HEART - LOST AND FOUND?

First of all, thank you to Dr John Demartini for introducing me to these powerful words, and secondly to my friend, Vanessa Matthews - OODLES OF TALENT (um V, seriously gf - howz about an update on the BLOG!!!???), for doing them justice in the ART FORM, and making them SO PURTY, i could just stare at them all day :-)...... The first time I ever heard these words spoken, it put so much of what I believe, into a single phrase, which has now become one of my little mantras. In addition to that, I have shared and passed it on to anyone and everyone I know, who I've thought would benefit from it too.

SOO....I just had to put them out there this morning. Partly for me, but also for so many of the women I've spoken to over the last few months, who've admitted to having lost themselves:-). I'm smiling simply because, to a child who heard that, they would LOGICALLY try and work that one out and come up with this .....????????????LOL!!!... Aaaahhh..the complexities of being female, and MOTHERS!!!...heck....just being FEMALE ACTUALLY LOL! But seriously, how many times do you need to have the same conversation with different people every time, to know that so many of us are in the same boat, and frankly, I think this boat (read issue) is getting seriously overcrowded!! So maybe it's time to (pardon the cliche) 'sink or swim'. Well that was my theory anyways :-)

This morning I had SO many random thoughts flooding through my head, but it's the feeling behind it that I always pay the most attention to, and the feeling I had this morning was just....WOW...some year huh. 2008 was a good year on the HOMEfront, but 2009 has been all about the HEART, and OMGOSH, so weird that it just so happens that the heart shape is being celebrated in all forms this year - they literally are EVERYWHERE - brooches, charms, cushions, wooden hearts, rusted hearts, wire hearts...you name it - we even have the I HEART MARKET now in Durban once a month (which is DEFINITELY worth a visit).....blush...I'm digressing....it's just that I looooovvvve purty things so much, I'm a bit like a child chasing butterflies when it comes to things like that....

I guess what is foremost on my mind is just the shift that's taken place for me this year. I feel just that much closer to mastering, maybe not my life, but mastering me, which is where it starts really. I've forced myself to pay attention this year, to what I want and need. Standing in our truth, and being honest with ourselves can be daunting, but also so rewarding!!! And it's amazing how when you take that leap of faith that leads to action (KEY TO MOVING FORWARD!!), life responds, and coincidences happen, and things start to fall into place. I'm so grateful for the situations and people who have enriched my life this year, but truth be told, I was willing to let them in, because I was ready to. I really feel like I've reconnected with myself and my little world again. SO instead of my head spinning, it's my world that is slowly turning - AGAIN. But I had to put myself out there, and have a goal and a plan, and I surrounded myself with people who would make sure I would be accountable to seeing things through, ahem (blush)...which i knew might just be a problem - judging from some of the *unfinished* CRAFT projects around the house.

In order to cope with life and it's responsibilities, and keep everyone around us happy, so many of us choose (yes that would be me) to close the door on ourselves, the things we love, our dreams, our passions, our heartfelt thoughts, OUR TRUTH. How then will we hear that voice and vision on the inside clearly enough, to be and know who we really are????

So if anyone has LOST THEMSELVES...giggle...reporting to security to ask them to phone your Mommy is NOT GONNA HELP this time. You need to try and find yourself, YOURSELF! Here's a few tips whch helped me:-)

- firstly, spend some time taking note of all the things that "fill your tank" and give you that warm and fuzzy feeling.....and seriously if that doesn't work...EISH... :-o....you're a lost (excuse the pun) cause - KIDDING

- spend some time exploring ways of how to fit those feel good things into your day .... EVERYDAY, for at least 2 weeks or more (hopefully for EVA:-))

**Now remember, a habit takes 21 days to form, so try and make a habit of it**

- doing these things that make you happy, have to be done (and this was the hard part for me) for no rhyme or reason at all (I repeat - FNRORAA), just for FUN - and if you don't know what FUN means, phone a friend or ask OXFORD - but seriously - EISH - it's a 3 lettter word, how hard can it be???

- if you're worried about neglecting your responsibilities (oh hello???), then compile a list of things that you would like to do and have to do, and rate them - I did mine as follows:

LOVE IT - a pink thing

LIKE IT - a blue thing

LOATHE IT - a brown thing (brown is SO NOT my colour)

I have to have to do the PINK STUFF...that's what feeds me, BUT the brown stuff is also necessary, so I sometimes trade them off, a brown thing off the list, get's me a free pass to do a pink thing - blue things are for days when you're feeling "WHAT EVA", but you get the idea.

Try it!...and remember....it's important to do the things we HEART, to hear the voices inside (your HEART - not your HEAD)!

It's a GORGEOUS day here today, so I'm off to do a pink thing - revel in the sunshine, sieze the day and spread some HEART (love) :-)

Life and lemonade

I love these guys - I was smitten - love at first sight when I saw them at "Old Navy" clothing store for kids on Thesen Island, in Knysna. Clowns may be creepy for some, but for me, they represent fun, mischief, and the wonderful quality of not taking life and oneself so seriously!

OOOOOkayyy - so our family went on an 11 day campervan trip, had the time of our lives, and according to my blog, history will show when we one day look back and read this, that we evidently and somewhat mysteriously, disappeared on day 5!! LOL! We all know this is not entirely impossible when you live in South Africa (giggle), so to my friends who have been "NOT SO SUBTLE" with their hints about a blog update, I am alive!! If the truth be told, my absence has been in part due to the fact that task completion is not one of my strong points (blush), but rather focusing on what's important and priorities, is (shew)!

So I know I've skipped the rest of the holiday, but life goes on, and it's so hard not to get caught up in the whirlwind of it all. This past week has been FRENETIC to say the least from a work perspective, but I am forever grateful for the fact that I can always steal a few moments to stop and smell the roses...even if just for a short while. September's around the corner, and since the last quarter of the year always seems like a blur to me, I found myself reflecting on where we're at, well into the 2nd half of the year - a year which I went into with much trepidation. Despite all the trials an tribulations 2009 has presented us all with, for me it is still turning into a wonderful year, which has had it's moments, particularly over the last few weeks, but those knocks are the things that help us grow, and build resistance and character. To balance that out though, our family was blessed with a MIRACLE, and for that I am so eternally grateful.

Being a country girl at heart (even though I do so love to dress up in BLING!), smelling the roses is as simple as appreciating and enjoying the fact that at the moment our home and garden are filled with the smell of jasmine, along with homemade lemonade (to die for!!), as it simmers on the stove - for some it may be a box of chocolates. We've all just come back from the vegetable garden, munching on sugar snap peas, and as Jane says, there's something truly wonderful about growing something from scratch, and then picking it and popping it straight into your mouth - fresh. We're blessed to have the comforts and convenience of city life (like PAV down the road! and 4 wheel drive instead of horse and cart!! EISH), whilst along side of that, able to savour and embrace some of the good old fashioned things that I value, and that we seldom find anywhere else, other than in the country. And as I'm thinking this, I hear Dom's friend from across the road, call his name. From our kitchen window I can see him anxiously waiting in anticipation in his driveway for Dom to join him....just like we used to in the good old days. Right here, right now, I feel so lucky to have the best of both worlds...