Today Is Special .... Remember to be Life-full

Life-full.

I don't know if that word already existed but I just wrote it in an email to my dear pal, Helen, and the word felt so full of meaning for me.

We are having some strange times here in the Bun world.  The last few days we have heard just about as much bad news as our little minds and hearts are capable of responding to.  

Both our extended families have been bereaved in the last few days: one a long illness, the other a sudden loss.   The sudden loss was one of my Uncles - his children, my cousins, have lost both their parents within two years, both died suddenly.  No opportunity to say goodbye, to be prepared for letting go.    Shocking.


Today, one of my dearest friends phoned to tell me the news that her marriage was breaking up.   I feel sad for both of them, such a difficult decision to make, such heartache.

All this, and a few other messages of bad news, have left me reeling and not quite sure where to turn to offer consolation, support.  Or whether to simply sit quietly and lose myself in reflective hand sewing, allowing the rhythm of the needle's movement to calm my sorry heart.


With all this happening, I feel so acutely aware of the need to be LIFE-FULL.  


To live life to the full, to ensure family and friends know I love them, to get to the end of each day and feel that I have used my time well.  To reflect at the end of the day and be peaceful with my own conscience, my inner self.  

I've lost five Aunts and Uncles in the last three years.  If I could wrap my parents in cotton wool, I would.

This life really is not a dress rehearsal.  Health and life are so fragile, so brief.  Happiness is there for the taking.  Dreams are there for the fulfilling.  Whatever it is you wish for - start doing that thing now!  Be bold, be brave.   

Leap, and a net will appear.

(I totally believe this is true...)

Be Life-full, today.  

We just don't know what tomorrow may bring. 

These flowers are for you

Thank you to all of you lovely fellow bloggers who have passed on lots of kind words, support and friendship to Debs over at muddles and magic.
I admit that your comments have made me cry - and I don't think it's just hormones ;-)   - so I imagine Debs must be quite overwhelmed too!
You are such generous people and the world is a better place because of this amazing blogging community we all share. 
Wishing you a happy, relaxing and just-right-for-you kind of weekend - 
Happy days to you!
Denise  x

Sharing Love in the Blogging World

There is so much generosity of spirit, kindness and words of support in the blogging community.  Every time I see a post about somebody having received a surprise gift it makes me smile.  A request for advice, a fabric patch, or a little something quickly finds the blogger inundated with offers and a heavy bag of post for the postman to carry.
This is a very special place, isn't it?

Well, today I am asking a little request of my own and I hope you will indulge... 


You see, my dear friend and fellow blogger, Debs at Muddles and Magic is finding life a tricky, troublesome and downright worrying sort of experience at the moment.  There is a lot more muddle going on for her than magic and today has been a particularly trying day in the Magic household.  

Debs is a very special kind of person.  

A friend who sends parcels full of handmade goodness to me, just to brighten my day.  The kind of strong shoulder supportive friend who had to listen to so many tales of woe several years ago, when my life was going pear shaped, yet she kept smiling through.  A friend who turns up and does whatever needs doing, just to help out.   And when I was anxious about going to the funeral of a different friend's Mum only a week after my Wedding day, my wonderful friend Debs happily came on the 200 mile round trip to keep me company (and drove half the way too!).

So you are probably getting the picture that she is a friend in a million.

But at the moment life is hard for her and the Magic family, and her usual shiny smile is becoming a little strained.
She lives 70 miles away from me and other close friends, and though I am sending all kinds of positive thoughts and virtual hugs today and will be seeing her after the weekend, I know she could do with a few rays of bloggy sunshine.

Would you pop round to Muddles and Magic blog and send her your love?  Share a virtual cup of tea with her?  Give her a virtual hug?  It would definitely help to lift her spirits.   If all else fails, maybe you might leave your good wishes in a comment here and I'll pass the wishes on....

HELP! Blogs which won't open!

Does anyone know anything about this?

There are some blogs which will not open when you try to visit them. So far I have found this happening on:

Muddles & Magic

Lissy Lou & The 2 Little Boys

Purrfect Haven

These are the only ones I've found so far, but there could be more.  They are all blogspot blogs.

When you try to open these blogs, there seems to be some sort of corruption which tries to take you to a web address called 

sendptp.com

Has anyone else had this problem?
Does anyone know of a solution?

I have just spoken on the phone to Helen at Purrfect Haven as she was trying to work on her blog and couldn't open it for the above reason.   We have both tried the "Help" option on the blogger dashboard, which has 3 separate entries concerning this SENDPTP address, but no apparent solutions.

I hope it isn't a virus - please do all check your computers!

If anyone has any ideas or solutions, please leave a comment and I'll pass ideas onto the 3 blogs above, who are affected..... 

 PS: I've deliberately not provided hyper-links on the blog names above, just in case.

Update, Thursday 4th: Helen of Purrfect Haven has tracked this problem on her blog to COOKIES.  It was also connected with the SNOWFALL widget!  Having cleared all cookies and the snowfall, she no longer has this problem on her blog.
There is also this helpful comment from Andi's English Attic:   I had the same problem with my own blog - I got redirected. I read it was a hacker so I changed my password and put my security up to full. Unfortunately this meant I couldn't open comment pages etc. I've now reduced the security back to medium and now click 'stop loading' once my blog appears but before it's re-directed. So far it's worked but I have no idea if there's something more sinister going on, and it seems to be travelling around. 

Sunshine In My Salad Makes Me Smile

Wet and cold outside, it may be... but this lunchtime the sun shone in my salad!  Here's how....

I made up this fresh, fruity salad which doesn't need any dressing:

some watercress 

an orange, peeled and chunked

a kiwi, peeled and chunked too

black olives sliced in half

pumpkin seeds

walnut pieces

This sun-substitute salad was delicious!  I adore the combination of watercress and orange.   The orange had been sitting in the fruit bowl for a week and was perfectly ripe and sweet.

What is your favourite salad combination?

Turn Up at the Page

When I previously mentioned The Morning Pages, Diana suggested writing a post about why they are important to me.  So this one is for you, Diana, and anyone else who fancies finding out more about Morning Pages.

There are two books which have changed my outlook on life, namely Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach and The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.  They are both life enhancing books.  Artist's Way was written first and Sarah BB makes reference to it in Simple Abundance.

The Artist’s Way was the first of the two books I read.   At that time, 1997, I rarely used my creativity aside from teaching infants, but deeply needed to use my imagination, my hands, to explore colour or play with words.  Julia's book provides a 12 week course in 'discovering and recovering your creative self' and strongly asserts that we all have a creative self which can be unleashed if we are willing to do the ground work.  I also believe The Artist’s Way allows you to discover your authentic self.
 

In the way it does, life and my own choices got in the way and I didn't follow the complete course of The Artist's Way in 1997, but I did quickly become engrossed by The Morning Pages.

So what are these Morning Pages?   As Julia Cameron says:

"In order to retrieve your creativity, you need to find it ... the morning pages are three pages of longhand writing, strictly stream-of-consciousness ... they might also, more ingloriously, be called brain drain, since that is one of their main functions ... they are not meant to be art or even writing ... they are meant to be simply, the act of moving the hand across the page and writing down whatever comes to mind.  Nothing is too petty, too silly, too stupid, or too weird to be included."

"All that angry, whiny, petty stuff that you write down in the morning stands between you and your creativity ... the stuff that muddies our days.  Get it on the page .... three pages of whatever crosses your mind - that's all there is to it.  If you can't think of anything to write, then write 'I can't think of anything to write' and do this until you have filled three pages.  Do anything until you have filled three pages."

The Morning Pages are designed to help us "get to the other side" as Julia says.  To allow us to cut through the crap which muddles our minds and allow the creative self to find expression in whatever way is right for you. 

I have written Morning Pages for more than twelve years.  Not every day for twelve years, but most days.  Just like practicing yoga on a regular basis, if I write Morning Pages my day is better.  If I write Morning Pages I am myself - my best self.

Morning Pages doesn't just recover creativity it allows us to be our own, true, authentic selves.  It allows me to find out who I am - to find out who my 'best self' is - it will allow you to become your 'best self' too. 

In the past I would wake up at 5.45am to write Morning Pages for twenty or thirty minutes before going to work.   Over time I have realised that the power of Morning Pages works at any time of day.  Sometimes it just isn't possible to write first thing in the morning, but as long as I sit down and let my hand move over the page, whatever time is on the clock, I will and do feel better. 

There were times when I wrote about the same problems, issues, anxieties day after day after day.  And that is absolutely okay because at least those words were out of my head and on the page!  It's the negative stuff which stays in my head which is the biggest worry and potentially most dangerous to my wellbeing.....

I know from my own experiences, that the Morning Pages can make us more authentic, more awakened, people.   As Julia says "anyone who faithfully writes morning pages will be led to a connection with a source of wisdom within."  My own experience has shown that this is the case.  

Through the Morning Pages I have discovered aspects of my personality I would have blindly ignored otherwise.  Life's horrors lived through the Morning Pages have taught me that I am a strong person who can not only survive, but remain hopeful and optimistic and emerge a better person - phoenix like.    

"It is very difficult to complain about a situation morning after morning, month after month, without being moved to constructive action.  The pages lead us out of despair and into undreamed-of solutions."  (Julia Cameron)

Whatever worries or bugs me, goes onto the page.  Whoever bugs me goes onto the page!  Whatever I wish I didn't have to do, gets written about in the pages.   And whatever delights me, goes in the pages.  Whatever surprises and enriches me, gets written about.

I don't read my pages.  Nor does anyone else.  I've not felt the need to read my pages - they are simply there, a container of what was in my head on that day, at that time.  Occasionally I might flick back through to find a good idea I wrote about, otherwise the book is filled then put in a drawer.

Everytime I start a new book of Morning Pages I write this quote from Julia, on the first page:

"Turn up at the page...."

And that is it in essence.  Simply turning up is what matters.  I don't think about what I'll write, I don't care what I write, but I do care very much about turning up at the page.  And over time, I have learned that 'turning up' is what matters in other aspects of life.  When I want to sew, paint, practice yoga, dig the garden, or whatever ... I turn up and see what happens, that's my philosophy.

Why not have a go?  Turn up at your own page, day after day, and see what you learn about yourself and where the pages might take you.  If you miss a day, don’t fret.  But if you miss a week, you’ll start to feel edgy and unsettled.   Allow yourself thirty minutes each day to write stream of consciousness.  You’ll soon become hooked.... in time you’ll become yourself. 

Talking About Nature

Helen and I have started a joint venture over here.  

Back in the day (well, the 1980's..!) we used to write copious letters to each other and there is no doubt that if the internet had been available we would have been blogging too!  As the title of this post suggests our shared blog is all about Nature.  We plan to post on a weekly basis, with a different theme each time.   Let us know what you think  ;-)