Kind Words

I am grateful for the kind words of others. Those comments, messages, conversations and exchanges we have that leave us better off than when we started. You know the ones. They uplift you, inspire you and encourage you.

I am grateful for those words especially on the days I need them most. Which so happens to be the days I receive them the most, or perhaps its only these days I allow them to sink deep and choose to take note.

Either way they remind me I am never alone. That someone out there not only hears me but cares.

Treasure your friends and remember it only takes one friend for you to never be alone. Just one.

Recovering Complain-aholic

We all know someone with cancer or who has had cancer. And what about the children. Those beautiful, young, strong spirited children, who show us how to smile in the face of adversity. 

Children who never complain and are put through more than any child should when young. Their childhoods stripped away and replaced with hospitals, injections and illness.

Today I wrote a card to a young boy who is fighting cancer. He will celebrate his 10^th birthday in hospital as he has many of his previous ones.

How can we not appreciate our own children, their health and ours when we see so many that aren’t as fortunate. As a past and recovering chronic complainer I can no longer complain about such idle things. Life is a gift, your health is a gift, the eyes you’re reading this with. A gift. There all gifts.

It’s hard sometimes not to get caught up in everyday problems but when I remember that others out there have real problems and real issues it always puts my own into perspective - mine are so small and pointless in comparison.

The things I can complain about sometimes are embarrassing to admit, but as I mentioned I’m in the process of giving that up. I want to embrace life not condemn it. 

Its How You Re Tell The Story That Counts

“My mum told how she had learned to swim. Someone took her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. That’s how she learned how to swim she said. I said, “Mom, they weren’t trying to teach you how to swim”.  Paula Poundstone.

I read this the other day and I loved it. I love it because it again showed me how our attitude and perception is everything.

Things will happen in life that we cannot control but one thing we can always  control - how we choose to respond and look at it. The power lies in us. People can hurt us (and unfortunately will) but we must remember that it is ‘us’ that permits ourselves to be hurt. That part is our choice. Our insides, our emotions, our feelings and our thoughts, they are ours. They are untouched if you allow them to be.

NEVER be ashamed to cry.

I love how in the moments I’m feeling sad, upset or down my children always lift me.

I had such moments today but I am proud to admit that instead of taking it out on everyone else I removed myself and found solace in the bathroom (which seems to be my going to place) and had a good cry.  

Its only something I have recently learnt to do – cry. Previously whenever I felt like crying I would try not to. I would force it away with all my might as I didn’t want to experience the pain of crying. But what I’ve learnt is that it doesn’t go away and instead returns disguised as anger!

I also dislike the sensation of not crying, the feeling it creates from holding it back to me is more painful than it is to cry. So today, I cried. On my own and it felt good.

We should all try and cry more in particular men. I feel for men who are taught and told not to cry. Told that crying is only for girls and babies. No. Let me correct this horrid belief, crying is for HUMANS, crying is an inbuilt ability that we have all been given. Crying is healthy. Crying is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength. It takes a different kind of strength to cry a strength from deep within that knows your safe do so and that everything will be better when you do.

So today I am grateful to have released the tears that needed to be shed as I know they wont return later in ways I don’t want them to and I feel better, more refreshed and peaceful for doing so.

Life is About Living.

Life is about living. You are alive to live. No other reason are you here than to live your life. Your probably thinking but I am living it! But are you?

Years ago I too thought I was living life but I was merely existing. Watching everyday go past, some days were good others bearable.

Now? Well every day is amazing. A big call, yes, and my days haven’t changed at all. But I have changed.

I still get unwell, tired and cranky, have bills to pay. My children rip each other apart on a regularly basis and I have days where I feel unloved and under-appreciated but what is different now is that I know how precious life is. I know each of these things are a blessing to experience, but on top of it all I know how lucky I am to be here. Alive in this life and to have all I have.

In any situation you are in no matter how terrible, how awful, painful or depressing I can guarantee that someone out there is doing it much worse. You are a lucky one. You have so much in your life to be grateful for and that is what I live for. That is what I love and that is how I have changed.

I no longer see life as against me but for me. I see everything in my life as a gift even the so called ‘crappy’ stuff as I have found it’s the ‘crappy’ stuff that has always helped land me into the good. To live is to appreciate it all - the good, the bad and to be grateful that you’re here in this life. Alive.  

Don't Hate Rain.

You know what I love … RAIN!!!  

Rain is so often poorly spoken about it. People curse it, wish it were sunny, and most people, well they hate it. I was one of those people. I saw rain as a major inconvenience, something that stopped me from doing what wanted to do. I saw it as uncomfortable, cold and wet. Now I see otherwise.

Now I see the perfection in it. How (where I live) it rains mostly during this time of year – spring. It rains so our flowers can bloom and our crops can flourish. It rains to fill our dams with drinking water so come summer in the blastering heat we can enjoy an abundance of fresh water. It fills our lakes and rivers and washes away winters waste.

Rain is life. Rain provides us life and without it we could not survive. Rain is a blessing and I don’t know any other way to look it.

You Have It So Good.

 

Making my 17 month old lunch I felt so incredibly grateful that I can feed my children. Always.

 It reminded me of something I heard the other day that touched me in so many ways and is bound to reach into your hearts and grab you as it did me. Especially mothers.

A friend of mine told me about a friend of his who recently traveled to Africa to help out in many of the aid programs they have there. In the first few days of her stay she saw the conditions that these people lived in daily, they were hungry, suffering from malnutrition and lived in what many of us would describe as unimaginable. However what stuck her most is what she witnessed one night.

A mother sat in her hut with her three children who were nearly all bones. The children were crying with hunger and begging their mother for food. The mother found a big pot, filled it with water and boiled it over a fire. She told the children that she has some meat and it will take a very long time to cook. Eventually the children fell to sleep crying and tired of waiting and awoke to find their mother and the empty pot. They went to their mother asking if the meat was ready and their mother simply said “I’m sorry but it cooked whilst you were asleep and have missed it, the meat is now gone”.

The lady who witnessed this said she was changed that day. I have to say I am too. My heart tore open as I felt that mothers pain and also felt that mothers love. That mother loved her children so very much that she couldn’t tell them they had no food, she didn’t want to starve them of the one thing they had, hope. How beautiful that mother was. She couldn’t feed her children food but she could still feed them hope, she couldn’t bring herself to tell her children that there was no food and she wasn’t sure if there ever would be….

Think about this the next time you complain that you’re hungry, or when your food is served cold and you wish it were more to your liking. Or how about when you go to your cupboard and say ‘there is nothing to eat’ when your cupboard is full of food it’s just food you don’t want to eat at this time. Think of that mother and her children who right at this very moment are boiling water full of hope.

Be grateful for your life. You have it so good.

Doctors Do More They Save Your Life ... They Dedicate Theirs.

Thinking about doctors I realised how grateful I was for them and particularly those that choose to be one. It’s a commitment of 10 years (and more for surgeons) to study and learn a job that in so vital in our society.

Every day surgeons perform life saving operations on thousands of people in this country and countries all around the world. Operations that take many, MANY hours and its not normally until you need one yourself that you realize their value.

So today (even though I don't need an operation) I am still grateful for all those who dedicate their lives to save others, because without them and the work they do, well, where would that leave us?

You Cannot Plan Life...

 

This morning I had planned to do many things. I had a limited time of 2 hours to do so and had jam packed as much as I could into this time slot. So off I went to do my gazillion things when I missed my turn off on the parkway. Not the end of the world but I had to take an alternative route which then led me into the world’s worst traffic jam. And there I was. Me and my 16 months old and every other person who had ended up on this road.

I was there for over 30 mins and as each minute passed I could feel myself get more and more agitated. I had things that needed doing, I didn’t have time for this and it to top it off I was completely in the opposite direction of where I wanted to go. As I felt myself getting more and more annoyed I looked to the backseat and saw my 16 month old just sitting there happily waiting patiently. He was the embodiment of patience.

It was in that moment that I realised I had choice. To let this situation get the better of me or to perhaps see that it was a lesson for me to practice patience, mindfulness and to somehow see the good in it all. So I looked for the good.

Out the window I saw the most amazing view of mountains on this road that I had never noticed before, I realised that being in this traffic jam had given me more time to listen to the mp3 recording I had playing in the car. But what most got me through was when I remembered what I truly believe and that is that everything happens for a divine reason. I knew there was a reason my plans had been shifted and I had to trust in that reason.

Today again taught me a very true lesson in life and one that I seem to be continually given and that is …. you cannot plan life so don’t even try! I so often try to ‘plan’ my days and by doing so I limit so many other opportunities. I tend to always want things ‘my way’ and freak out when they don’t go that way. So today I’m grateful for the 1 hour I spent just sitting and learning this lesson again.

Flannelette Sheets Are The Best!

 You know what simple pleasure I love...? Getting into a bed with flannelette sheets.

Last night hoping into bed on a colds winters night and feeling the warmth and comfort of those raggy old thick flannelette sheets I felt grateful. It had me thinking how blessed I was to have such a luxury as a bed. There are currently over 100 million people who sleep every night without one.

If you have a bed to rest your head at night be thankful ... your one of the lucky ones!

Contrast In Life

 

This morning out walking on this very cold winters morning I felt grateful that it was so cold. I was grateful that we get to experience seasons.

If it were always warm with perfect clear sun shining days, how boring would that be! It would be nice at first but after a year of it I do believe you would begin to crave a change, the cold.

Contrast in life is what makes us appreciate what we have. No way could I appreciate the sun and its warmth if I did not experience the cold. Just like there is no way I could know pleasure if I didn't occasionally experience pain.

I am slowly learning to embrace it all. To be grateful for all life has to offer me as I know there is always its opposite