a Valentine message

Valentine's day is the day when we are "encouraged" to show our love for the people in our lives. I am very lucky to be in a loving relationship but we have never really celebrated Valentine's day, tending to concentrate more on celebrating our anniversary instead, we feel its more personal. I feel it is so important to show others how we feel about about them, especially our feelings of love, not just today but always. Life is too short for others not to know you care.

That being said, I think today should be as much about self love as it is about love for others. I believe to truly commit to loving someone else you must first learn to love yourself. Many say it is possible to love others and not yourself, but then your whole life becomes about them and making them happy. You could be in danger of losing sight of yourself and what makes you happy.

This year I want to work on finding new ways to try and connect with myself and get to the root of what makes me happy, what makes me tick.  There are a couple of people who's guidance I have found really helpful in this area. An inspirational soul I have the pleasure of being in contact with is Flora Peterson (aka Charming Pixie Flora on youtube) She, and fellow youtuber Joanna Devoe (aka MajorArcanaTV) recommend an effective way to boost self love and self esteem is through daily affirmations. This is actually easier than it sounds. Some people will get up in the morning and declare loudly to the world, "I am Amazing!" and others, like myself, may prefer to write it somewhere they can see it throughout the day, as a gentle reminder. I use a different, encouraging phrase or word every day to make you feel good about yourself. Try it, it works.

http://www.youtube.com/user/CharmingPixieFlora#p/u/3/o6v_6s3rPFU

http://www.youtube.com/user/MajorArcanaTV?ob=video-mustangbase#p/u/14/Sk39Cq3PKWY

Flora also talks about the use of prayer beads or Mala beads as a way of concentrating your mind on a particular phrase or affirmation, for daily meditation. I have always wanted to be able to meditate but I find it so hard to shut off from everything, especially my own mind, so I am interested to try this. So, in the spirit of self love and the endless pursuit of happiness I have made myself some Mala beads to hopefully help me to focus my mind on my affirmations. I am so blessed to have other people in my life who love me so it can't be that hard right? These are not traditional Buddhist or Tibetan Mala, although there are 108 on the string. For me, they are more an aid to concentration. There are many sites online that can explain how these beads should be set out depending on your spiritual path.

I hope everyone experiences love today, from others and from themselves, and long may it continue.

After all, a wise man once said "all you need is love" x.

emerging from the dark

Happy new year and a blessed Imbolc!

I'm not really sure where the last 3 months has gone. I sit down at the computer intending to write a blog entry and for some reason something else takes over, I get distracted and never get round to it. I started this blog, like most people do, with the best intentions but somehow things get in the way. Wasn't John Lennon who said "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans"? Well that definately rings true for me!

Christmas was a family affair. My daughter is now 21 months old so she's becoming more aware of everything. It was a delight to watch her struggle with wrapping paper and hand out presents to everyone, including the cats. Christmas becomes more about the children as we get older, as it should be but I hope I never lose my childlike enthusiasm for the season. I still have my rituals, putting up the tree listening to Miles Davis, hanging stockings, wrapping presents whilst watching The Box of Delights or Holiday Inn, Watching The snowman on christmas eve and lighting the fire on christmas morning.

I find winter difficult. I suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder) and I find I have very little energy when its cold and dark. Added to the fact the days are so short here during the winter, I never really feel stable. I often feel a bit like a ship lost at sea, never really sure which direction to head in, bobbing around all over the place. We have had strange few months in the uk too. The weather has, as always, been predicably erratic; veering wildly from balmy, sunny and down-right spring like to flash rain storms, hail and ground frost. Then Imbolc arrived to herald the start of spring and it snowed for 2 days! Colds and flu have been rampant; I don't know anyone that hasn't suffered from some ailment or other. My family have had the flu, then a cold, cough and residual symptoms for about the last 2 months and I have to say its wearing thin. I guess the silver lining is that this is the time of the year when you feel least like doing anything so its the perfect time to get ill. (I have to put a positive spin on it or its just depressing!)

Still on a positive note, I am hoping for a creative year. I have spent a long time dwelling on the things I haven't had the time or energy to do this winter and now it is time to bring them to fruition. As we pass Imbolc and the days become visibly longer and lighter, we need to focus on getting rid of the things in our lives that drag us down and replace them with positive thoughts and inspiration. Time to spring clean and move on.

So I will be attemping to get my rear in gear and stop procrastinating. Easier said than done but as they say "a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step..."

Best wishes x