Reflections, gratitude and a Giveaway!

If you are a regular reader of my blog, welcome back after a bit of a hiatus. If you are a new reader, welcome. Gratitude is the main theme of my blog, I aim to be in a constant state of gratitude, to live each day with an underlying attitude of gratitude, grateful for every day and each experience. In previous blog posts, I have spoken at length about why I do this and my daily practices that help keep me in this mindset.

I always like to take a moment every day and reflect on what is in my present moment that I am grateful for. When life's challenges invariably come up, I always try to balance the negative with acknowledging those people, circumstances and experiences that I have to be grateful for. So, to this end, today marks a day of reflection and immense gratitude, as well as my contribution to paying it forward and expressing my gratitude to others.

Today I reflect on all of the experiences I have had over the past 12 months and longer, all the new people I have met and all of the interactions with my friends and family.

This year held so much with the most significant, a month long adventure with my beloved, to the UK and France, experiencing different cultures, visiting beautiful castles and chateaux, learning so much about their history and way of life. We basked in the warmth of the British and French people, always welcoming, only to happy to show us another part of their beautiful countries. We lived in a 6th floor Paris apartment, imbibed with the locals in Paris at sidewalk cafes and ate pizza while sipping on wine by the banks of the river Seine, wandered through the Louvre, took in a sunset over Paris from halfway up the Eiffel tower and generally soaked up the Parisian culture. We drove from the bottom tip of England to the north of Scotland, immersed ourselves in the history of Kings and Queens, took in the spectacular scenery of the Scottish highlands, visited all the stone Circles I could and followed the Outlander trail.

Art wise, this year was so very fulfilling, my continuing art journal classes with a fantastic group of ladies, my foray into the world of You Tubing, and a continuing daily practice of Lunchtime Art Time. Acceptance in my local councils, Emerging Artists exhibition was a highlight and just last month, being accepted to hold month long exhibition in the Council Chambers at the end of next year means a busy but exciting 2016.

Last night I celebrated with my family and closest friends, sharing stories, laughing over old photos, and reflecting on our time together. All in all I consider myself blessed, lucky to live in such a beautiful country, surrounded by people that have and still enrich my life in so many ways. I am lucky to have made connections with people all over this vast planet and, while some I may never meet face to face, still share a bond and friendships that I cherish.

Today I turn 50 and what better way is there to celebrate than to give presents.

So to that end I am having giveaway today as a thank you to everyone who has taken time to sit and read my ramblings, as a way to spread the love and share positive energy, as a prompt for everyone to sit and reflect on what is important.

All you have to do is tell me what you are grateful for today. Leave a comment and in a few days I will draw a winner and send them something arty

****Thanks to everyone who entered, the giveaway is now closed but if you would still like to tell me your grateful thoughts please feel free to comment.***

thank you for your presence

Namaste

Lee
 

Day 26 - Relationships that make you feel good down to your bones...

Last post I spoke briefly about my friendships and I said that I don't go for the number of friends but the quality. I will always choose to have a small group of good friends rather than a whole plethora of acquaintances. Some of my friendships are with people half a world away that I have only formed through Facebook and blogging, some are right here in my backyard. I am shy when making new friends, worried as to whether they don't want the friendship as much as I do, I loose confidence in myself and get scared of the rejection, that usually never comes, by the way. Sometimes I forget things and I feel that I'm not being a good friend, I sometimes analyse whether I am doing things that a friend "should" but I read a great line in Effy's blog post today - "The thing is that your people will love you. Period.There's no scrambling to be good enough required. There's no need to bend and shape yourself into an acceptable configuration. You can be you, and they will just love you." I think I will type this out and stick it on my mirrors, my fridge and anywhere that will be in my face in times of doubt. 

Today my Book Of Days spread is about family. A few weeks ago we travelled up to my Mum and Dad's place to throw Dad a surprise 80th birthday party. My sister and her family travelled down from northern NSW and we travelled up from Melbourne to meet in the middle. It was the first time all the cousins had been together for a number of years and I wish it had been longer, but you take what you can get. As well as my friends, my family accept who I am - well they can't really get rid of me :) Even though we are thousands of km's apart we never loose sight of what is important.  For Dad's party we gathered close friends and family and, for a man who doesn't like normally like the fuss of party's, particularly for himself, he thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Spread was made with

napkins, paint, manilla tags and coin envelopes, black aqualip pens and white signo pen

Far too often we let this crazy pace of life get in the way of connecting with those close to us. It's time's like these that we are reminded that we have to make the time, even if only for a short message or text to say hello, or an hour long phone call to catch up. Life's too short.

Nurture those relationships that feed your soul, that make you feel good right down to your bones.

Namaste

Lee