GRATITUDE + CONSCIOUS LIVING Page 16 of 17

Is it just me or is the year rushing past?

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washroom

I need to breathe. 

To take a moment to stop, and just be.

To listen and reflect a bit before leaping ahead.

There are some huge things happening in my life in the next few weeks, not least the culmination of a project I have been working on for over a year, the launch of my new creative business venture (more very shortly I promise!) and Christmas in our new home.

It is all incredibly exciting, but also stressful.  Scary even (except for the Christmas bit!)

I have a to-do list a mile long.

I cannot see the floor in my studio for the mess.

And I really don’t want December to come and go without taking time to reflect on the incredible year that will soon be coming to a close. 

So I’m going to stop, just for a while. 

To breathe a little. 

And maybe even drop my to-do list in the bin and see what happens…  I dare me…

***

How about you? Has the year flown past for you too? How will you make sure you find time to look back over the past year before December has come and gone?

On friendship

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ginger friends
 

This week I was visited by a wonderful old friend.

She is exactly 12 years older than me which, 

being one full cycle of the Chinese horoscope,

is apparently very lucky

When I first moved to Tokyo,

a young stranger blinking in the bright lights of the big city,

she gave me a place to sleep, 

a fellow English girl in Japan

(Let’s not talk about the fact I had only known her a week,

and ended up staying in her spare room for four months.

I was nicknamed ‘the little squatter’..)

When I wanted to change jobs,

she gave me awesome career advice

over a bagel on a park bench

(and then introduced me to my next boss)

When I left the city for a round-the-world voyage

she let me leave all my junk at her place,

and lent me her beloved suitcase

When I returned from my adventures,

tanned and exhilarated but with nowhere to stay,

she opened a bottle of champagne,

threw me a party at the cutest little restaurant in town

and gave me her key (again!)

When she had her first baby girl,

she made me her godmother.

What a gift.

She has an amazing talent for making small things feel big and special

and is so generous with her energy and kindness.

I wish everyone had a friend like her.

Yesterday she came to visit.

We caught up, told stories and laughed until late.

My turn to pour the drinks and give her the spare bed.

I am not sure if she realises just how treasured she is.

Where would we be without friends?

Have you thought about yours lately, about why they are so special to you?

Say it with a card…

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Having recently been overwhelmed by kindness I have many thank yous to say right now. There are many ways to say thank you, but I like the hand made way…

Here are some of the cards I have been making in my new studio this week, using gorgeous ribbons from East of India, Tim Holtz’s Distress Inks and hand made paper from Southern India, recycled from cotton rag.

postcard detail
postcards
Say it with a card... ty+card+25%25Say it with a card... ty+detail+25%25

How do you like to say thank you?

***

Overwhelmed by kindness

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Housewarming gifts and cards have been pouring in before we have even had the chance to send out our new address to most of our friends. We have been overwhelmed by the kindness.

Here are a few of the things which have made my heart leap in the past couple of weeks, and which are indeed warming our new place:

  • A bay tree by the back door (I have dreamed of this ever since doing postgraduate study in the beautiful Roman city of Bath several years ago, where all the houses are honey coloured stone and many have bay trees outside).
kindness_baytree

 

  • A gorgeous original painting all the way from Spain, created especially for my new studio by the lovely Judit of Pilgrim of the Moon – so kind!  Thank you Judit – how did you know the colours would be perfect?
kindness_pilgrim
  • Flowers, flowers, flowers – these are now all over our house!
kindness_flowers
  • A hand-stitched picture of the Chinese character for love
kindness_love

We were also showered with welcomes (and vital rubbish-disposal information!) from our new neighbours, a new bird feeder for the garden and cards and messages galore…  I feel full of love for the world today!

Thank you everyone!

***

Photos of the house to follow shortly I promise…

***

Exploring

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When you move somewhere new, you start each journey from a different place.  We only moved 10 minutes from where we lived before, but I have started to see things I never noticed before.  Like this gorgeous stretch of river.

river
What have you discovered near your home recently?

***

This month I am joining in Susannah Conway’s August Break, sharing daily photos of my life this August. Why not check out who else is joining in, or have a go yourself?

Paradoxes

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Paradoxes shells
 

I love to travel yet I love to nest (especially right now!)

I love to be surrounded by people yet I love to be alone

I love extremes and excitement, yet I love calm

I love to dive in, yet I love to sit back and watch

I love crooked old houses, yet I love zen minimalism

I love adventure, yet I love the comfort of what I know

I think we need to appreciate our own paradoxes to be true to all parts of our selves

What about you?

***


This month I am joining in Susannah Conway’s August Break, sharing daily photos of my life this August. Why not check out who else is joining in, or have a go yourself?

Pottering about

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Thinking about our new garden today, and realising how little I know about how to care for it. My gardening history to date has revolved around pots of basil and the odd tomato plant on many an apartment windowsill. Our house was empty for a few months before we moved in as the previous owners had emigrated to Australia. As a result the garden has gone a bit wild.  It has lots of tropical plants in it and I kind of like it that way, all a bit crazy, but it seems a shame not to be able to even see the sunken table, never mind eat dinner at it! Time to get green fingers…

feet and pot
Photo from recent island travels in Greece – photos of our new garden coming soon!

Unpacking

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vase colour cross15%

How come the things which make us happiest often stress us most along the way?  

I am exhausted from the move,

from all the unpacking,

from the decorating, 

from trying to make it all perfect

from day one.   

But today,

we just stopped,

dropped the boxes,

and shut the door. 

We left the paintings unhung,

the books unshelved,

the shoes un-put-away. 

And flopped.  

Given the small inconvenience of not having a sofa until September,

that actually meant we flopped onto the floor.  

Still, the icecream tasted just as good sat leaning against the wall.

And as we sat laughing,

surveying our new home,

the aches started to fade, the excitement returned

and we remembered what it was all about.

I think we’re going to like it here

***

This month I am going to aim for more photos, less words, so keep a look out for a peek into my August (including some shots of our new house, once we have unpacked a little more!)

Are you living your best life?

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Friends are so precious, and losing one is so painful. An old university friend of mine was killed in a hit and run accident on holiday last week.  I wanted to take a moment and use this space to honour his memory. Part of me feels this is too personal to share, part of me thinks it is too important not to. I hope you don’t mind.

Matt was one of life’s good people. I hate it that I have written that in the past tense. He should have had much much more time.

He was a big strong rugby player with a heart to match. I have been reminiscing about a big adventure we shared several years ago when I joined him and two other guys on a crazy road trip around New Zealand. We were three strapping lads and a wandering girl with a rucksack bigger than herself packed into a tiny car. We got stuck (in a ford), got drunk (on cheap beer), got lost (in the mountains), and I even got a shoulder ride into town. Those boys gave me the courage to do my first terrifying bungee jump, and wisely advised me not to look down as we sped around narrow mountain paths. We traversed a glacier, ate mooncake at a stranger’s party and hung out on a kiwi farm. But more than anything, we laughed. A lot.

Along with the gripping shock and hollow sadness of losing a friend to a freak accident comes a deep questioning and reflection on our own lives.

  • Do we tell those we love that we love them enough (and do we love them enough?)
  • Do we really spend our precious moments doing what we love, making ourselves happier and bringing more happiness to others as a result?
  • Do we pick up the phone, write that letter, get on that plane, live that adventure, follow that dream?
  • As Oprah would say, are we living our best lives?

I’ve been here before (in my very first post on this blog), but I am back again.

It shouldn’t take a tragedy for us to do just that, but often, sadly, it does. There is nothing anyone can do or say to make loss any easier to handle or understand. There is no fairness, and no reason. Three are many questions, but no answers.

To honour and celebrate the big life of my friend, I want to revisit that question and commit to making a few small changes (and maybe a couple of big ones) that will allow me to completely and absolutely say YES, I am living my best life, every day, every hour, every minute.

Won’t you join me?

Are you living your best life? feet

Goodbye MD, you will be missed so very much