Christmas Greetings

Do you like the tree?

Last week I took my nephew out for his birthday to a place of his choice. He chose Werribee Mansion, which is a very old, stately home, next to his much-preferred destination, Werribee Zoo. Young J has just finished primary school so this was his last birthday experience.

On the way out of the park we noticed the different trees. They cast quite a presence being so old and standing so tall. I couldn't help noticing the pines and their cones. I really wanted to cut off a branch or two to decorate our home in a truly natural and simple way. Seeing those Christmas trees in their beautiful, natural state was my favourite part of the day.

I was lucky too because Young J was interested in the history of the place and was trying to work out how two brothers might come out to Australia without their parents and secure so much land. I love history so I enjoyed chatting about what would have happened all those years ago.

We've had a quiet Christmas morning. It's very windy here. We went to church with my mum last night. Mr S and I did not give Christmas presents to each other. Not a problem for us but I expect relatives will be a little taken aback. Shortly, we're off to my mum's for Christmas dinner....and I just remembered I wanted to make a gingernut Christmas log. Oh dear! I think that's my cue to keep moving....

As if that wasn't reminder enough, my nephew just called (urged on by his dad, no doubt, but he's a shy guy so any call from him is much appreciated) and is on his way to my mum's now.

To you and yours, a lovely Christmas.

Another half-hour blog!

 Well, I write this blog as I begin my annual holidays. The weather is cool and refreshing after a scorching 41 degrees yesterday. I feel good. Rested. Relaxed.

Today I got my bike. Yes, finally, after a year of 'planning' to do it. I must say it is beautiful and I can't wait to go riding. We don't really have anywhere to park it. So for now it goes in the bathroom!

We had our Christmas gathering last night. It was lovely getting together with close friends. Mr S and I were busy beforehand preparing food. I can now add (successful) potato salad and gingernut log to my repertoire. I also made a rather bland gluten-free quiche using brown rice for the crust. It actually turned out well but just needed more seasoning. Everyone was in good spirits. They're an extremely gracious, caring bunch of friends. They live quite some distance away so, whilst we don't see them frequently, we really appreciate the time we do have together.

I enjoyed decorating the house. I must admit the Christmas tree is not done and our front rooms were out of bounds i.e. in a big, big mess. In the past I would have been embarrassed and critical of myself but it's good to see that with time I'm getting better at keeping things in perspective, and I'm not as hard on myself.

I don't like giving gifts where it seems to be unnecessary. I tend to be critical of those who want to give gifts to me, and also expect me to be delighted when I'm actually thinking of  clutter, landfill and simple living. I feel I have more than enough. I think my reasons are valid but I happened to read an article last week via Organising Queen that managed to alter my thinking.  It didn't change my values and principles but it helped me see how I might receive gifts more graciously from people who are gift-givers and helped me to appreciate their way of being/giving.

.

My half-hour is up.

I look forward to my week of sleep-ins and rest. I look forward to watching TV or going online without having the burden of work preparation. I'm also wondering when  and where my first bike ride will be.

May your week be cheerful and to those preparing for Christmas, may you find Christmas spirit in what you do.

Half-hour Posting

Half-hour posting is what I do when I don't have loads of time but I still want to stop by and say hello.
Half-hour blogging is also what I do when I haven't blogged for quite a while and I want to get back into it but I'm not sure where to start.
Half-hour blogging also means there's no pressure. It can just be a few quick words. It doesn't have to be an unforgettable script.

So here I am. It's been a couple of months since I last posted. Health has challenged me. Work has been demanding. 

Mr S tried out for a new full-time job. There was hope. A little bit of hope. Determination. Nine hours a day. Two ten-minute breaks. Same repetitive task. Hands swollen. Fingers infected. Nails coming off. 

Now, at last, life is not so busy. I can breathe. And think. 

Here we're getting ready for Christmas. Mr S and I would both like a quiet Christmas with time to enjoy the simple everyday rhythms of life... but family and friends beckon. It's Christmas time, they say. I'm happy to join them but I'm yearning for  simplicity. And lots of rest. And sunshine. 

Perhaps contrary to what I've just said, Mr S and I are preparing for a Christmas gathering with friends next week. My goal is to keep it simple and cheerful. I won't be buying presents. I like to think that the gift of being together is gift enough. They are good friends and time with them is richness. It's a chance for me to decorate and I do so enjoy a little exercise in creativity. 

For me, it's always been Christmas at Mum's. She has always insisted it's at her house. Her way. So I really cherish the opportunity to create some Christmas in my home.

Stay tuned  and I'll let you know how it  goes. It's a gorgeous, sunny day outside so there's much to do. But I welcome such demands. Work around home and garden. Making this house a home. And a haven.

Happy Sunday!

Mr S has learnt how to make mince pies. Guess what's on the menu next week!

I'm getting back to walking each day. And eventually back to running. I love holidays because everything is that much more possible. 

We have a lovely neighbourhood and I'm so glad I get time now to enjoy it.

The week that was

Again we've been fortunate to have lots of hot, sunny weather, which is actually unseasonal for this time of year. My spirit feels uplifted when I wake to sun and warmth. After months of wearing woollens and layers it's been good to go to the cupboard and take out clothes that flow and that are light and colourful. Needless to say, it's been a good week.
The garden has been a key part of our lives here. This morning we picked lettuce and snow peas for my mum. I got a big kick out of that. Mr S is still working on building up the vegie garden. It's one step at a time depending on what resources are available. 

Out the front, Spring continues to produce surprise pops of colour. The neighbours do not attend to their garden. What blooms is what was planted in years past and behold this pink treasure lining their front fence. 

Work is good though there are new classes and new students so we are still settling. 
Daylight savings started last week so it has been a little easier to get up early. I have been trying to list a few, quick jobs for before and after school. This week I managed to hang out some washing, water the garden and do a 20 minute tidy-up. I also managed to prepare lunch one day.
We went for a walk the other evening around the lake. I haven't been in that direction for a few months so I was delighted to see ducklings and cygnets and a pelican. I've noticed that pelican seems to be there each year around this time. I do my running along the creek path or around the sports oval. There have been a number of snake sightings around water in our community so each time I go out on foot I cast my eye ahead and listen for rustling in the grass. 

Today I want to boil some eggs for my lunch this week. I'm determined to take lunch from home twice this week. Salad Monday, egg sandwiches Tuesday and possibly cheese sandwiches Wednesday. I got very specific and made sure all the ingredients were on the shopping list. 

Happy Sunday everybody!

Goals: Reading a book

One of the small delights in recent months has been getting back to reading books. Back in January I had made a list of goals for the year but reading a book was one of the more indulgent goals and one I didn’t think I would get to.

Well, I’m here now to say that I have got to it and I enjoy every moment. I must say that I have not read lots of books. In fact, I’ve only read three. I loved going back to China one hundred years ago when reading Keys to the Kingdom, by A J Cronin, with that delectable feeling of being carried away to a faraway land. Sheer delight!! I’m now reading End the Struggle and Dance with Life by Susan Jeffers. It’s my bible. It helped me get out of an enormous rut years ago and has helped me immeasurably dealing with social anxiety in my day-to-day life. I also read Herman Hesse's Siddhartha which was so easy to read and got me thinking about my own spiritual journey.

I don’t necessarily get to read a lot each week. I just try to grab a spare moment to get through a few pages.

It’s interesting how life’s little happenings conspire to bring about something bigger and better.

"I realised I would like to read again when I was decluttering  books on the bookshelf. I only keep books that resonate with me and my life and that still speak to me after years of sitting on the shelf and not being read. I decided that it would be great to read those books again.

"I have started picking up Mr S on the way home from work. It usually takes him more than two hours to get home. This means waiting at the train station, sometimes longer than expected. And there we have it – the perfect opportunity to get another chapter read!!

"One of my goals for 2015 was to reduce screen time. I have made (tiny, tiny) inroads towards that and reading is one of those ways.

So, I look forward to more book reading (you know, not the digital kind) and I can’t wait to get through my current one and experience the joy of selecting the next one.

The week that was

It's been a lovely holiday. There was time to relax and lots of sun to enjoy. For the first time in what seems forever, I had time to do some of those hard-to-get-to jobs around the house. I always enjoy working around the home when there's no rush and no pressure to get  school work and other outside tasks done. It's been wonderful to be able to stop and pause a while as the mood takes me. 

Mr S has been working on building up the vegie garden. He saw a wheelbarrow lying on the street for a few days and grabbed it one morning and brought it home. 

We've been able to sit outside and make the most of the sunshine. I would love to start every day with a cuppa and a seat outside looking out at the garden.

Spring is here and, even though I feel I've neglected the garden, there have still been many colourful delights popping up here and there.

I had a couple of lovely days on the Bellarine Peninsula. I spent some time with family and then caught up with a friend browsing in bric-a-brac shops and eating out. I really appreciated the good, long chats. 

I seem to have small piles of clutter tucked away here and there. These holidays I managed to declutter several of those piles. It's like having a detox from the outside in!!  It's quite an achievement to shake off some of those stubborn piles. I did a lot of cooking. Some dishes were more successful than others. I made a carrot cake - the cake tasted great- and am now in the process of  learning how to make icing with cream cheese - I'm not there yet!

There's more sunshine today. It always makes me feel so good. I even feel positive about tackling some of my school work. Daylight savings started today. I won't appreciate it in the morning but I'm looking forward to having extra time in the evening for gardening and running.

I hope there's some sunshine shining in your lives today. Happy Sunday and have a good week.

Inspiration and other random thoughts

Lately my partner and I have been watching the current series of The Biggest Loser. It's not something I usually watch. I do like some reality shows but I find many of them are too focussed on setting people against each other and far too many segments are contrived.
If I watch a TV show about houses I want to be inspired and entertained. I actually want to see the joy and anguish of struggling to build a home on a limited budget. I want to get inspiration for creating a home in a particular style. I do not want to find entertainment in watching a couple bicker with each other or with another couple.
So, I was pleasantly surprised last week when one of the TBL contestants won a bonus $5000 and had to gift it to someone from another team. A condition of accepting the gift was that you had to leave the competition. Of course there were conditions attached and most likely there was an ulterior motive behind the final decision.
Well, you can imagine how inspired I was to hear the winning contestant offer the cash to contestant no. 2 because the latter was a mum who was finding it hard to be away from her young children for so long and whose family could really benefit from a financial boost.
I stopped what I was doing when I heard this going to air. I actually waited for the sting in the tail, for the nastiness. 
How often do we hear people on TV doing something just because it could help someone? How often do those reality shows allow people to choose kindness when the premise of the program is about winning and losing? 
The next day I happened to be reading my book,  and I came across this passage in which the author proposes an alternative definition of success.
         SUCCESS is living a full and balanced life in partnership with others
         to create a joyful feeling of love, contribution, appreciation and abundance,
         despite how our endeavours may turn out.
                                                                           End The Struggle and Dance With Life
                                                                            Susan Jeffers
Ever the idealist, I love to think we could build a world that promotes teamwork. 

I wonder what would happen if we encouraged these reality contestants to work with each other, sharing ideas, helping each other out and giving them ample time to hone their skills and craftsmanship. 
Imagine a lifestyle program which focussed on skills, creativity and character-building...

Social Anxiety and Me This Week

Every day social anxiety is a part of my life. These days I'm fortunate enough that it does not overwhelm me. Well, not usually. More often than not I don't even notice its presence. I like to think it does not control me but as you'll see in the following example, that's not always the case. 

I didn't do menu planning this week so I went to the supermarket three times in a few days. I happened to see my neighbour who works on the cash registers.  I worried he might think I was weird for coming in more than once in a few days. Then I recalled that recently when I went to his cash register I had blushed, probably because I was in a hurry that day and feeling guilty for not being more organised.
Now, I really enjoy having the chance to chat with him as he is just about the only local person I know in this area who I do get to talk to. We do say hello to other neighbours but it's never more than passing small talk.

Yesterday, while having a typical SA moment of indecision as to whether I should go to his cash register or not, I plucked up the courage and focussed on being  in the "here and now".
I went to his cash register. Everything was OK.  We had a quick chat and I noted for a microsecond that I wasn't blushing and felt rather happy about that. The shopping was done and  I went on my way. 

The "here and now" strategy worked really well. "Here and now" was the mantra I learnt to use years ago when social anxiety was getting in the way of me being able to communicate with some of my colleagues. It was like a quick prompt when my mind was going off track.

As you can see in the example above, my mind can get distracted by a hundred trivial thoughts while I'm in the middle of even the simplest of interactions. 

In order to be focussed on the person I was talking to, I used to say to myself  "Right here and now" as a reminder to stop thinking about  what might have happened the week before or the year before and to stop worrying about what the other person might be thinking. Saying "here and now" signalled that I needed to get back on track i.e. get on with the very reason why I had come to see that person, right there and then. 

It's not something I mastered overnight but after practising for a couple of years, it got a lot easier.
It really helped on Tuesday when I wanted to be able to talk at that very moment and I didn't want social anxiety to stop me from having a friendly chat. 

Living Simply on Sundays

I’ve been trying hard to do a new recipe each week since these days Mr S tends to do most of the cooking and I want to  keep my  “skills” up to scratch.  Last Monday I tried a dried fruit slice. There was far too much fruit in the slice even though I had followed the instructions.

Mr S has got a vegie garden up and running but there’s still much to do. We could only do so much. We don’t have a ute and we were not willing to pay $40+ to have sleepers delivered 4 kilometres down the road, but fortunately for us my brother is coming over today to help us out. I planted 8 broccoli plants a few weeks ago but there are only three left. Mr S is having more luck with spring onions, carrots, peas, spinach and lettuce, planted in the bed above.

In a roundabout way I’m trying “live simply” at work as I declutter my many folders. I keep hundreds of worksheets. Many are filed, some are not. I finally had some time this week to tidy my desk but I decided to approach it a little differently. In the past I would keep everything. My idea now is to keep only one copy of each file, with a view to reducing as much of the paper as possible, working towards having a copy of most files on the computer. Even though it means throwing away lots of paper, I have to admit I can’t always find things because I have way too much.

Wow! Holidays are good. We had lovely weather today so I suggested we go for a walk around Newport Lakes and visit the Native Nursery. The lakes and parkland have been reclaimed from an old quarry. It was very pleasant until Mr S saw a snake and I quickly took a detour. Later on we saw a lizard trying to blend in with its surroundings. Mr S does not like snakes either so I think it will be a while before we head back there again.

Often my weekends are taken up with housework and schoolwork. I couldn’t help thinking how nice it is to be able to get out and enjoy life. Now that spring is here I hope we can do more of this: relaxing, getting out of the house, enjoying the local area, and doing it all simply. No cost or little cost (just an icecream today). No stress (except when there’s a sign of a snake). Easy on us, easy on the environment.

 Enjoy your Sunday!

Time Alone

A winter's day on Mt Macedon

This morning I had my chai latte. I sat in the car for ten minutes and just relaxed.
I relished those  few moments in the car park, while the shops were still empty and before I faced a stampede impending stampede of high school students.
I realised that I haven't had that time alone for a while. And I miss it. I need it. It's an essential part of my lifeblood.
I was so happy to get out in the garden on Sunday. I felt rejuvenated as I hacked away at the rose bushes in the full sunshine. It was very liberating after being cooped up inside for the last few months. It was, for me, time alone.
Mr S and I have a relatively quiet life at home, but evenso, I've learned over the years that I need complete time alone to refuel and replenish. Gardening on Sunday was just that. When I craft it's just that. I thought running might be that sort of time but when I pound the footpaths of my local neighbourhood I need every ounce of energy just to take the next step. There's no surplus energy for contemplating the meaning of life.
I had friends over for a lovely afternoon tea on Saturday afternoon. However, at the end of it all, I was ready for complete time alone.
Time alone helps me to handle life.  I remember being in the toilet when I was nine or ten years old and realising that all my good ideas happened at that time. A little weird, I know. It is understandable when I look back. In my talkative family there was not always space for an introvert to search deep and explore her innermost thoughts aloud.
I'm glad I know now that my introversion is an important part of who I am. It helps me to know why I can feel at odds with everyday life even when things are "OK".
I am currently working with a new class level and that means extra work. I don't like having my evenings and weekends taken up with lesson plans and corrections. It crowds my personal time and means there is less of a chance to have meaningful "me" time.

Keeping warm on a winter's day, spending time with friends.

I'm grateful for my chai this morning. I'm looking forward to more sunshine and more complete time alone!  Now that the sun is shining a little more around these parts, I will hopefully find it easier to get more of the "me" time.

Goals for the next six months

I haven't blogged for a couple of  weeks as I have some commitments at the moment that take up my time. I will do my best to post something when I can. Ironically working on my goals is taking up my blogging time this weekend.  As part of my aim to be more proactive on the social front, I was busy today and yesterday preparing food from scratch for a couple of friends who came for afternoon tea.

My Goals For The Next Six Months - now the next four and a half months!
I am mindful that goal-keeping can become a purpose in itself. 

I have realised two things this year. One: life is so much more than my list of goals. In my desire to achieve goals and cross them off my list I do not want to lose sight of what stands before me: family, relationships, friendships, love. 

Two: As much as life will make sure I don't look at life only by way of my goals, striving to achieve goals actually motivates me and helps order my naturally disorganised mind. Setting goals gives me focus and structure and a welcome sense of achievement. 

So, for the latter part of this year, I set my goals, keeping in mind that life will weave its way through life's best-laid plans and I want to be open to what that means. I want to stay true to my values and live the best life I can, given what I have before me on any given day. 

For the remaining part of the year...

I would love to

·         Read a book regularly

·         Run three times a week and complete a mini-mini--marathon 

·         Wake up early and prepare for work without the last minute rush (looking to summer)

·         Hang pictures on the wall

·         Buy a bike and ride once a week

·         Catch up with friends/invite friends over outside the more formal occasions of birthdays and so forth

·         Take time to reflect, be inspired…show gratitude

·         Create

·         Get back to gardening

       Take a holiday or two

I want to work on

·         Decluttering and setting up the front room (to completion)

·         Keeping the house tidy, welcoming and comfortable

·         Making a new dish each month
       Planning my week

       Listening attentively
       Preparing a simply, lovely Christmas

I want to be

·         Intentional and focussed

·         Open to life as it presents each day

·         True to my values and principles

I want to live simply and mindfully.

Midyear Goal Review

It's time to take stock of where I am at as far as my goals go. I love working on my goals even though it's been harder this year to keep track of them. Nevertheless the wheels of life keep turning and I find that I'm still moving along and surprising myself with what I have achieved. 

So these are the goals that have worked.

• HOUSE: It’s been a goal for three or so years but I finally got a hall runner. It’s a little short but it’s beautiful.
• HEALTH: Drinking more water. Currently slack but overall this year has been a big improvement.
• Being social: Well, I’ve done it twice and am about to set about organising an outing for August.
• Waking up early: Surprisingly working very well. Awake early. Breakfast every day. Almost. For winter that might have to do!
• Save pennies: To be honest I mostly achieve this because my partner has frugal habits and I am often too busy to waste my time buying things that are not necessary.

These are the goals that have partially worked.

•  HOUSE: Hanging pictures up:I framed a friend’s watercolour painting. It’s not hanging yet. I did ask someone to help me and they said yes but …I think they’ve forgotten. My SA self does not like bothering people but I think  know I will have to ask him again.
• Reducing screen time. Some times are better than other times. I have started reading paper books again which means I’m not on my laptop as much. I don’t automatically go on fb. I sometimes stop and think twice before spending unlimited time surfing the net.
• HEALTH: Exercise: currently once a week yoga. I really want to get to three times a week with running/riding/walking/yoga.
•  Exercising gratitude and taking time to reflect: it’s happened here and there but I want to make it more regular. Something once a week would be good.
• Planning time (banking etc): Taking time on Fridays to plan and do paper and online housekeeping has worked fairly well, except that in the last few months I’ve moved away from my weekly planner at home and at school. I’m now making this a priority.

These are the goals that were not officially set but are still part of my thinking.

•           I wanted to set up the front room as a snug/office and then have the other small room as a guest bedroom. In order to do this I had to declutter and rearrange furniture and storage. I have started decluttering photos and it’s been easier than expected. I decluttered tubs of stuff earlier this year. In May I decluttered another tub of things, including clothes and books, which is ready to donate to the op shop. Last week I decluttered another lot of things, including unused shampoo and photos. The  front room is on its way. It’s been cleared of “extra” stuff so it’s beginning to look and feel welcoming.
•      My first e-bay purchase!! The hall runner. At the same time I also ordered some skin products online that I badly needed and had been doing without for more than a year. I don’t always have time to go shopping far from home and finally made the decision to try online. It worked very well. And this does go towards me saving pennies as it cost less than half of what it would have cost at full price.
•       I started reading books again. Yes. I’m onto my second book and I’m choosing books from my bookshelves that I haven’t read for years. Nostalgic and very rewarding.
•      Getting creative: painted and framed a picture for Easter,  then made invitations for my birthday, thank you notes

These goals are not happening. Yet.

·         Make a fairy garden

·         Get a bike: I wanted to wait till Mr S and I could do this together. We got a good secondhand one from a friend last month so now I can start looking at getting one for myself.

·         Sewing

·         Plan a simple Christmas: Quite simply, it’s not time yet!

Mr S and I have had an everchanging routine so it’s been hard to plan for and work on my goals, at times. The cold weather also seems to encroach upon my motivation to get things done. It’s been satisfying to get to goals I didn’t think would happen, like reading a book, decluttering the front room, and getting creative.  In my next post I hope to outline my goals for the next couple of months. I’m hoping that with more attention to planning I can make my key goals happen.

A Simple Celebration

I haven’t blogged for a while. In the last few weeks we’ve had 5.30am starts, holiday sleep-ins and now we’re looking at a possible 3.30am start each day if all goes well on the job front this week for Mr S.

My duties at school have changed again and I find myself working with a different group of young people. This also means a new timetable. Last term my schedule was “light” on Thursday mornings so I treated myself to a chai latte before work each week. At the moment I’m still trying to see where I can squeeze it into my timetable.

On top of all that I was busy preparing for a milestone birthday.  

Originally I had really wanted to mark the occasion by going away for the weekend. Parties are not my thing so I didn’t see why that would change now. But then a friend commented that parties can provide what are often rare opportunities for people to come together. I thought about this and decided that it would be lovely to have friends and family gathering together here in our home.

I wanted to keep things fairly simple. If you read about the invitations you’ll know that I was also looking forward to the chance to get creative. I had a loose theme of tea party vintage and hoped to bring about a warm, cosy atmosphere.

My list of guests was around 50 and my SA mind imagined unrealistically how grand it all might be – even though I wanted it all to be simple!  As the day grew closer, the guestlist dwindled to 30ish. For a brief moment I was disappointed and I found I had to remind myself why I was doing the party and what I hoped to achieve.

How I kept it simple:

·        I invited my nieces over for lunch and then we set about making some bunting. I had envisaged nicely sewn triangular bunting but then I returned to reality. It was not easy to hang our paper hearts but keeping calm meant I still worked out a way to display it.

·        We made most of the food. We made finger-sized foods such as sandwiches, sausage rolls, scones and pizza slices. We had peanut butter balls and Mum made a sponge cake for the birthday cake.

·        We had material napkins. I used what I already had and borrowed the rest from Mum.

·        The “fancy” tablecloths were from Mum. The cloth on the main table was the one my mum got from her own mum for her engagement. It was really lovely to be able to put out family heirloom pieces.

·        I was so fortunate to have daphne and camellias in bloom. A friend cut the flowers and decorated the rooms. The rooms tend to be dull brown but the pop of colour from the flowers transformed the feel of the whole area.

·        Mr S knew I liked flowers. In the morning when I got up there was a lovely arrangement in the teapot made up of flowers from our garden.

·        Even though it was a tea party I had on offer coffee and hot chocolate as well as soft drinks.

·        I did spend a little extra on paper plates that were made from recycled pulp (?). I had the wonderful idea of keeping the plates and using them in the garden to block out weeds or as compost. In any case, I was preoccupied that evening and all plates ended up in the bin.

I had fun preparing the party. The best part was the buzz throughout the night. Our life here is sweet but very quiet. Mr S said he couldn’t believe that our home could be like that. I must say my mind was going in a hundred directions as everyone arrived and I realised that I hadn’t whipped the cream and the sausage rolls were not ready. I also had my mind on a few people who didn’t know anyone and were a bit shy. Some good friends kept reminding me that it was OK and I didn’t have to worry about them…. And gradually I accepted this. It truly was a lovely evening and it delighted my heart to see our home filled with laughter and chatter.

A touch of inspiration

It seems fitting this Friday to share with you some inspiring moments I encountered this week. Listening to the ABC radio I heard about the passing of English Sir Nicholas Winton. Of course I had never heard of him but being on holidays I followed the guest's suggestion, went online and found this moving tribute to the wonderful work he did at the time of World War 2 in Czechoslovakia. His intervention saved the lives of many children.  Take a look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIiBTP0spEA

On Thursday night Channel 9's "Inside Story" featured the life of Australian man, John Coutis. It was a wonderful and, of course, inspiring, testimony to how life can be lived fully, if we allow it to happen and don't let obstacles get in the way. It was about disability and yet it was not. As the story went on, the matter of his disability faded into the background and his strong, funny and motivating character came to the fore. His wife also proved what can happen in life when we are open to the heart of a person and when we dare to stand against societal pressures. 

My final recollection is  the story of two young, entrepeunarial Australians, hailing from Queensland, who have made their way down to Melbourne. They came up with a novel way of assisting homeless people. Have a look here if you want to know more about these two men and their Orange Sky Laundry Van.

I can't help noticing that all four of these people took the road less travelled. Or perhaps they took the same road as others but they just travelled along it with vision and the courage to follow that vision. 

As someone with social anxiety I'm all too aware of the power of negative thinking. At times it's like an addiction or an obsession. I take a lot of hope and inspiration from ideas that challenge me to think differently, with less negativity and worry.  

What are my thoughts today? What am I worrying about today? If I put that aside for a moment what would my thoughts be if I chose to think with vision and courage for the evening ahead? The weekend ahead?  

Savouring the (little bit of) wilderness

One of my goals in June was to get back to running. Part of my exercise regime is to at least get in some walking if nothing else. Now, to be honest, I'm not exactly on the home stretch. In fact, I'm far from it. But I did get in a little walking in June. 

Every time I walk along the creek path I love one particular scene of what is quickly becoming the last tract of wilderness around these parts. I live on the outskirts of suburbia so when I come home I can still get a glimpse of the windswept plains and a sense of the open and beyond. Alas, not for much longer. The soil has been turned and it won't be long before that piece of wilderness is transformed into another emerging suburb.
Not all of it is wilderness. Some of it is cleared land which has long been neglected. But when I walk by the creek and see the gnarled, outstretched trees close to  the water's edge, I feel immense respect for them. Those trees have managed to stand strong against human conquest of this land. Just. I do wonder for how many more years those trees will hold their ground.

I'm very grateful for the taste of nature each time I leave home. Even the weeds, pictured above, offer a welcome touch of colour to combat the gloom of winter.