17 : Thich Nhat Hanh - Something Borrowed

The Reward of a Smile...

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,

but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy...
Thich Nhat Hanh

The Vietnamese Zen Buddhist Monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, embodies the practice of mindfulness; learning to live happily in the present moment rather than being lost in the past or worrying about the future.  He teaches that the only way to develop true peace in oneself and the world is to dwell only in the present moment.
http://www.thichnhathanhcalligraphy.org/newyork/

If children can do this so can we ...

17 : The Path Less Traveled - Something New ...

Today Is The Most Amazing Day!

I'm not sure if it's because I'm sleep deprived, post a 14 hour night shift, or if life is finally beginning to make sense!  All I know is that today is the most amazing day, because today is here and now!  Despite the fact that every muscle and even many of my bones ache every step I take, I feel more alive now than ever before!  

That Zen proverb tattooed on my arm has become a reality; 'The obstacle is the path' .  Face life's obstacles head on and you are rewarded with an amazing new appreciation of life's many gifts.  I'm trying to live for the moment and be in the present as much as I can.  I am beginning to gain a new appreciation of every day life and, along with that, I am shedding much of the stress that has plagued me for many years.  It is as simple as that!

It may very well be delusional or something quite magical, but whatever it is I want more.  During my morning walk today the colours of nature surrounding me became incredibly luminous.  The trees appeared to take on a life of their own and dance purposefully in the breeze, propelling me forward effortlessly.  The musical warbles of mysterious new colourful parrots followed me along the length of my walk, adding to the magical experience.

I'm still learning, slowly but surely, to enjoy the freedom from mundane stresses and savour the pure joy of living in the moment.  My body seriously needs to catch up and get used to the fact that yes it will be walking much more regularly and, despite the aches and pains and self sabotage attempts, it will just have to get used to it.  That's right 42 year old body, you're coming with me wherever I go no matter how much you protest.  I've hit the ground running and I have never felt so light and free.

17 : Time For ME : Something Old!

Free TIME!

It's something old because it was something I used to have : time!  Now, I finally have it back, very limited but it IS back.  The last time I can really remember having true time to myself, that didn't include after all the kids were in bed, was when my fourth child went to kindy.  Although it was about that same time I also decided I would attend university full time, so that was the end of that! 

Here I am, 13 years and 2 more children later, back with free time!  The only other time in my life I had true free time was when I was a child myself. It's hard to really know exactly what to do in those precious hours; with so many choices I really have to pace myself.  The alleged 3 hours of kindy quickly turns into barely 2 hours, once you count dropping off and picking up and staying until he is comfortable.  Still, two whole hours ALL to myself up to 5 days a week is a real treat - not counting work days!  After three weeks of this new luxury I have pretty well got it sorted and am beginning to follow a bit of a pattern.  I do have to get over the fact that I am generally pretty tired after having to get up much earlier than my body would like and take the children to school in order to gain my free time! It's even tougher when work gets in the way and I struggle to stay awake and remain motivated following a 14 hour long night shift.

However, I am really enjoying the time to go for long walks by myself, when it's not flooding or 46 degrees that is! I even got a new app on my iPhone which records my walk, turns out it is 4.7 km long. I enjoy walking up and down all the steep hills where I live and over all of the different surfaces, road and reserve.  If I feel particularly good I spend a portion of it breaking into a run.  After feeding fish and getting myself a coffee and some breakfast it leaves me with approximately one more hour all to myself.  Lately I have had to battle between spending it reading or writing.  Reading tends to win as one hour isn't quite enough for me to get into writing mode. 

I save the household chores and fish upkeep to the afternoon, once Master Four is back and the world is a little more normal.  Turns out that my long break between university courses is over, I have decided to do some more external study.  This time doing something I am interested in other than Paramedic studies, no pressure, just to see how it goes.  I have enrolled in a couple of University Psychology subjects via distance education, this should lead me toward completing a Graduate Diploma in Psychology.  Very exciting...

16 : Blue Eyes - Something Blue

I wonder what goes on behind those 4 Year old blue eyes...

As Master Four enters his third week at Kindy, things are settling down in his little world.  A lot of the other children that had been screaming and crying when their parent left are starting to settle, although not all are prepared to give up their attachment quite so easily.  Our little fella has been cautious but tackled his situation very bravely.  After learning to deal with the awful news that this was to be a daily chore for him, he has adjusted well to the new routine. 

The fact that he is actually four and a half years old certainly helps as he is clearly a little more mature than some of the other children.  Although he is a social creature he has a very innocent nature and he is yet to learn how unpredictable other children his age can be.  After daily complaints of being tickled, pushed, yelled at and sometimes even spat at by some of the other children, our little guy is learning how to cope with the world away from the safety of his family.  It is such an important step to learn to become independent from your family and to enjoy the learning opportunity of socialising with others and the beginnings of education through play.  It is lovely to witness the very beginnings of some cautious friendships.

I am very proud of our youngest child and have mixed feelings of missing him at home and enjoying the tiny bit of daily freedom Kindy brings.  Spending less and less time each day before feeling comfortable to leave my youngest child with strangers is a nice feeling, seeing him waving at me smiling and feeling confident is fantastic.  That same happy smiling face greets me when its time to pick him up and I know that everything is good in his world ...

16 : 'I Can See Clearly Now' - Something Borrowed!

Inspirational New Book

 

I am enjoying yet another inspirational book, a memoir by Dr Wayne Dyer, I Can See Clearly Now.  This is actually the first book by this author I have read, I was inspired by Dr Dyer last year after listening to him speak at a writing workshop by Hay House (http://ajmaaa.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/4-something-borrowed-dr-wayne-dyer.html). 

 

After reading Dr Dyer's latest book I am now inspired to read some of his earlier work, I'm going about it all a little backwards, however, I have found I will only decide to pick up a new book if I have a particular need for it at the time.  The memoir is written in an interesting literary style, beginning each chapter with a life altering memorable event in Dr Dyer's life; the second part of each chapter depicts Dr Dyer's current perspective of those significant events from a clearer view.  It is an extremely interesting way to read a book allowing the reader and author to be able to see 'clearly' why he needed to experience all the influential events of his life. 

Personally I have always been a big believer in the fact that all things happen for a reason, however, it can certainly take quite some time before we may realise why a particular event has occurred in our life, especially if it is a particularly harsh lesson.  Sometimes things happen to us not just to teach us a lesson in the act itself, but to see how we will actually react to that event.  After all we can only control our own reaction not that of others, a quote from Dr Dyer I like is 'How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours'.

How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/waynedyer382838.html#m8h83fEsw4eHDRtc.99

How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/waynedyer382838.html#m8h83fEsw4eHDRtc.99

 

Up next on my reading list will be Dr Dyer's first published book Your Erroneous Zones, I am really looking forward to reading this book now that I can understand all the events that took place in Dr Dyer's life that led him to write it.  I would also really like to read more about some of the people that influenced his way of thinking, such as Abraham Maslow; an American Psychologist that stressed the importance of focusing on the positive qualities in people, as opposed to treating them simply as symptoms.  Maslow studied what he considered healthy self-actualizing people rather than the traditional methods of studying the mentally ill.  His studies found that self-actualizing people are those that focus on problems outside of themselves; they know what is true and false and have a better insight of reality; they deeply accept themselves, others and the world; they are spontaneous and creative and not bound by social conventions.  Maslow considered important historical figures such as Albert Einstein and the American author, poet and philosopher Henry David Thoreau as two examples of self-actualized individuals.   

 

Another strong influence in the teachings of Dr Dyer is that of the American Psychologist Albert Ellis, who famously developed a new psychotherapy and behavior change system he named Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy.  The idea of this approach to psychotherapy was to focus on changing the client's self-defeating beliefs and behaviours; once the client was helped to understand these beliefs through rational analysis and cognitive reconstruction they went on to develop a more rational belief system.

 

If only there were more hours in the day to be able to read all the interesting books out there ...

16 : Facebook Status - Something New

Are you up to date with every second of my life yet???

 

Facebook is a social networking website that was originally designed for

college students, but is now open to anyone 13 years of age or older. 

 Facebook users can create and customize their own profiles with photos, videos,

and information about themselves.  Friends can browse the profiles of other

friends and write messages on their pages.

 http://www.techterms.com/definition/facebook

 

Facebook was originally developed by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 initially only for students of Harvard.  Once its popularity grew its member base included other ivy league schools in USA, then high schools and eventually opened up to the public in 2006.  These days most people have a 'profile' and spend much of their day on the social networking site, myself included.

 

It is astounding how quickly social networking, particularly facebook, has taken over so much time in our lives.  Through the use of smart phones we have access, at all times of the day and night, to our friends and family and can follow what they are up to second by second.  

 

But how much is too much?  Do we really need to have photographic evidence of what we are eating for dinner every night?  Do we really need to know which friends are going to the gym and which are going out to the cinema?  It seems there are some that would like the world to know every waking moment of their lives, they seek approval for every mundane event they are up to.  There seem to be no boundaries as to what is appropriate for the facebook world to know and what is not.  Before we sober up and regret a posting it is 'out there' for all of our 'friends' to access, copy and share before we can possibly hope to remove it. 

 

Future employers can quickly search the facebook profile of a propsective employee's name and see what they can find before they make their final decision.  Although there are many privacy settings available to users, these are not always utilised wisely or checked that they are still in place after facebook constantly update their privacy and user settings.

 

I don't believe that social media is necessarily a bad thing, after all it is here to stay in all of its many forms such as twitter, pinterest and instagram which are also trying to gain the popular following that facebook has found.  I actually think facebook is a really good thing, after all before this technology was available how else could we possibly converse with ALL of our friends and family from everywhere on earth at the same time?  We can now update our 'friends' with pictures of our growing children and important events that are going on in our lives.  The question is 'How much is too much?'  The answer to this seems to differ depending on your values in life and often your age.  Whilst there are many parents that adore being able to share newborn pictures with people they care about but are unlikely to get a chance to visit, others are sick of those pictures and just want to show their latest outfit to their next party.  It all depends on what is going on in your phase of life.

 

The great thing about facebook is that if you don't like it, don't use it!  Also if you don't like what people post on your page, or on theirs, then you can 'unfriend' them even better 'block' them and they are out of your life for good (at least in social networking)!  Where else in the world do we get this much control?  In addition, watching what people post can tell you a lot about that person, before we didn't get an 'inside view' into others lives, now we do.  Arguably it is a view that tells us often more than we wanted to know about a person, however, it can also allow us to reach out and help someone in their time of need that we may not have known about any other way.

 

Facebook is a learning experience which is ongoing and, despite threats of this popular forum phasing out, I personally think that it will be here for some time to come.  Facebook is becoming more and more popular, particularly in my generation and older, where more and more friends and relatives learn to access this 'new' experience with joy and become just as addicted as the rest of us.  After all, we all have a tendency toward voyeurism whether we are prepared to admit it or not, otherwise we would not have a facebook account!

 

Personally I really enjoy facebook, however, I am concerned how often I seem to 'check in' and see what is going on but really scroll endlessly through a boring lot of drivel that doesn't interest me in any way.  I like posting family activities, interesting and inspiring quotes and 'big' events in my family or my life.  That may very well bore the hell out of some people, but it will also be interesting to others; particularly those that are interested in the same kind of things I am.  That is the beauty of facebook, if you aren't interested you can just scroll past it.  I have to say that pictures of meals and the 'check in' updates bore the hell out of me, but I guess for some it's a good way of keeping tabs on what their mates are up to without having to ask.  For me, I really appreciate the positive and inspiring quotes and some of the amazing pictures from around the world.  I believe instead of isolating humanity, it is actually bringing us all closer and more intimate than ever before.

 

Before I was bored enough to become a member of facebook, whilst on maternity leave during 2009, I have to say I did not appreciate all the positives that could come from social networking.  Being able to update my own status with pictures and comments when travelling around the world has made life much easier to update 'everyone' at the same time.  Having the capacity to follow my niece's life via photo's from a different country is amazing.  Being able to share in the lives of family overseas is all encompassing and a blessing.  Catching up with how my high school and even some primary school friends are going has been rewarding; scrolling through photo's of how they are living their lives and viewing pictures of their children is something I would not have been able to do prior to social networking.  I appreciate the technology, if used appropriately it can be an amazing tool to enhance our lives. 

 

How exactly we decide what 'appropriately' means, is up to us...

16 : Time Honoured Tradition of Heading off to Education - Something Old...

Beginning the Long Journey of Learning

 

 

 

It is the first day of the school year here and a first for our family.  My youngest child, Master Four, headed off today for his very first session at Kindergarten.  At four and a half he should be more than ready to embark on his educational journey, however, nerves were definitely evident.  It is something that we all have to go through and such a big change in the life of a child.  For many children this first day isn't their first away from home and parents, for our little boy it was.  He has been very fortunate not to have to attend any Child Care Centres during his pre-school years; today was the first day of his journey to learn to be apart from everything familiar and people he feels comfortable with.  A day to march out into the world, alone.

 

Amongst the screams and tears of some of the other children, my brave little guy explored his new surroundings with the safety of Mum staying with him for nearly an hour.  When it was time for me to leave he held back the tears welling in his eyes and bravely nodded, agreeing to hold his teacher's hand and take his snack outside for a picnic.  Barely a few hours later I was back to collect him and save him from his new world.  Relieved to see a familiar face he reported that he wasn't coming back to kindy anymore, he hadn't liked being left.  He busily packed his new bag, carried it on his back and held tightly to my hand announcing that he was glad to go home because he thought kindy was forever.

 

Despite the nerves and having another child knock down his blocks, I'm sure Master Four will settle in soon enough to his new routine.  Just one step on his long journey of education and life...