Practice Practice Practice

I started knitting. It's not much, but that's all I could manage while Max the Glow Train was running. It's been on my list of things I'd love to do for a long time now, but come the new year and some serious intention setting, here I am finally following through. It's going to be a scarf for Bear. Then I'm going to knit some washcloths, learn some different stitches and one day, attempt something big. Sometimes, the hardest things is just to start. And once you do start, it's a case of practice practice practice.

You might have noticed I've been posting a lot the last few days. That too, is something that has come from some deep intention setting. I've missed writing in this space and I had lost touch with how much I enjoy the act of creating here. So in keeping with my practice practice practice outlook, I've challenged myself to write every day for a year. Not that I necessarily think I'll blog every day for a year, but I'm aiming for 28 days per month - optimistic I know! Might as well aim high.

We'll see. In any case I'm loving being back in this space regularly and I'm enjoying the process of documenting my path back to simple, mindful, sustainable. And spiritual. And I'm thrilled to see so many readers have stuck around. Thanks all, it's great to be back.

Gratitude.

My biggest intention for 2016 is to get back to simple living, after feeling like I've let go of so much of what I had intentionally created in previous years. Part of the learning experience, I suppose. I have to say that, now living in a small city, I struggle to pull back the 'simple' as I feel the rush, the bustle and the busy so intensely. So that is part of my work, now, being in a place that doesn't necessarily feel mindful, simple or slow, yet being able to bring those aspects back into my own life. Living in the country definitely, in my experience, makes it easier to live simply. And I am yearning to go back, but the journey really begins on the inside, so I will be taking steps every day to get back to my simple, mindful, sustainable life - all the things I started writing this blog for back at the start.

I bought myself a special little journal book, to become my gratitude journal. I suppose I feel like I've been drifting along in my life the past year, lost my way somewhat, and it's time to get serious about doing the things I want to be doing in this life, one journal entry at a time. In truth, I probably haven't 'lost' my way so much as found my way, just a bit differently than before. All the small changes along the way - this little thing and that little thing - the little changes we can make, once they become the new 'norm', can result in a big change in how we live. And I guess that's what this journal is helping me do, on a daily basis, little by little and step by step. Starting now.

Being in a state of gratitude for what we already have is such a wonderful place for bringing in even more things to feel grateful for. By being grateful for what we have, it suddenly starts to become 'enough' and sometimes even more than enough. The more we practice being grateful, the more we have to feel grateful for. It all comes down to energy - what we focus our energy on is what we 'vibrate' at (since everything is energy), and since like attracts like, we draw in and are drawn to, other energy that vibrates like us. So in being grateful, we draw in more situations, circumstances, opportunities and people that we can feel grateful for. Being very mindful of what we are giving our attention, our energy to, is so important in creating the life we want.

My daily gratitude journal writing is in two parts - the first is what I'm feeling grateful for, and the second is what I'm dreaming about - the things I want to bring into my life and my experience. The two combined are a powerful way of bringing dreams and intentions to reality. It all comes down to that focusing of energy, being in a state of gratitude for what we have and focusing in on what we want. I actually started writing in my gratitude journal a few days ago now and I'm loving the experience. I've committed myself to writing in it daily for the year (and hopefully for many years) and of course there will be days and phases where I don't feel like doing it, where life is too busy, I'm too tired or any other excuse the ego can possibly come up with. But my intention is that it happens daily, because it is important.

And one of the things that I've been dreaming about lately is knitting, which I knew how to do when I was a kid. Starting back down that path, dreaming of knitted little jumpers and knitted big cardigans. And lavenders, I'm forever dreaming of lavenders.

Do you keep a gratitude journal? What are you dreaming of in 2016?

Being Vulnerable

Why does soy milk bubble the way it does? And when did I become a soy chai person?

I'm not sure why, but vulnerability is a thing for me at the moment. It's coming at me left, right and centre. It's in on the page in a book I flipped open, it's in a topic for a parenting course I'm doing, it's there in an email I open up [instead of sending straight to the trash].

So what's the go?

Being vulnerable is risky. If I am vulnerable, I am open to being hurt. I am open to criticism without my defences kicking in, I am open to being used and betrayed. But also, in being vulnerable, I am open to receiving - open to blessings, open to seeing old situations in new ways, open to receiving love and compassion from those around me.

It's not an easy thing, to be vulnerable. We spend our lives building our story, our 'who I am', so we are safely protected, and not left vulnerable. To be vulnerable, is to rely on other people. To be vulnerable, is to trust other people. So if we strip all that back, detach from our story, allow everything to just 'be' without any thought as to consequences, what do we get?

I'm not quite sure yet. But I feel I'm being guided to do just that. Blogging itself creates vulnerability, unless that is, you play it very safe. Writing this post makes me feel vulnerable - what will people think?  

So, here's to being vulnerable, and it being [hopefully] all ok. Happy weekends, lovely readers.

Declared: A Year of Decluttering

Last year we decided we were having a year of consolidation [which you can read about here]. And it was pretty good really, we feel that we have 'consolidated' our lives a lot. Unexpected things came out of it, like moving from our house in the country to a regional town again, and some of the things we knew we needed to do were also done, like consolidating bank accounts. Things that you can just put off, and put off, and put off. Still a few loose ends to be tidied up, but all in all, we feel consolidated, for now.

Audrey and Beryl enjoying a dust bath under my little quince tree [in need of a tidy up..]. But what have chickens got to do with decluttering?

So this year, we have decided that our focus is on decluttering. There's nothing like moving house to highlight how much excess 'stuff' we are carrying. So it's all about going through our belongings, sorting out what is staying, what can go, and then making it happen. We made a good start on the process late last year, using the local paper to rehome some of our unwanted and unnecessary things - an extra baby car seat, a hand-me-down porta-cot [we co-sleep, so it seemed unnecessary], a home brew kit that was an unwanted gift. And this represents just the tip of the iceberg.

I'm not even thinking about declutting my books at this stage, although I did have one of those 'ah-ha' moments recently where I realised I could, I really really could, actually part with at least half of my book collection. I could, but it seems pointless when we have some built-in floor to ceiling bookshelves in this house. So perhaps for the next move I will tackle the books. For now, we have a shed full of extra bits and old things and bikes and broken lawnmowers. An extra bed, his old speakers, my old gym equipment. Two extra washing machines, a second pram. Desks we don't use.

It's a big job. That's why we've decided this whole year is dedicated to the big declutter. Little things from the house can also go - clothes, toys [already, and our son is not even 10 months old!], kitchen appliances we don't use, little belongings that hold no meaning for us. It is an ongoing process. I dream of a house and shed where there is space, and room to breathe. A place for everything and everything in its place. Nothing that doesn't need to be there. No clutter. No climbing over garden tools that lie sprawled over the shed floor, with all the shed space taken with unnecessary things. 

Do we really need a whole year dedicated to the process? I think we do. If last year is anything to go by, we didn't feel like we even started our 'consolidation' until the middle of the year! Plus keeping our focus on this whole decluttering thing is helping us make better purchasing decisions. Already we see this thing or that, and think hmmm that would be ok - or is it just an unnecessary thing? Something to use once or twice a year? Hardly worth it. We are becoming smarter consumers. This whole decluttering business feels like the hangover from poor purchasing decisions in the past.

And what of the chickens? Well, we need to do some decluttering in that department too, as little miss Frankie has got five baby cheep cheeps running around now, bringing the tally in our little town backyard to eight. Of which, potentially five can be roosters. What were we thinking?