of change spin around and around and I have discovered, through the wisdom of my age, an age which I have no control over, that it is a pointless task to try and fight change.

Change is here to stay, whether we like it, or not.

But why would we want to fight change?

Glad you asked! 😉

Change offers us a smorgasbord of new experiences, different perspectives, a fresh new approach, new friends, different seasons, growth and wisdom.

So why are we at times reluctant to accept change? What are we so afraid of?

“All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.” ~Anatole France

It is oh so easy to become so complacent with our circumstances as they currently are that we resist any occurrence of even the slightest change. There are times when resistance can bring stagnation, further leading to boredom with our life’s circumstances.

Subtle changes are prone to creep up on us when we least expect them.

Have you ever felt excitement at watching an old movie, or television show, a favourite ten years ago, only to be disappointed by the rerun? (But I used to love watching it!)

Or sat down at the table to enjoy a plate of your favourite food, the one you always asked your mum to cook for you when you were a teenager, but the taste just isn’t the same? (If mum had cooked it her way, it would have tasted better!)

How about that old jumper, your favourite for the last two winters. You drag it out from the back of the cupboard, in anticipation of the soft woolly fabric against your skin. But it’s gone hard, and worse still, it doesn’t fit right. (Who shrunk my favourite jumper?)

We can make excuses all we like. Or alternately, accept that change is taking place!

“There is no reason why the same man should like the same books at eighteen and forty-eight”. ~  Ezra Pound

I’ll admit it; I can be accused myself of being as guilty as the next, when it comes to resisting change. It’s not easy to change. It’s not easy when you are  forced to reassess a situation. It’s easier to take a look at what used to be, and continue with the old ways of doing things.

“Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him”. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

Here in Australia, during the middle of summer, schools shut down for a month of summer holidays. It is the ideal time to take a break from work if you are able to, and to also take a step back from your life and reassess where you are heading.

The break away from the usual brings clarity of mind.

Questions arise ~

Am I happy with the circumstances of my life?

Do I wish to continue heading in the same direction I have been for the last year?

Are there circumstances, situations or people who I wish to continue along with me, as I prepare my journey into this next year?

Is there anything that I feel has outstayed its welcome in my life and it’s time to part company with it?

Can I change all of the things I wish to change?

Must I accept that some things in my life are here to stay, for a while longer at least?

“If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it”. ~ Mary Engelbreit

They are your decisions to make. No other person can, or should, try to influence your decisions. It’s your life; your choices.

And just as surely, if people around you are also living through a process of change, you must accept the changes they have chosen for their lives.

The human mind is a powerful instrument. We should all endeavour to use this instrument to its best advantage.

“The birds are moulting.  If only man could moult also – his mind once a year its errors, his heart once a year its useless passions”. ~James Allen

As that metaphoric wheel of life continues to turn, we begin to realise that good can become bad just as easily as bad can become good. My aim for this year is to put in place the changes to bring about the good.

And if things aren’t turning out the way I had hoped for?

Why, I’ll make some more changes, of course! 😉

“After you’ve done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully.  After five years, look at it with suspicion.  And after ten years, throw it away and start all over”. ~ Alfred Edward Perlman, New York Times, 3 July 1958

(Photo from Google Images)

Australia · Mount Warning · spiritual

Can I Quote You on That?

JoanneLeave a comment

The English language is quite amazing. Words, that being the use of words for different purposes, have always fascinated me.

My favourite subject at school, not surprisingly, was English. Where my exam results at high school were close to failure for mathematics, (who, I ask you, really needs to know Pythagoras, algebra, trigonometry or pi formulas?) my results for English were always at the top of the class.

Crosswords have always been a favourite also. Who knows what new words may be lurking around in crossword-land, waiting to be discovered?

And then, there are quotes. A  few cleverly strung together words can bring sunshine streaming into a dull day.  Better still; quotes themselves possess an amazingly accurate little knack of just popping up on the right day, at the right time.

A while ago my sister sent me a gift, a box of “Healing the Mind and Spirit” cards, by Brian Weiss. Our other sister had sent her the cards and she found them so accurate that she found some for me. The cards sit on my coffee table in my quiet room and I often refer to them.

This morning, the affirmation on my randomly chosen card from the deck was “I awaken each day to the beauty around me”. On the reverse side of the card, the message is “There is so much more to life than meets the eye. Love and beauty exist everywhere, at all levels. Open your spiritual eyes”.

By “coincidence”, this morning I drove my son to one of his friend’s houses so they could spend the day fishing in the river, just up the road from where he lives. Master twelve’s friend lives in a small village called Tumbulgum, situated on the Tweed River.

The aboriginal meaning of the word Tumbulgum is “meeting of the waters”, as it is the site where the Tweed River joins into the Rous River.

It is impossible for me to ever feel anything other than calm and happy when I take the ten minute drive to Tumbulgum. The Magic Mountain looks out over the river, as if guarding the waters.

It is a beautiful village…and yes, spiritual…

Today, I have added a few words to my site, in the form of a quote from Abraham-Hicks. Have a look at the top of the column to the left; do you see it there, just above my subscription box? The quote will be updated daily.

It is my wish that the daily quotes from Abraham-Hicks will bring even more peace, happiness, love and beauty into your life, and open your spiritual eyes. 🙂