My Fantastic Parents and That Kind Of Stuff

Well I finally decided to write. I didn't even go near my computer for four days except for specific work related issues and then turned it of immediately once I had finished what I had to do. You see I had my parents visit me and that was just so much better than being online. I missed you all, I really did, but my Mum and Dad visiting for a long weekend was just a wonderful break. I absolutely cherish the fact that I genuinely enjoy their company. We talked, we relaxed and read quietly, we discussed differnt issues in the world, we played scrabble on mor than one occcassion, we visited family and wandered around the shops. By anyone elses standards it would have been downright boring but I have to tell you that that is not the case to me. I have no idea how I will cope one day without them. They are like a soothing balm to my soul and I am so thankful that we have this relationship and I know that they are thankful as well. So many of my friends do not even have a parent alive or they do not speak to them or visit with them or have any sort of relationship with one of their parents or both in some cases. I cannot imagine me missing out on them in my life and I want to soak up as much of them as I can, while I can. Anyway just wanted to say where I have been the past few days.

If you get bored with reading at least skip to the bottom now and read the poem I have added for you today........ this is a long post................

Then I got back online and read up on the blogs I am following and it was like a HUGE AHA and WOW moment that lasted hours last night. I had to go away and really think about all of the things I had read. So much flow happening at the moment and so much for me to take notice of.

I will share just some of the things that have stopped me in my tracks and shown me that I am on the right path and that all these things happening in my life are all tying in together. I have no idea where exactly it is all heading but I have been shown clearly enough on what to focus on.

A few posts ago I wrote about the saying Mick and I use of "Just Keep Swimming" from the movie Finding Nemo. Well this is a bit hard to explain but I went online and went into Katherines blog "Lessons from the monk I married" and started to catch up on the past four days or so of posts I hadn't read. One after another they touched me and absolutely floored me with how completely in touch they are with what I am being shown at the moment and I then went to post a comment to Katherine and when the word came up for me to type in to post it was actually "DORIE". Now I know you might laugh at me but it was a huge wow moment because Dorie is the one who says "just keep swimming".

Then I read Consumption Rebellion and had another moving moment. Again a little story needs to be told to explain. On the weekend we all were sitting around and reading our horoscope in the Sunday paper. It was a bit of a laugh and joke but when I read mine I felt a bit uptight about what it said and was a bit touchy. It basically said that I needed to be generous for the universe to be able to give back to me. Now I sat there and thought about it and said how I am generous and how more generous can I be. Blah, Blah, Blah. You get the picture. Poor Me Pity Party going on there for a while. Then I put it out of my mind until I read this post on GENEROSITY. Well that explained it to a T. I now get what I am being told and I will now dwell on this and go further with it. I had to immediately go up the road after reading this and get a lady up the road who is a JP to sign some paperwork for us. She is a fulltime volunteer and so is her husband. They give so much to this little community and they are genuiunely such nice people. She again asked me to come up and join them. This is a whole other post to write but before I moved to this area and started working from home I had promised myself that I would start giving some of my time to help the elderly who are stuck at home and have no way to go shopping or have no one to visit them. I have done nothing about this since moving here and procrastinated continually with one excuse or another. Time to do some serious actions and stop the thinking and planning. Just DIVE.

One of the posts recently read was on being patient and learning to wait. What a timely reminder on so many levels in my life but especially with my daughter being due for her first baby and the little one is due now so could come at any time within the next two weeks. A real test in patience for me as I have to help her be patient - so leading by example is the only way.

Oh I could go on and on but I won't. Just know that I thankyou. All of You. The sharing you all give is absolutely priceless and you will never know all the ripple effects you all have on the peoples lives that read your words.

Today is DAY 31 of not smoking. I am just about to go into my second month of non smoking tomorrow. I am doing fine. I have no desire to have a smoke. I don't want one but believe me this mind is a tricky thing and keeps trying to tell me that a smoke will make me feel calmer. A smoke will make me feel better. I DON'T THINK SO. All I can do is turn this mind game thing into exactly that - a game. I actually laughed at myself the other day. I am glad I was on my own. I was talking to myself and laughed at myself and then got offended at myself. How silly.

If you liked a post I wrote a few days ago about online friends then you might want to take a look at a post on the blog "Healing Morning". I have added her to my watched blogs and her recent post about friends online is a very interesting read.

Anyway I think I will leave you with a poem that I like from Gary Ord's Australian Friendship Book.

THAT KIND OF STUFF

If you would be a man, sir,

And not a jelly fish,

You'll have to cease your longing,

To pamper every wish.

It may be fun just longing,

But longing's not enough,

You'll need a bit of courage -

It takes that kind of stuff.

When dreams you have been weaving

Come crumbling down to earth,

It's nature's way of proving

A man - and what he's worth;

Perhaps you know the reason,

But that is not enough,

The answer lies in courage -

It takes that kind os stuff.

And though your heart is breaking,

And like a lump of lead,

Just test the metal in you,

By forging right ahead;

If you would be a man, sir,

Then longing's not enough,

You'll need a bit of courage -

It takes that kind of stuff.

By Hope Spencer

Todays AHA experience!

My gorgeous and adorable Grandson Mason

I had no idea what I was going to write tonight as I have had quite a few things going through my head. I am really enjoying this blogging thing. I just thought I would share that with you all. I know it has probably been written before but I will say it again in my words.

I AM NORMAL - I AM NOT ALONE - I AM INTERESTING - MY IDEAS COUNT - WHAT I THINK IS JUST NOT ME - WOW AND DOUBLE WOW - THERE ARE MANY OTHERS WHO THINK LIKE ME AND THERE IS A WHOLE WORLD OUT THERE OF LIKE MINDED PEOPLE - THERE IS A WHOLE WORLD OUT THERE OF INTERESTING PEOPLE TO LISTEN AND LEARN FROM AND SHARE MY VIEWS WITH.


I WISH WITH ALL OF MY HEART THAT MORE PEOPLE TALKED AND CHATTED AND SHARED LIKE THIS IN THE REAL WORLD AND NOT JUST ONLINE.

So as part of this Aha experience I have been revelling in over the past few months, I would like to set myself a challenge. I will challenge myself to blog with people in real life - real talking to others I meet and relate with on a daily basis as I do on my blog. I have a tendancy to clam up and not speak what I feel and believe. I don't need to get all dogmatic or anything like that but I would like for me to be a little more open and transparent so that others can get to know the real me and then in turn they will gradually let me see the real them. I tend to only do this with a few very close friends and even then I hold back. I bet as I speak and am honest and transparent I will discover that just like in this blog world there are many others out there in the real world I live in that have things in common with me and that they have intereseting stories to tell and lesssons to teach me. I hope this doesn't sound like you are not all real to me because you are real people with wonderful lessons and stories to share. This is more about me being real and believing in myself that I am not boring and that I do have something to share with others. This is about filling in the gaps for people and not expecting them to read my mind or double guess my actions or my beliefs. When writing on my blog I can reread what I have written and I can play around a bit to get the message across that I am trying to say. Usually I just write and it doesn't get changed much but the changes I make and the additions I make can help clarify a point I am making. I clam up in real life and not explain things very well and I think it is because I worry that people will not be interested in what I have to say and that if they disagree with me then I might not be able to explain my point of view very well. Anyway I intend to try this out and I will let you know how I go.

Taking those first steps - just think of how determined we are as children and we hadn't learnt the words Can't or Failure or Give Up. It is a miracle watching him grow.


I was just reading my favorite blogs and would like for everyone to take a look at the site called Healing Morning and a blog done recently entitled Care Packages. This is such a beautiful read and if you haven't read it yet I would say go there and take a look. It was so timely what Dawn wrote. I was in the middle of printing out a poem for my eldest son and I had found an article in a magazine that I thought he would find inspirational. I do this fairly often and I also sometimes just print of a picture and a little note for friends as well. So I suppose this is a care package.


It got me to thinking about the Ripple Effect of these care packages. I can imagine my son feeling chuffed as soon as he got mail. My son has few friends that he can spend time with (due to making some drastic life changing decisions on the direction of his life) and has only just started in a job. He can get quite lonely as we live 4 hours from him. We talk on the phone constantly and I admit that sometimes I get tired of listening and being leaned on. I am only human and the feeling passes quite quickly and I just keep on encouraging and telling him how proud I am of his improvements. Anyway a letter in the letterbox is thrilling to anyone I feel at the best of times. So the ripple effect starts there. He feels good about receivng mail and that his Mum is thinking of him. He gets even more inspiration from what is sent for him to read. He is probably heading of to his new job and he will definately impact on others he works with today as well as the customers he comes into contact with. Just think of all the good you do when you do something to make someone feel good about themselves. I am in awe of this concept and am going to go and have a lovely long hot shower and dwell on these thoughts.


Just as a recap on my day - it has been 24 days since not smoking - I am doing fine today and rewarded myself today with some splurge money and bought some much needed knickers and some slippers for my daughter and a lovely coffee at a coffee shop with her.


I have done pretty good with my eating plan and last but not least I did some excercise in my garden today and got the sweat going.


So my day today has been WORTHWHILE. I haven't wasted my day - I have eaten well and tried to look after myself by not smoking and doing some excercise - I spent quality time with my daughter - I told my husband about 10 times how much I love him - I sent a care package to my son - and just generally put out good vibes to any that came near me today.

Peace to you all,

Wendy