LIfe - A Journey Not A Race

Life is not a race
But a journey to be savoured
Each step of the way
Yesterday is history
Tomorrow is a mystery
Today is a gift

Do not fret over what has passed it can not be undone
Remember tomorrow always becomes today
So cherish the moments that today has bought

And above all - Take time to smell the roses

Life Is LIke A Winter's Day

I was sitting at my desk this morning, looking out at the climbing rose, admiring how much it is flourishing under the blue winter sky - no clouds, just fresh winter sun. Thinking to myself how funny it is that a plant could reaffirm to me so many life lessons.

I then got busy on my computer and in my study - still sorting out stuff - my life seems full of stuff.

The next time I looked out the window I was surprised to see a grey sky instead of blue - no real clouds (obviously high ones that blended together to make the grey) but not stormy at all just grey. Probably only 15-20 mins had passed and yet the day took on a totally different hue.


This got me to thinking about how life is like a winter's day - one minute sunny and one minute grey. But rather than let the grey get me down, I gave thanks that more rain was on the way, we so desperately need it here in Perth. It is also warmer when there is cloud cover and we have been having some cold nights that play havoc with my old bones. But I also looked forward to knowing that the blue will come back, something to look forward to. A bit like eating the veggies you don't like knowing that you are saving the good part of your dinner for last.

Life is like that - one minute good things are happening, the next some more difficult one may appear, but the difficult ones can allow you to achieve things you didn't think you could, and for most of us there is light at the end of the tunnel - your blue sky so to speak.

Who would have thought that moving my study into a new room would give me the opportunity to become so philosophical on such a regular basis.

My wish for you is that I hope your life is giving you a good balance of fresh blue winter skies to outweigh the grey ones.

xxx

Looking For Your Feedback And/Or Posts

As mentioned in the header to the blog, I would love people to share stories, or quotes or anything that inspires them - it might be a web address or even another blog (I'm not going to get upset by that).

So if you would like me to post here on your behalf, just email it to me and let me know if you want to tell the world your name, or keep it anonymous - I don't mind either way, but I would love this to be more than my thoughts - after all maybe only I find them inspirational.

Or maybe you just want to tell me "I dreaming" (quote from the Aussie movie 'The Castle' - now that will give you a laugh, well it will if you are an Aussie).

Be assured that I won't be discouraged if I don't get any response for there is more that I want to share but I want to make sure you all know that I would love you to be part of this blog journey as well.

Inner Strength & Endurance

It is a little over a week since I wrote my Giving Thanks post. As I look out of my study window this morning, my climbing rose is lush and green, shading my study window from the sun. Even those branches that I thought had no hope of recovering from my neglect are now sprouting green leaves. Two honeyeaters are busily feeding off the various insects and sipping water droplets of the leaves left from the last shower.

I know that this is a plant and not a person, but this plant did not give up, I had - I thought it was dead. But it found inner strength to thrive.

So perhaps there is another lesson this rose can teach us - even when others have given up on you, you can find your inner strength and show them what you are made of. Don't let others take away your hope.

As Christopher Reeve said after his accident

"Once you choose hope, anything is possible".

If you are feeling down and hopeless, I hope this may help, please believe that there is always hope, there is always a way forward - you just need to find your inner strength and choose to thrive.

Focus

One of the blogs I follow - My Charming Kids - had a post by McMama about Focus - and I have borrowed from it as it rang true to me and I feel it is something I would like to share here. Among other things, McMama was talking about when her marriage was going through some tough times how her focus became on the faults of her husband, but how the following words inspired her to change her focus so that now by focusing on what is good, rather than what is bad, even though the bad things may still be there they don't dominate. I have paraphrased somewhat here and so If you would like to read all her post so that it is in her words not mine - here is the link

Her inspiration came from the most read book in the world, the Bible,

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things." Philippians 4:8

If we are honest with ourselves, I think we would agree that it is easy to focus on the negative things that happen in our lives and if we are not careful they then dominate. My philosophy of living the 'the half full glass' life is while I don't bury my head in the sand, that even on the hardest day - maybe a day of pain from my arthritis, or feeling sad when my hubby flies off to Adelaide yet again, I acknowledge that is how I am feeling, but once it is acknowledged then I put it behind and find the good in what else is to come or what else surrounds me.

So my challenge to you for this week is to take the time to find the good and to embrace and celebrate it. I hope you will accept.

Giving Thanks - A Timely Reminder

Now I'm not sure if anyone is even reading this blog of mine, but somewhere, sometime, I hope that someone comes across this and what I write gives them some hope or inspiration or even just a good laugh at my naivety.


So this morning I am sitting at my desk looking out the window at a climbing rose that I was given by a dear friend probably 10+ years ago. This beautiful rose gets very little love and yet it has grown and thrived until this past long hot summer and suddenly one day it looked very dead. It seemed to happen overnight - although obviously that is not true - but we took it for granted and loved its beauty and the shade it gave (it is big) and admired the little pink roses, masses of them every flowering - and then suddenly one day I really looked at it and it seemed dead - brown leaves and worse still in spots leafless dry brittle stems pointing jaggedly at the sky - a little like accusing bony fingers pointing at me and scolding me for its neglect. I mourned the loss and did indeed scold myself for not making sure it had water, for not caring - I know I am busy but I neglected this beautiful plant, I took the pleasure I got from it for granted and I thought it would always be there - it has been for over 10+ years so why would it not for another 10.

Today as I look out, there are new green shoots appearing on many of what I thought were dead branches, and so I give thanks for the small amount of rain we have had, to nature for the strength of this neglected beauty, to my friend for sharing this plant with us. This weekend we will prune back those branches which are no longer viable and then I will continue to enjoy and give thanks as I watch it come back to life.

I wonder if there are other things or people in our lives we take for granted, that we don't give thanks for, and then suddenly they are gone. If it is people - unlike this beautiful rose - they can not come back from the dead. Take time in each day to give thanks for those you love and take the time to tell them of your love - don't take it for granted that they know.

Belief

I believe ...

that all good things are possible

that you deserve all the good things that come into your life, they are sent to you for a reason

that everyone has the potential to see the glass as half full, you just need to give yourself permission

that everyone deserves to be cherished in some way

that every new day has the potential to be the best of your life if you let it

that even the bad things can be lessons for us to grow if we give ourselves permission to see it as so

that all the people who come into my life are sent for a reason, but that some will only stay for a short time, while others are mine to keep forever

What do you believe?

Thankfulness Quotes For Your Consideration

These quotes have touched my heart this week - may they also touch yours, or at least give you something to ponder.

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit - Albert Schweitzer.

Each day offers us the gift of being a special occasion if we can simply learn that as well as giving, it is blessed to receive with grace and a grateful heart - Sarah Ban Breathnach

But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life; and thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the greater part of life is sunshine - Thomas Jefferson

A Good New Story

One of my girlfriends has been out of work for about 8 months and has been looking hard for work. In one week alone she sent off 20+ applications. A lot of the time she hasn't even managed to get an interview and she was understandably getting disheartened and disillusioned.

She did a couple of months contract work with me, but I had no more money to keep her on contract, even though she did a fantastic job and was a joy to have working with our team.

We had discussed the fact that there was a job out there somewhere, it would come and find her, she just had to be patient.

Well - it found her yesterday - she didn't apply, she didn't even know it was on offer. It found her anyway. So if you are out there looking for work, keep positive and believe. I know it is easy for me to say, I am not in your shoes. But keep your confidence and self belief as I am sure you can be just a lucky.

Happiness - Some Quotes to Contemplate

"Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want" - Margaret Young

"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have" - Frederick Keonig

"Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued is always beyond our grasp, but, if you sit down quietly, may alight on you" - Nathaniel Hawthorne