Nourish

01 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by in gratitude

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Today it is really bright and I am loving it. It brings warmth and a special kind of comfort. It made me think of the kinds of foods that have offered me solice this winter but as I started to write what those were, my focus changed. I thought about fruit scones with clotted cream and gooseberry jam and the friends I shared them with. Those friends who nourish me by making me laugh at myself and being out in the fresh air with me. Playing Scrabble with a friend for the sake of what words we may build and not the points gained. A sleepy cat who comes in search of a lap. A neighbour’s dog who wants to walk with me. The things I am in the middle of making for birthday gifts. Long phone calls with family. Another piece of wall prepared for painting. And planning days out and possible holidays.

Oh and that sunshine today, and longer evenings, all there filling me up.

 

How about you?

 

Following year 1 of 52 Photos Project, the year 1 galleries are here.                    The current 52 Photos Project is here.

Conversation

25 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in musings

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Conversations

I woke up the other morning and the first thing that crossed my mind was an apology. “Good morning Planet Earth, I am sorry”. The night before I had a conversation with a very caring person who full of sadness said she was in despair for the whole planet. She cannot see a solution, a way of changing the path that we as communities, towns, cities, nations are on. I did not have any answer for her. So the next morning I woke up and I apologised. I paused and sat in that moment. I realised I had to make a choice; sink into the despair that comes from questioning whether we really have learned enough to enact permanent positive change and make better outcomes for everyone OR remember the starfish.

Let me explain. There is a story you may have heard about a man walking on a shore. The tide is out and farther along the shore he sees a man near the water’s edge, repeatedly bending to pick something up off the sand and throw it into the sea. As he gets closer he realises the man is surrounded by hundreds of stranded dying starfish which he is trying to return to the sea. He stops and asks the man why does he bother, there are so many to starfish it does not matter how long he does it he will not succeed in returning them all to the sea. The man picks up the next starfish and looking at it says ‘it matters to him,’ then he throws it back in the sea.

So I am going to concentrate on the next starfish. How? I am fortunate to have some inspiring people to show me the way, their words, their actions, their ways of being have brought me treasures of kindness, insight and joy and I am grateful for their blogs, their conversations. Here are some of them.

And to my friend who despite her sadness at the world, has our friends and neighbours involved in a local resilience May Fair to celebrate what we are able to do and make sure our whole community knows about it.

Joining in with Bella, her prompt this week at the 52 photos project is conversation – it’s week 1 of the third year of this brilliant idea. Have a look here.