The art of contentment...

Today's been one of these magical days where (most ;)) things have gone right. :) Even (or thanks to?) the usually tiresome excursions have gone smoothly and without fussing and/or fighting. :) I found this quote over at Hay Quaker and it just fit perfectly.  :) :) :)

"The art of contentment is the recognition that the most satisfying and the most dependably refreshing experiences of life lie not in great things but in little. The rarity of happiness among those who achieved much is evidence that achievement is not in itself the assurance of a happy life.

The great, like the humble, may have to find their satisfaction in the same plain things."

- Edgar A. Collard, 1974

BusyBusyBusy!

It sure is a change to go from stressed out student, who takes time to blog to make her head stop buzzing to an almost (at least if I include the commute time) full-time working mum...who barely has any time left over to blog... :) I'd not have believed it before but I feel like I've got more time for the kiddies now that I'm working than I did as a 9-5 student...or perhaps I just take more time for them...? :)

What I mean to say is...I'm still here...still got stuff to 'say'. :)
Please stay tuned. ;)

Love&Light,

Women Food and God

Where to start...? :)

I can't stand self-help-books with advice on empowerment, affirmations all that hooplah. Blah, blah, blah, yeah-yeah I'm beautiful and special and someone... Bleh! :p

But! After seeing Geneen Roth on Oprah a while back I went...wow... That makes sense... What an absolutely brilliant, beautiful, simple and bold idea... No more diets. Eat what my body wants...when I'm hungry, with pleasure... (etc.!) I have to learn more!

I ordered the book, still quite convinced it might end up as a never-ending 'toilet read', and it was laying about the house for a bit 'til I finally put in in my bag to have something to read on the long comute to work. On the third page (I think, lil'sis had my copy) I did the first of many 'dog-ears' and after the first chapter I started digging in my bag for a pen so that I could underline the awesomeness that leaped at me from the pages! I never underline things in books I read for pleasure...that's 'honour' ;p is soley for school book...except for this book! Wow... So beautifully simple, heart wrenchingly honest and...excellent.

There's so much I want to adress about this book! :) SO much underlined and dog-eared and many many light-bulb-moments... and as I said previously it can work/help anyone with any type of obsession or addiction if you manage to translate what Geneen has to say about food to your specific 'issue'. I might return with more when my sisters (older sis is waiting for her turn too ;)) are done reading. :)

One of my many favourite parts of the book is when she talks about the eating guidelines (I cringed - I'm too much of a 'permitter' ;) to cope with 'guidelines') 'til the part where she shares about an experience when she realised her students just didn't get it and she had to re-explain them as 'If love could speak...'-guidelines (the exact wording escapes me!) and I got major goose-bumps...'cause it was soooo true...! If Love, rather than 'The Voice', spoke to me...I'd not treat myself the way I do...the way I did.

I will not lie when I say that this was/is one of those Life Changing Books. I see things clearer, about myself and about food... I have let Love speak to me.

Yeah :D I looooved this book!

7 out of 5 stars! ;)

Oprah.com has plenty of interesting stuff on this book too! I didn't think I'd write as much as I have 'cause a lot can be found there. An excerpt, videos and more...go have a look and if you have even a slight obsessive streak...read this book!

Love&Light,

:)

My resolve is strong...! (in case you thought I'd caved in! ;))

Yeah, as previously written I'm 'zen' in a Me-kinda-way not in a practical, marital or financial sort of way ;p sooo...there will be, and are, bumps in the road ahead.

March and April were sorta hang-about-the-house-months for me so I had plenty of time for blogging... Now that I'm back to work and there's a clearer divide between family, work and 'spare time'...in that order of priority! Sooo...my posts might be slightly fewer and further between than recently...just so you know. :)

Life in general is...'OK'. It's difficult to find the right word for it since it's been soooo long since it was somewhat 'normal' and because it was utterly crap this winter 'good' is way too stong of a word for this...truce (?) we're currently experiencing. We're currently negotiating the peace treaty and its a treacherous track... Time (my most beloved and despised companion) is needed in these negotiations and that's what's been 'given'.

Love&Light,

Testing! Testing!

Well but of course! *rolls eyes* Let's try my resolve with yet another sleepless, useless, shitpile of a night...!! Well, why not?! ...why not...??  :´[

So, here I go...

I promise to love, honour and respect myself, so that I may be the best person I can be for those who I love and who love me in return.

By treating myself with kindness and compassion I stand as an example to others

(most importantly to my children)

of how they too can, and should, consider and treat themselves and others. We should not allow anyone, least ourselves, to put us down or dull our shine.

In the vast Universe there is only one of me

 and I am better than I hold myself to be.

From now on I will treat myself as I as well as I would want others to treat me, with love.

Love&Light,

Would you take the pledge with me...for you?

Zen...?

Things are...falling ...into place for me... Not in a practical, marital or financial sort of way but in a Me-kinda-way. :)

Just over a year ago I had this 'same' vibe too, I wrote about it in the family blog and the feeling stayed with me for a while...

I wrote then, April 2010:
****
On my way home from school today I got this awesome "I'm alright"-feeling. I was (I am!) good. Life kinda sucks sometimes but I really wouldn't changes things either...!

How boring would Life be if it just stood still?! No lesson's learnt, no life experience gained…! I like things/life to move and change and surprise me, not test me but challenge me…

Last year [2009] was eons from great, nowhere near good and far from alright… It was… manageable, mainly because I didn't know what else to do with life, but to manage it. It was hard, trying and heart breaking at times. But! I grew, like I've never grown before...! Thanks to all that crap I'm stronger, more secure in myself and more confident then I have been for a long time, if ever before!

Life still isn't great but it has the potential to be! :) Now we're mostly alright, sometimes even good and that gives me hope. No matter how Life evolves, what road I end up taking I hope, truly hope, that I'll not lose this zen-feeling - that things will be alright. That I am alright…

Where did that original feeling come from...? Because I've "always" had this it'll work out/it'll be alright-attitude to things...! I wish I was more "zen" about it - I'd stress less if I could truly embrace it...but! I've always had this gut-feeling that no matter what I choose, what path I walk - things will be alright in the end. Life will find a way to sort things out...

If I was religious I guess I'd call it faith in God or something but I'm not religious... But, I still have Faith, in Life...in me...?

Gosh! …someone must have been sending me an awesomeness vibe out of this world 'cause this isn't the "usual" passing feeling it's more and it's kinda cool! :)

*lol* Now don't think I've completely changed on you! ;)

Believe me, after a few tantrums (from both little ones!) before dinner was even on the table I'd lost a good bit of my "zen" *lol* but now that kiddies are asleep and when things have calmed down a bit I'm there again…

Cool.
****

The good feeling continued, more in April 2010:
****
How weird...or is it actually more weird to not have contentment as a "normal setting" in ones life? Hmm...?

What brought this "thing" on...? Spring? Weight loss?? The volcano...? ;) :D Why do I feel the need to poke at why, rather than just accept that things are...good...?? I'm good.

Weird... Or?
*lol*

I am OK. That really shouldn't feel weird, should it...!? 'Cause the option of feeling not OK really doesn't appeal to me either...! :)

I'm trying my hardest to accept and embrace this "vibe" I'm feeling but... (no but's!!)
****

This 'Zen-thing' has come over me again...now not in a surprising way, more of a reminder and it'd feel creepy if I wasn't so...'zen' about it... I feel... kind. calm. settled. safe. beautiful. lighter.

The words are sort of getting stuck in my head, I feel too bold (and somewhat embarrassed) for typing them. I keep deleting and rewriting the same things over and over and over all the while with this crazy ass smile on my face... *shaking my head*

I even wrote a vow to myself. *lol*
Dare I post it 'too'...? I'm feeling a bit loopy as is so I'll try and settle, some more...wait. Feels like I need to wait. So. I'm. waiting.

Love&Light,

I speak not of unknown things.

Outside my window... darkness...it's late. During the day its the kind of sweet almost lime-green of early spring and baby leaves all around. :)

Around the house... So-so. :) Husband's been in charge of the house while I've been working and coming home late and it's not too bad actually. ;) Hoovering isn't his 'thing' (yet?) so I'll do that tomorrow when I'm off. :) :)

I'm wearing... pj's...should be in bed already! ;p

I'm reading... nothing at the mo!? :O

I'm hearing... commercials on the TV.

I'm learning... all the time. :)

I'm thinking… I'm too tired for this. ;)

I'm hoping... I'll ge a lie in tomorrow morning.

I'm grateful for... a lot of things lately. The small things in life mainly and that feels good.

Low note... Coming home late, past kiddies bedtime, three nights in a row. I miss, and therefore appreciate more, the 'chaos' of putting kiddies to bed.

High note... Seeing the joy and pride on little miss' face when she showed me the cupcakes she'd baked with her daddy last Saturday. That joy multiply by about a gazillion when I was allowed to taste one and (of course!) told her it was the best cupcake I'd ever had. :) :) :) It is the little things that count. :) I think we were both as thrilled as each other... ♥

Light...? Working on/with self-compassion ...I think that might be key... seems to be...'working'...(?)

Love&Light,

Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that

A friend of mine posted a quote on facebook as a counter reaction to all the joyous celebrations, off- and online, over the death of a certain well-known long-sought-for terrorist. The quote was credited to Martin Luther King and I'd only ever heard the end of it, 'Darkness cannot drive out darkness...' before. I was going to repost the quote on my fb-page too but, I like to have at least few 'known', or more correctly 'trusted', sources to quotes I use and... I couldn't find any 'reliable' source that could assure me that the full quote indeed was MLK's. I did find this though. So, rather than reposting a possibly fake quote I'll post the original, powerful quote (which is good without any new (?) additions) which I could find several 'reliable' sources to. :)

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.

Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate.

In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. ... Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness:
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate:
only love can do that."

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

First week @ work.

"Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy."

- Khalil Gibran

I love (and as usual when it comes to Gibran I agree with) those words, and sure...I might not feel that strongly about my job but, I do enjoy it. :) It's been a good first week back and I feel good, better than I thought I would, about going back. It has given me the rest and break from a great deal of the inner stress I was feeling before I made the decision to go back to work.

The 1½ hour commute (on public transport, i.e. the bus) to and from work has also given me space to just be, breathe and read and I just finished reading Women, Food and God, which I though was excellent. I'm considering forcing Husband to read it too - even if he's neither a woman or has issues with food (although I do think Geneen might say he does)... He does obsess about things and I think if he (or anyone else with obsessions or obsessive traits) can translate what is written about food and aimed at women to his specific 'issue' he too could get a great deal from this book.

I will return with a more complete review at a later point, but you already have a sense of where I'll be going with it. ;) :)

I have also had some time to think about my Word and I might (?) have reached somewhat of an epiphany... (shouldn't one be sure if one has!?) but...I'm mulling over it a bit before I share... ;)

So...I've got some things to share with y'all, we'll see when I have the time! :)

Love&Light,