Ideas come to us as we walk.
We also invite their quieter friend, insight.
Walking often moves us past the “what” of our life and
into the more elusive “why.”
~ Julia Cameron
Quote ~ Julia Cameron
I Love Spring!
Dearest Friends
I love Spring… I love the warm air after the cold bite of Winter… I love that special warm promise of the returning Summer. I love how the sky loses that gunmetal gray for the deepening azure blue… so startling in colour… it takes my breath away, no matter how many times I gaze in wonder.
I love how Winter struggles to hold on, and how Spring shows her youthful enthusiasm, in the wild clash of wills in the unpredicted storms.
I love going to sleep seeing the bare branches of the trees outside my bedroom windows… and waking up the next morning to see tiny specks of green, so apparently insignificant… that I just have to take a closer look to ensure that my eyes aren’t deceiving me… only to discover each sprinkle of green is a burst of life… so vibrant and fresh it makes me giggle and inspires my joy.
I love waking up before the crack of dawn… to watch as the day gently births in a vibrance of colour… so gorgeous I wish I could paint like the artists of old, grateful I can’t because I would struggle to do anything other than watch the kaleidoscopes of splendid colour…
I love waking to the song of the birds… taking delight in their return from their Winter sojourn. I love finding brightly coloured caterpillars and funny creeping things… even though they eat my plants and veggies, a dichotomy of Nature… a reminder that I too may survive having three teenagers during the middle of my life… as Spring always welcomes Summer, and sooner or later Autumn heralds Winter…
Life continues… and begins anew, in all it’s complexity and diversity… enduring to the end… hopefully preserving well all those things that are essential… significant… most important!
Life… Love… Family… Friends… Gratitude… Laughter!
Spring… the essence of life… continued anew!
I love Spring… for the delight and joy it brings, for the happiness and love it inspires… for the reminder to be thankful and gracious for everything!
I love Spring… for the laughter it bubbles from within me!
Happy Spring Day – 1st September 2010
Love and Laughter
Mands
Celebrate in this moment!
If you would like to join Woman of Worth, to receive our newsletter and updates, please email mands@womanofworth.co.za with the subject line join… and please share with friends you know, thanks!
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I wrote this on the 23rd March 2010, for my friends in the Northern Hemisphere… I was probably just a little envious of their enjoyment of their Spring, even though I was celebrating the most gorgeous Autumn with the most incredible warm days… *Grin*
Spring…
Time to take a deep breath of fresh clean air…
Clean and clear out the clutter… reduce, reuse, recycle, donate…
Time to let go of those things that no longer serve us.
Spring…
Time to Accept all of my life experiences unconditionally…
every moment…
Time to Accept myself, who I am, what I do, what I have experienced, unconditionally…
Time to be grateful for every experience, every breath, every second!
Spring…
A time to embrace all that ignites the light of creativity, joy and love.
A time to embrace that which nourishes, inspires and enlivens us!
Spring…
A time of miracles… rebirth and renewal.
A time of thanks and happiness.
A time to *Smile* and just *Enjoy*.
A time to share love and laughter,
A time to celebrate life with our family and friends!
Wishing You and Yours
A very Happy Spring!
Love always
Mands
Copyright © Mandy Swinburne
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Spring
If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things in nature have a message you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive.
~ Eleanora Duse
Keep Smiling
ANGER is a condition
in which the tongue works faster than the mind.
SMILE is an action
which makes everything work faster except the tongue.
Keep Smiling…
Giving Thanks
We take for granted the things
that we should be giving thanks for.
The only thing that can be
divided without being diminished.
~ Author Unknown
11th Gift To Give!
Written, Saturday, 21st August 2010
11th Gift to Give – “Enter Into Another’s Sorrow.”
Dearest Friends
How could I ever have known, that when I started with the “20 Gifts To Give” … with the intent of writing and sharing with you my experiences, I would have such a profound experience when it came time to share my 11th Gift to Give – “Enter Into Another’s Sorrow.”
I do not have words to express the deep empathy I feel for my friend… as she is living my greatest fear… and worst nightmare. I have no eloquent way to express my feelings, other than to just write what I have experienced.
Always before when I have received an SMS from my friend Natalie, my heart lifts and I smile to see her name on my cell message list… this time as I read her message, my heart sank even as I offered the prayer she had requested.
The SMS explained that her husband had been in a chemical fire and his body was 90% covered by third degree burns, and please could we pray for his recovery. As I prayed, I questioned how he could have survived, and pondered the pain he must be enduring in that moment, never mind the agony he still had to face during his recovery.
I rushed to reply that we would indeed pray for all of them, and then as I looked into my husband’s eyes… I burst into tears and sobbed my heart out.
When I felt a little calmer… I tried to call Natalie… I SMSed, I emailed, and quelled that insatiable need to know what had happened… and all the details, and to let her know I was available if and when she needed me. Since we live a few hundred kilometres apart and I knew her family and close friends would be available… I expelled a breath and determined to wait… and when she did let us know the following day that her husband had died… my heart broke for her, and my tears flowed for what I knew I could never imagine she would have to face in the coming days and weeks… months, and even years.
My husband and I have been married for more than 22 years… he is my dearest love, my best friend and the father of our children, I can’t comprehend life without him. Even at times when I consider just for a moment if something were to happen… my imaginings alone, cause me pain enough to turn from those very thoughts into gratitude for all I have.
Even with the faith that I have to know I am a daughter of a Heavenly Father, who loves me beyond my understanding… with a deep belief in a life hereafter, I really don’t want to spend a second of this life without my eternal partner.
Each time I thought of Natalie from that 16th day of June this year, my eyes filled with tears, and my heart pounded, filling my ears with a rushing sound to bar me from hearing anything else, but my own empathy for a friend I have come to love and value… A wife left husbandless, a mother with twin boys to raise and a daughter now struggling through her first year of medical school… fatherless.
A home on a plot once full of laughter, family squabbles and the daily dynamics of a growing evolving family that work hard to survive in this world… like most of us, has forever been changed.
I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy if I supposed I had any… having experienced a great deal of family loss in my life time, I can have empathy to a degree, understanding to a limit… yet I know, I cannot measure the loss and depth of sorrow my friend feels at this time.
I do know that after the funeral… and when extended family have returned to their own homes and friends are involved in their own lives, she will wake up in the morning… some mornings, and for a moment be filled with happiness and a smile on her face, and then be flooded with the memory of loss… not knowing quite how to breathe.
I know that she will hold her children when they cry and she will hold inside her… her own heart break as she tries to hold it together, for the love’s of her life now fatherless.
I know that in a moment the phone with ring, and she will forget and expect it to be him… and answering the phone in a rush she will remember when it’s not… and no words will come out her mouth as the pain of loss chokes her very breathe away.
I know that sometimes she will feel guilty that she is still alive and grateful for what she has, and at the same time feel angry that she is alone and that he died… the very dichotomy of those feelings and emotions understandable even as they are confusing… frustrating… terrifying.
Leading to more questions that have no answers… and that only time will soften.
That each time someone says, give it time… she may wonder, as I have how you can feel such starkly feral emotions towards those you love and care about… and wonder how they can be so utterly unfeeling and gracious in their giving and support… at the very same time.
In the same moment you forgive as you realise you may have used those same utterances when you were in the same position… not knowing quite what to say… saying it wrong, or not saying at all. Not knowing which is worse or if either is better.
I know that at times she will store up her courage and strength, and face the day as best she can, not showing the world a glimmer of her pain and heartbreak… and at other times she will wonder what the point is in all this worldly nonsense, and why she would want to carry on trying…
It’s in those desperate moments of loneliness at 2am in the morning alone in bed… or at 2pm in the afternoon surrounded by people, but isolated in despair… that I hope my friend Natalie knows that I feel her pain… that I have empathy for her sorrow… that she is thought of often and in my heart always.
That if she ever needs me… to talk to, to cry with… to rant and rave at *Smile* …I hope I will be there for her… and if I’m not because I didn’t or sometimes just won’t know because of circumstances… then all she can do is go on her knees, and feel His love, the only real comfort available to any of us.
Even in my sorrow for my friend’s loss… I found gratitude to her for allowing me to share with her at this time… and so much gratitude for all I have.
I have looked at life a little differently lately… experienced life a little more deeply… and treasured more simply those things we sometimes miss when life gets too busy to notice…
My life is filled with the most beautiful sunrises… the prettiest butterflies… the most gorgeous insects… dragonflies of every colour…
My life is filled with the most beautiful sunsets… and stunning night sky with moon so close I feel like I can reach out and touch it… and stars that hang twinkling and dancing across the night sky…
My life is full of the most amazing miracles… the most incredible people… the most lovingly forgiving family…
My life is full of challenge and sadness… loss so intense I have no words to describe the ache…
My life is filled with the wisdom to know that each tear I have shed has been dried by the most inspiring moments of joy, happiness so exquisite that I struggle to find words to express these profound emotions and feelings… Often created by the more simple gifts of life… a loving email from my husband, a hug from my daughter, completed chores and a chocolate from my sons.
Hearing good news from a friend… sunrise in the morning… knowing that I am loved and that this moment… this breath… is a gift given for me to endure through the highs and lows… ups and downs… tears and sadness… love, laughter and joy!
My life is filled with special moments…
Moments that leave me breathless…
And moments when life simply takes my breath away!
My life is filled with meaning… faith, trust, hope and charity!
My life is filled with family and friends… tears and laughter!
My life is filled with contentment and completion… despite my frustrations,
many lessons still to learn and my continued journey!
My life is filled with new beginnings, starting over and many second chances… because I know who I am here on Earth… and in an Eternal perspective…
My friend in her grief has given me a gift… of deeper appreciation and gratitude.
I hope you know Natalie, how much you mean to me… and all those who love you. I hope you know in your darkest moments, that you are loved.
Your friend
With Love
Mands
© 2010 – Mandy Swinburne
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“Wanting To Be” articles:
- Wanting To Be – 20 Gifts to Give – [ Read More ]
- 1st Gift To Give - Mend a quarrel… [ Read More ]
- 2nd Gift To Give – Seek out a forgotten friend. [ February Fuzz ]
- 3rd Gift To Give – Hug Someone Tightly! – [ Read More ]
- 4th Gift To Give – Forgive An Enemy! – [ Read More ]
- 5th Gift To Give – “Be Gentle and Patient with an Angry Person!”
- [ A Single Moment Can Change A Life! Part Two ] - 6th Gift To Give – Express Appreciation! [ Read More ]
- 7th Gift To Give – “Gladden The Heart Of A Child.” – [ Muddy Smile ]
- 8th & 9th Gifts to Give! – [ Read More ]
- 10th Gift To Give – Speak Kindly To A Stranger [ Read More ]
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If You Can…
If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can get going without pep pills,
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones
are too busy to give you any time,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment.
If you can ignore a friend’s limited education and never correct him,
If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can relax without liquor,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
……Then You Are Probably The Family Dog!
Pond Ripples
My grandfather took me to the fish pond on the farm when I was about seven, and he told me to throw a stone into the water. He told me to watch the circles created by the stone. Then he asked me to think of myself as that stone.
“You may create lots of splashes in your life but the waves that come from those splashes will disturb the peace of all your fellow creatures,” he said.
“Remember that you are responsible for what you put in your circle and that circle will also touch many other circles. You will need to live in a way that allows the good that comes from your circle to send the peace of that goodness to others. The splash that comes from anger or jealousy will send those feelings to other circles. You are responsible for both.”
That was the first time I realized each person creates the inner peace or discord that flows out into the world. We cannot create world peace if we are riddled with inner conflict, hatred, doubt, or anger. We radiate the feelings and thoughts that we hold inside, whether we speak them or not. Whatever is splashing around inside of us is spilling out into the world, creating beauty or discord with all other circles of life.
Remember the eternal wisdom:
What you focus on… expands exponentially!
~ Author Unknown
The Pot Story
(Photo by Wildherb)
A water bearer in India had two large pots; each hung on each end of a pole, which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
(Photo by Wildherb)
For a full two years this went on daily with the bearer only delivering one and a half pots full of water in his master’s house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made.
Nevertheless, the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.
(Photo by Majorca Holiday Travel)
“I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologise to you.”
“Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?”
“I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts,” the pot said.
The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”
Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. However, at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again, it apologised to the bearer for its failure.
(Photo by Majorca Holiday Travel)
The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That is because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it.
I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walked back from the stream, you have watered them. For two years, I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table.
Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to
grace his house.”
The Moral of this Story: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We are all cracked pots. However, it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You need to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them.
There is a lot of good out there.
There is a lot of good in you.
~ Author Unknown
Happiness Comes From Giving!
Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get…
Only with what you are expected to give…
Which is everything.
~ Katharine Hepburn
If what Katharine Hepburn says is true… that we are expected to give everything we have with love… including giving all the love we have… does it mean we will have nothing?
I doubt that very much, in fact I believe we will have everything…
Everything of true value!
Happiness and a deep abiding love come from giving……
Giving everything… everything we have… everything we are!
Have an awesome day!
Mands
