Tuesday, December 7, 2010

actually...i dont know....

day 26 **what is the best thing you have going for you right now**

"i know"...i wonder how many times Ive said that in my life... "i know"

or more to the point, i wonder how many times I've said it hoping it would act as a loud and clear "STOP" to anyone offering me whatever unsolicited opinion/experience/advice they were about to give me. wether or not i actually knew..........................

for much of my life I've been afraid to not know. afraid to be vulnerable. afraid of looking bad, of making mistakes. and so to cover that most stifling of human characteristics, pride, i have given the emotional equivalent of a massive and very firm physical block..   "i know"..   it is the essence of contempt prior to investigation, that which blocks any chance of me adding something new to my experiences...

but being stuck in that place, albeit unwittingly for most of it, has cost me dearly. and through much surrender borne of pain and separation, I have begun to see that i don't know very much. at all. and much of what i do know is not very useful and is taking up space.

for so long I've had to rely on myself. or so i thought. I've never been much good at asking for help. especially with things i think i should already know. but who wrote the book on what i should know at 42. and could somebody please tell me where i can get a copy of it !!!




the best thing i have going for me right now is that i am teachable. and for someone who needs to be taught that's a good place to be in...

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

I surrender...

day 25 **have you ever thought about giving up on life and if so when and why?**

i want to say no. i want to say that i possess such an unerring lust for life that nothing and no one has ever ever caused me to lose my inherent will to live. but the truth is, that has not been my experience.

why is it embarrassing to admit that i have given up on life at times. why is there such pressure to be seamlessly carefree and happy. why is it considered weak to, at times, be weak.


i have bounced back. but never before i have hit the bottom.

i used to think that there would be one almighty rock bottom to hit in my life, and i waited and waited to hit that harder than all the rest low. but it seems to me now that each experience of loss or sadness or grief has it own deepest point.

the loss of a parent, the incomparable engulfing disappointment of heartbreak, the seemingly bottomless well of sadness when a little furry baby looks in your eyes for the last time. and the list is longer and theres more to come. and each experience has its own start. its own ebb and flow. and thankfully its own end. before the bounce back. and in some of those moments, more than once and less than a handful of times, i have felt such deep despair at ever healing that for a moment i have given up. i have, more than once looked to the heavens and become still.. with no fight left ...


and i have been shown grace.



each time i have given up i have been shown grace...



its been a while since i last gave up. but i am human. deeply flawed and with such immense potential to burn everything i know in a universal instant, that i simply live here now and trust that grace is watching over me and will carry me when i throw myself down once again. as i will, in my attempt to shed my spiritual maladies..

Sunday, November 28, 2010

what to do..........

day 24 **the reason you believe you're still alive today**

i don't really know why I'm alive.

i could take a guess but that's all it would be, & I always keep in mind i might be wrong about everything. absolutely everything.

but what would my guess look like....

maybe I'm still alive because i haven't learnt all the lessons i need to learn yet. this is possibly my least favourite of all guesses. because i don't like to feel as though I'm in a big spiritual school, complete with tests, judgements, passes and rigorous and consistent resitting of those tests that i am deemed to have "failed".

or maybe I'm alive to help someone else. do we all go there?  what is that deep desire to help someone else all about? for me its been the realisation through experience that helping someone else is the only way to be truly selfless. and in that moment of selflessness theres a release that the human spirit  craves. you can get it from adrenalin, you can get it from creativity but in selflessness there exists something else. a connection. a feeling of everything being exactly as its meant to be. so maybe that's why I'm here. to help.



but at the top of my guess list, keeping in mind that i could be totally wrong, i believe im still alive because i got lucky. more than once, more than twice. i don't think theres a reason I'm still here as such. but i do believe that while I'm here its my responsibility to learn and grow and change. life is a gift.

i believe that, simply because i am human, i need to be humbled. that i need to learn to connect, to love, to be loved. that i have much to give and much yet to be taken away. i believe in the human experience and that it is not to be dismissed or controlled.

i don't really know why I'm here. i don't ask myself that question anymore. today i ask myself what I'm going to do with it.......

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Short break in proceedings……

As u all know I'm in Hawaii. I thought i would blog while i was here but it seems the allure of shopping, eating, swimming and pumpkin spice lattes has gotten the better of my creativity. Or on a more honest level, these distractions have gotten the better of my routine :)

So I will be back… but not today… more likely when I'm home. At my PC. So i can write as I like to write. Relaxed, pensively and with chucky obscuring the screen..

Big love. Back in 7 days

Xxxx

Monday, November 1, 2010

theres still time.....

day 23 **something you wish you had done in your life**

i guess theres a few opportunities I've had that i didn't take up. i couldve had a child. i couldve stayed living in America. i couldve stayed living in the UK. i couldve kept modelling when i was twenty. i couldve been married by now. i couldve stayed at uni; both times i started !!

but at the time, when those chances were there, i chose to walk a different path. and I'm happy about that today. I'm living the life i have chosen, not a life directed by circumstances



and the truth is i might still have and/or raise a child. i might end up living in the states or the UK. maybe if i get a veneer make over and learn how to walk like a lady again i could do some middle age modelling :-) i could start uni again someday. i don't know whats in store for me. but i know i feel a level of contentment and at times excitement about the unknown.

i have no regrets. i have sad memories and character lines in my soul. but i have no regrets. and life is full of do-overs.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

is it a good thing or a bad thing?..........

day 22  **something you wish you hadnt done in your life**

im hesitant to name anything as something i wish i hadnt done. what if that one thing changed the next thing i did. and the next and the next. til there were enough next things to qualify it as a course.

what if the course of my life had changed. where would i be now? somewhere "better" perhaps? maybe. or somwhere "worse"?



ive never known if an action im taking is a good thing or a bad thing in that moment. i dont have enough of the future answers in my hot little hand to know if my life is going in the right direction. i have done some things in my life that seemed to blow up in my face hard core. that seemed to create more distress and hurt and fear than anything ive ever known. and in that moment had you aked me my judgement of that i wouldve told you; "how could i have been so stupid. if i had my time again i would never do that!!!" and yet in hindsight those actions have taken me down new roads.



new roads of discovery about who i am, how i got to be this way and what i can do to discard some of that old stuff. make some space for the universe to redecorate my inner world which once was so dark and sad.



today my life is brilliant. its bright and happy and i am free. what a journey to get here. and if i could go back and do it all again i would have to do it the same. because if i didnt i might not end up here. and right now there is nowhere ide rather be. and that is a gift that i am incredibly grateful for.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

in for life........

day 21 **your best friend is in a car accident and the two of you got into fight an hour before. what do you do**

i have to start by saying i have never had an actual "fight" with either of my two closest friends. i met them both 6 months apart when we were all working for the same company almost ten years ago now. and those two relationships  have stood the test of time but more importantly they have prevailed through all three of us going through major life changes many times.



both my BFFs (i swore i wouldn't use that term but there..its done!!) are now with their life partners and have kids (some of them human, some of them of the furry variety). we have all struggled through various relationship issues and done it together and shared those experiences. we have supported and encouraged each other through career changes, living location changes, family issues, financially difficult and financially fun times, health problems, and so much more. we have had thousands and thousands of coffees..we have walked a million steps through shopping centres and said countless times "oh i def think you should get that"  

there has been death. of relationships, people, pets, jobs. there has been sadness at moving away from each other. and there has been much happiness at births and additions and successes. and through all of that as i look back at those two relationships i dont remember one angry word between us. because i am blessed to have friends who are responsible for themselves and have amazing boundaries so that we are able to connect without taking away from each other leaving the other scared and in need of protection, which seems to me to be the basis for any battleground. we take care of ourselves first and in that are able to be together and take care of each other



but if in the future there was to be an argument for some reason i would do whatever was needed. i committed to these relationships a long time ago and i am in them for life. so we would work through whatever the issue was but in that moment of crisis the argument would be put aside and i would go to my friend. and i would stay. day and night. until there was no need for me to do that anymore....and i know that they would both do that for me without a second thought.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

stop looking inside the bottle......

day 20 **your views on alcohol**

when i was growing up i watched someone i loved dearly die slowly and over many years, due to alcohol. she was a beautiful, smart, vivacious woman with a fantastic sense of humour. she had been a national sports woman, a mother, a wife, a sister, a friend. she had the most beautiful voice when she spoke with her thick danish accent. her hazel eyes were sweet and shy. she was just over five foot tall in a family where the rest of us were around six foot. she was incredible.

until she drank...........................




then she was unable to be a wife, a mother or anything else she had signed up for in life. her voice became loud and frightening and her small frame became powerful and violent. that violence was understandably fuelled by a haunting start in her own life. she would live out her need to fight back and  be stronger and faster than the enemy this time. except there was no enemy and her battle was in vain. and super destructive to all that she had created.

then one night, at fifty one, when i was eighteen, she died. she just died. her body gave up. all that alcohol had taken its toll and her body would not regenerate itself for one more round.

so what part does alcohol play in this?

i should hate alcohol.

but i don't.




because every single day i see people drinking socially with impunity. for a social glow. for fun. because they can. and i don't ever begrudge a single soul their chance to unwind, slow down, get a little too chatty..or a little too flirty..or whatever it is that happens when they take a drink.

my view on alcohol is that it is innocuous. that clearly there are problems with some peoples reactions to alcohol but that that is the actual problem. each persons specific reaction. theres no denying that we as a society, in Australia anyway, have massive alcohol related issues. but the problem is not inside the bottle. its inside the person.

if i drink and i have an adverse reaction then the problem is inside me. what happens after that has been identified is a whole 'nother blog

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

just clueless enough.....

day 19 **what do you think of religion? or what do you think of politics**

i don't have any strong views on either. because when i do i find myself becoming righteous or annoyed and having opinions about issues that invariably, and through choice, i know very little about.
i have not studied in depth any religious or political books, texts, or any other forms of literature. i have read some, but have not studied.


i choose not a member of any church, religious society or political party.

to be completely honest i really don't  know much about politics. i  know enough to get me by and the more the heat is on a politician, the more i know about them at that time. but as soon as the heat is off and they are out of the limelight, they are out of my mind.

and the other? i am blessed to have deep faith and trust that there is a power out there that is far greater than any human power..and that's all i need to know..religion is for those who don't want to go to hell, and spirituality is for those of us who been there and don't want to go back..

Sunday, October 17, 2010

escapism.....

day 17 ** a book that youve read that changed your views on something**

growing up i lived with my head in books. when i wasnt at band camp. what a cool kid i was (nt). reading was my escape. i remember always  having a dictionary with me and every word i didnt understand i would look up, read over and over then go back and read that section again with my new understanding. i loved words. i loved the way they made me feel. that i could go.. away..in my head, when my body was so often trapped where i was.



i still love words. and my love of reading has grown to a love of writing and through that connecting with others. we all have our ways of communicating. art, song, dance...i take photos to capture feelings in a moment that i believe to be universal.



and to connect i look to words.

i dont think ive ever read a book that has changed my views on something. however, i do think that as a result of reading alot through my life i have been moulded in some ways but that the changes would be imperceptible at that last page.

if i was to say anything about reading it would be that reading lots and lots of sci fi has always made me think and look at bigger more diverse options about what humans are capable of and what is potentially "out there". sci fi has always made me feel excited that perhaps there is so much more than what is happening in my world at this moment ie work, bills, sleep repeat...

ive done my time in the self help section, the cooking section and the exercise books. i have read history, politics, romance and thrillers..im grateful that i have always found solace in reading...

Friday, October 15, 2010

allergies......

day 16 **someone or something you could definitely live without**

i can live without alcohol.

i had my first drink when i was about 12. blue light disco, summer, my school friends and a cheap bottle of sparkly wine. seemed innocent enough. and it was. for a while.

but alcohol, once my closest friend, my confidante, the trick to getting out of my shell and into the world, turned on me in my late 20s.

i am someone who has a drink and watches the world change. from something that is scary and big and astonishingly difficult to navigate my way around as others appear to do with ease...into a garden of fun and friendship designed just for me. at least that what it looks like.. to me.

what it looks like to everyone else is, they stay the same and i become an obnoxious pain. not always..but mostly.



i am allergic to alcohol. it makes me break out in "geez someone get her out of here"..so i just dont drink..at all..and without it i am free to live...

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

not at the price of peace......

day 15 **something or someone you couldn't live without because you've tried living without it**

when i was growing up i played guitar with a girlfriend at church on Sundays. i used to know alot of cool church songs. yes, there are some very cool church songs.

then when i hit my early 20s i started seeking. i have looked at structured western religions, i have spent time making flower offerings to Krishna at the temples and gotten up at 430am at murwillimbah to chant. i have spent time in quiet contemplation with the satyananda yoga crowd. i have gone to meditation classes in new york where we focused on the spleen to release anger, in an attempt to remove calamity from inside my body. i have spent 10 days in noble silence practising vipassana..more than once

and all these things i have done in pursuit of one thing. peace.



all i have ever wanted is peace. ide like to say I'm a crusader and I'm talking about world peace but i am essentially selfish and self centred (although i try not to live from that place). so what i am talking about is peace within.

i have lived a life that has been incredibly exciting, moving all over the world, meeting amazing people, years of hedonistic excesses and irresponsibility. i have lived through trauma and grief and sadness. i have worked in theatre and film and hospitality and had a thousand other different jobs.

i wouldn't change a minute of my life but until recently i have done all that and lived most of it with no peace.



now that i have peace i cannot live without it. because i have before. i will not go back to that. i still live a fun exciting busy life full of creativity and passion. but not at the price of peace.

Monday, October 11, 2010

turning toward the light..........

Day 13 **a band or artist that has gotten you through a tough time**

To be honest finding solace in music or a particular artist of some sort is not where I go when times are tough. Which doesn't mean that I am not moved incredibly by art of most types, because i am. And I too live to create. But when I hit an emotional storm, self generated or not, I'm more of a hang out with my close friends, shop and eat kinda girl. And if those things don't distract me long enough for the storm to pass then I will turn to my strong spriritual connection.

At the toughest times in my life this is where i have turned and it's something i cultivate when things are good knowing that there will be times where no human power of expression or assistance will relieve the madness or the pain or sadness or whatever the overwhelming feelings may be. I have gone there many many times in my life so far and will do so many many more....

I am never alone......

You big softie !!!!

Day 12 **something you never get compliments on**

I never get compliments on my black 2010 sports Audi, my amazing heritage listed home on the cliff at Jenny dixon beach here on the coast… I have never received a compliment on the movies I make, the top 10 seller book I wrote last year… never once. Possibly because I do not own any of those things, nor have I written any books or made any movies.

So to that end I could write an ad infinitum list of the things I don't get compliments about. But for it to be relevant it would have to be something that i could possibly be complimented on but just never am…

There's only one thing i don't get complimented on that i wish I did, not because I want to be noticed for it but because I wish it wasn't so buried that it sometimes seems it doesn't exist in me.

I don't ever get complimented on being a soft, gentle person. Those closest to me say that it's there but it's not my default setting.

I have however been told that I am softening. For now that may have to be enough…

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Honesty…

Day 11 **something people seem to compliment you the most on**

I get alot of compliments on my nails but seeing as anyone could have the same thing for fifty dollars a month I figured I might put down one thing that is me.

The thing i get the most compliments on is my honesty, and from that my ability to share myself with others in a way they can relate to. To share not so much the events of my life complete with names, dates and places but to move past that to the more levelling aspects of the human experience, in all it's complexities..

What did I feel when that event happened? Why did I do that? What drives me. What makes me tick. What was the fallout inside me from that situation. I'm fascinated by the human experience, yours and mine.

I have been told that i can cut through huge amounts of event driven chit chat, and get to the core of the human experience and in that, bond. Even if it's just in a moment. It's wonderful.

Oh and also apparently I have great legs ;)

Friday, October 8, 2010

all in good time......

day 10 ** someone you need to let go of or wish you didn't know**


this is a hard one. is it ever my choice to let go? is there an exact moment where the letting go takes place?



how much work do i need to do? what kind of work? how long does it take? if i let it go did it ever really mean anything? did it ever really mean anything so i should let it go?

do i work on letting it go or do i turn away and work on something else in the hope that when i turn back it will be gone?

is the pain i sometimes feel because i cant let it go? or is the pain seemingly attached to that but if it hadn't been that then really, it would've been something else. was the pain was coming anyway?



wanting to let go of someone and wishing you didn't know them can sometimes be one wish in the same..but not always..

in the future, god only knows when, i will have completely let go..as i have of everyone else in my past..but it is not up to me when..the heart exists in a world i have no control over..

but i can control my actions.. and i take actions that tell the universe that i wish to be granted the grace to let go..and then tomorrow i will get up and take another step forward..that is my choice from the list of choices that are mine to make..


Thursday, October 7, 2010

Unn & Sis.......

Day 9 **someone you didn't want to let go of but you just drifted apart**

In my early 20s I went to new york for 3 months. When I got back my housemate had a new boyfriend. "unn". That wasn't actually his name but we drank a lot of port one night and got sucked into a late night Swedish movie about 2 teenage lesbians who met and in a short time decided they couldn't live without each other. unn & sis… that was us.

I believe we have soul friends. People we plan to meet before we get here so when we see each other there is that knowing. We don't know why we are drawn to each other but we are.....



So we became unn & sis and for years we were inseparable. But our lives changed. he met someone and moved away to the city. I packed my bags and went traveling around the planet for a few years.

I'm blessed to have had a handful of very close intimate relationships in my lifetime so far. And what i had with unn was unique. He was an amazing, creative and very funny human being. I am honoured to have been someone he spent time with during those years. I did not want to let go of that relationship but I did. And I have. And I have wonderful memories of my unn...


Wednesday, October 6, 2010

it was who?

day 8 ** someone who made your life hell**

there are a number of people i am going to discuss here!! at least that's what i thought when i first saw the topic.

but under examination i was neither surprised nor shocked to find that i could not sustain any anger or hurt for long enough put a name to it; on the permanent record as such ..an honest look at these so called crimes against my expectations showed i could trace every slight against my person, my bank account, my sense of security or perceived prestige back to a decision i had made somewhere along the line..

and so i, like others who have tackled this question, have had to admit that i have made my life hell. i have also made it alot of great things too and today its wonderful. but the times where i have suffered the most have been the times where i have been unwilling to let go of what is not working, hand it back to the universe where it belongs and move on. the gap between "perhaps this was a mistake but lets try it one more time" and "I'm now ready to let go" is as close to hell as anything i know..

there is no pain in change. it is in the resistance.......

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

living with grace.....

day 7 ** someone who made your life worth living**

in my early thirties i had some of the most dynamic years I've ever experienced. so much changed in such a short period.

the first and most notable change was my lifestyle. it was the only one i had ever known, was one of constant and ever  increasing excesses and escapism and seemingly suddenly, it stopped...

with the massive hole that left in my life, came a new relationship..

but that relationship didn't last more than a year and i found myself at 34 single, sober and sad. during that time i had the most profound sense of sadness i had ever felt, before or since..

and then grace came into my life..




grace was a brown Burmese.. she was the most gorgeous little creature i had ever held in my hands, had ever had ly in my arms at night..for the first time in my life i had someone that i had to get up for every morning and be there for. to play, to feed, to love, to care for. she needed me and trusted that i would take care of her. for the first time i had to be organised with annual health checks, medical insurance, diets, toys and everything else that goes with having a small sentient being dependant on you..


and grace made my life worth living at a time when i was lost..looking back over that time i learnt that while it is incredible to be loved so unconditionally, so perfectly and with such pure innocence it is actually the love i generated inside my self for her that was healing..

she was gods grace to me....


Monday, October 4, 2010

its ok to sleep now......

day 6 **something you hope you never have to do**

when i was 8 my dad drove us all an hour north of my childhood home to a farm.. when we walked through the gate the owner let her German Shepherds out from the back and a mass of puppies came running our way. but the one at the back, that was bigger than the rest and much slower "ran" to my mum and laid between her feet..

that was Ben..

he came home and kept us safe and amused and occupied for the next 13 years. he was huge and smart and loved his tennis balls. he swam fearlessly  into the waves at the beach and took up way too much room next to you on the lounge. sometimes when i was home from school and he didn't know and thought he was alone, i would hear him crying. he would sit at the gate and howl..until he saw me at the front door..i loved him..





but as he got older his hips started to go..then one day i got a call from my dad to come home. 2 of my brothers, my dad and i stayed with Ben in his own room at the front of the house, while the vet gave him "the shot". i held his paw. his front paw. and he looked into my eyes..i tried not to cry because i didn't want him to be scared.. then he just closed his eyes and went to sleep...

i cried as much today writing this as i did when i left there that day 21 years ago.. some sadness never goes away, you just learn not to go near it..

i hope i never have to hold someone elses hand while they go to sleep...archee, chucky, my brothers, my dad...my soul sister, my beautiful friends...anyone..

but if i am here...then i will...

Sunday, October 3, 2010

creativity......

day 5 **something you hope to do in your life**

whenever im unsure about an answer i go back to the question..

what stood out to me were the words that were chosen.. "hope" and "do". much different to "wish" and "have".

Hope tells me its possible and Do tells me its an action that i must take. if i wish to have it, i could just buy it or have it given to me. but to do it? that's different. theres a forward momentum in hope and do that commands a start, something wishing does not...

so many thoughts came initially but none of them resonated in me deeply - until one....




art. and for me that means photography and writing. 2 of my great passions.

even as i write this i can feel that warm satisfaction in my core as i touch the part of me that is connected to something much bigger than me. where the creativity comes from. when i go there i know clearer than i know I'm alive that that is what i hope to do. create and connect. more and more....

i hope to transform my world  into one of continuous creativity. not for profit, not for prestige. for contentment. to share. to connect. as a way of living.......



i hope to exhibit even just once in my life and i trust that if i am meant to write, then i will.. i love the emotive side of taking shots of what i see. and i adore the writing process. *idea *waiting *frustration *joy *wonder at what sometimes comes *feedback *sharing with others .. its better than        anything..

creating is more fulfilling, more humbling and integrating than anything i have ever known..and i have known alot...especially in the 90s ;)

id rather hope than wish..id rather do than have....

Saturday, October 2, 2010

we did the best we could.....

day 4 ** something you have to forgive someone for**

have you ever walked away from something knowing it wasn't really resolved? that you didn't really tie up all the loose ends, fix up your end of the bargain? keep your promises... and have you ever done that because you just didn't know any other way to do it at that time, under those set of circumstances...?

i have..and i have had it done to me.



i don't want to say much more about it except that it seems to me the unmanaged romantic relationship brings the most amount of joy and devastation that any relationship can.

and sometimes when its over you just have to forgive the other person and see that maybe they really were doing the best they could with what they had..as we all are...(refer previous post)

"for it is by forgiving that we are forgiven"..st francis

i have loved and been loved and that counts for something...

Friday, October 1, 2010

expectations....

day 3 **something you have to forgive yourself for**

I need to forgive myself for not measuring up to my own expectations. i need to be ok with not being perfect. with being fallible and making lots of mistakes in my life, some of them over and over again.

I need to surrender to how wonderful the people, places and things in my life really are, as they are. I need to accept myself as perfect in all my imperfections.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

so you think I'm funny?

day 2 **something i love about myelf**

this challenge is more pleaseant than going through the the list of things i hate about myself, hands down! its harder to write about this topic though. im not sure that i really know why. perhaps its because i tend to spend more time focusing on what i need to work on and change about myself than what is already working. dont know.

what i do know is that it was a mercifully short list and the one i went with was easy to decide on. i seem to be able to make people laugh. really laugh. and  i love to see it when im working with them. on projects, at work, in spiritual groups. wherever i am. Ive been thanked for bringing levity and laughter to what either is already an amusing situation or has the potential to be a heavy or otherwise difficult one.

while it possibly started out as a defense mechanism as a kid, i dont know 100% where it comes from and i dont feel like its something i can plan, or write, or work on. its just there. i can access it anytime and while i love it about myself i also feel that it isnt something i have any control over. so its a gift. being able to feel the energy in a room helps, work with the flow around you, but at the end of the day its a gift. and i wouldnt swap it for anything. i feel very lucky.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

the need to be right

day 1 **something i hate about myself**

i started by wondering.....

what is the difference between "really dislike" & "hate".
What is "myself"? is it the way i look? the way i behave? or the way i am?

a few things came to mind.

if its something about the way i look then its either my post 40 (small!) pot belly, the new "character" lines appearing on my face or my Australian dental care style teeth (not so bad, not so Hollywood). nothing to love there. except those things don't make my gut twist when I'm alone. or drive me to distraction and sadness. so I'm thinking that is not hate....

is it something about how i behave? well that would depend on so many variables & be such a complex situation that i could never nail anything down as permanent enough to hate. i can certainly dislike what i do sometimes, but nothing is so devastating or shameful that i cannot find a way to put it down to being human therefore transient.

so then it must be something that i am. something that is fundamentally, maybe even spiritually, who i am....

the question is not asking for the thing i hate about myself "the most", just something. after some quiet time letting it go through my mind it came to me.. and incidentally it could be the thing i hate about myself the most

my pathological, painful, isolating need to be right. interestingly that affects the other 2. when I'm having to be right, at all costs, it affects the way i behave and the way i look. but i never knew I had that need til recently

the reason i hate that about myself is that it causes so many consequences that i don't like. it has taken so much from my life. so much joy & peace. so many potential loving relationships. so many times i haven't tried something, in case i get it wrong. i haven't said something, in case i say it wrong. and the list of consequences goes on. its a list ive added to unwittingly..

i dont spend every moment despising that part of myself or morbidly rehashing that list of consequences,  im aware that its there...which thankfully is less and less now that the curtains have been pulled on this hateful spiritual malady..

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

**kick** start !!

Well thanks to @jonathagarcia (twitter) I have found a way to kickstart my blog.

I started this a few weeks ago but just a short time into it I fell ill. Very ill for for 2 weeks and I lost momentum. I was wondering how I woud get it back. Then I read on johnathans twitter that he had taken a 30 day writing challenge specifically for his blog. I love writing. I love this blog idea. I love a challenge. And this challenge is so much more exciting than the last one I undertook which involved eating bran every morning and lots of veges..not that theres anything wrong with that but I was uninspired by the outcome. To say the least.

So this challenge involves writing every day for 30 days without fail, on a predetermined topic. The topics are on the right hand side of my post and I will start at day 1 tomorrow.

As I looked through the topics I wanted to start changing them. Adding a few new ones, taking a few out, changing the order around. 5 minutes before I read the list I was stumped! Blocked in the biggest way! mmm perhaps I could just take the suggested road and not worry too much about wether or not its perfectly laid out for me to travel smoothly. Perhaps thats why I am where I am right now. Waiting for the perfect moment to start something is a very long wait indeed.......perhaps its not just writing where I am standing at the turning point wondering which way to turn, hoping I have a perfect route to negotiate before i set out....perhaps over the next 30 days I may learn a little more about that..

And also I hope to give my blogging/twittering/facebooking pals something to ponder/comment on/snigger at/blush about...and share your thoughts with me...after all, this is less about self absorption and more about connection...

Monday, September 20, 2010

not so well...

A slightly sore throat on friday turned into a mild headache on saturday..into a much worse throat by yesterday. Now its monday midday and my head is pounding..my chest is on fire and im so tired..

But all of that is ok. As ok as it is to be physically unwell. What is it though that turns a physical pain into an emotional pain?

Cant write..just wanna go home and go to bed..Need the light inside to be less obscured by mental calamity to be able to write clearly......

And I'm keen to write about the amazing weekend at Arcadia..

55 women. All recovering spiritually from all different sorts of difficulties. So much strength and hope. So much love and support. Never thought Ide be a girly girl who would enjoy that kind of environment. But there you go.

Who knew that getting a fluffy hand made pillow with messages of hope attached, a fridge magnet peg with more mesages of love and support - a hand made make up bag with flowers on it. Who knew these things would touch my heart? Certainly not me. How we change..how life softens us in spite of ourselves sometimes..

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

fog..

Its 1830 wednesday; hump day. But how does humpday fit into a 24/7 roster? Doesnt really. How does anything fit into a 24/7 roster? Doesnt really.

Gonna spend some time on this blog tonight. Once i deal with my washing machine which decided today that needing me there to program it, turn it  on and be around while it was filling up with water was pointless. Lets bypass the whole human factor and just get this show on the road!!So i have now cleaned up the laundry river and am tempting fate by washing some clothes.mmmm lets see how this goes..

Then Im gonna spend some time on this blog. Once Ive written a list for the packing I need to do for this weekend. Im going to Arcadia. And before anyone else asks me where that is, let me just say...i have no idea. Somewhere south of here? Apparently its beautiful and 60 of my closest spiritually recovering women friends are going so im there. Drive for an hour, put the car on a punt (huh?) for a bit then drive 10kms into the bush. ok. So i need to write the list of everything i need to take. And after that is done....

Im gonna spend some time on this blog tonight. Just as soon as Ive vacuumed the house and ironed my clothes for work tomorrow. And changd the bedding for my "baby" sitter who will come and sit Archee and Chuck. Aunty Jenny is coming kittys..we love her !!

Then Im gonna spend some time on this blog...tonight !! After Ive made dinner and dismantle clothes mountain in the corner over there...

OMG look at the time !!

I have no time for this blog..some other night :-)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

so early.....

its 130...need sleep..but here i am working on this..good fun but very bleary eyed