Openness and Possibilities

Let's all share something about ourselves that no-one else knows. Who wants to go first?

No takers?

How surprising!

Openness is a keyhole we open that lets others see into our deepest self. An opening into the real you - the imperfect, fearful, embarrassed, vulnerable you. And allowing someone to put their eye to that keyhole and see in opens us to ridicule, embarrassment, being despised.

In the spirit of this post, let me share something with you. People usually appreciate openness. Not so long ago I was leading prayers at church. I was standing at the front, praying, and suddenly I was overcome with emotion. I broke down in tears and couldn't go on. I returned to my seat and passed the prayers off to my husband while I sat in my seat and sobbed. Now one of the things you need to understand is that I'm shy. I find it difficult to stand in front of crowds. I fear being ridiculed after being bullied at school. I was mortified that I had lost it in front of the congregation.

But you know something? Nobody laughed at me. In fact, everyone was kind and concerned for me. So I survived. Being vulnerable doesn't have to damage us.  But sometimes you have to open up first and show the way.

Possibilities...

the butterfly in the caterpillar

the plant in the seed

the dreams in my heart

N is for Nature

An A to Z of Me: N is for nature.

My nature is shy and introverted, sensitive, servant-hearted, and I cry easily. I am learning to live with who I am and understand myself. And I am working on those things that need to change. I don't think having a soft heart is a bad thing, but sometimes it gets in the way. Sometimes I need to squash my feelings and toughen up :) It doesn't mean I don't feel things, but to be able to control the emotion that goes with it so the tears don't get in the way.

But then sometimes the tears are necessary.

What's your nature?

M is for Mindfulness

Mindfulness. What does that mean? 

For me it means treasuring up all those little moments that make your heart sing. 

Not letting things pass by unremarked where you could give praise.

Appreciating the small things. 

And here are some of those small things that I appreciate and that make me happy. My three postcards from the Artists in Blogland postcard swap have arrived! I love them. So thanks go out to Penelope Harris, Dawn Maurice, and Cathy Wilson who spent time making something beautiful just for me :)

L is for laughter

Just about halfway through An A to Z of Me challenge now. I used some of the tips from Carolyn Dube's *free* workshop Use Your Words - different fonts, different sizes, print and cursive, capitals and lower case, different colours and orientations. 

So, L is for laughter. Laughter is healing and releasing. Don't you feel better when you've laughed so hard that you've cried? When life is so ridiculously hard or the stress is just so high a good laugh can put things back in perspective. 

WOYWW and K is for Kindness

First up, WOYWW. Here is one desk in all its messy glory :) There are materials at the back, journal page work for An A to Z of Me challenge on the left of the photo, and my daughter's page in progress at the bottom right. In the middle is a Chinese newspaper to be used for some background texture at a later date. 

And here are some close-ups:

journal page in progress - see the photo below for the finished page

Postcards received in the Artists in Blogland postcard swap. One more to come

And the journal page for K is for kindness. I love the quote for this - kindness truly is a universal language. I am trying to grow in it. 

As for being kind to myself, well, I think I manage it most of the time. Occasionally I'm hard on myself and have to learn to be realistic in my expectations. I guess that's coming with age :)

Award nominations!

Oh my goodness, I've been nominated for the Liebster Award! Thank you to BJ for thinking of me :)

About the Award 

This award was designed to be a blog award in the "pay it forward" fashion. Once you've been nominated, you award it to 5 blogs that you like that have fewer than 200 followers to encourage new visitors to visit these blogs.

Rules for Acceptance

Thanks the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog.

Post the award on your blog.

Give the award to 5 bloggers who you appreciate that have fewer than 200 followers.

Leave a comment on their blog letting them know you have given them this awesome award.

Pay It Forward

Here are the 5 blogs that I think are worth a visit.

Liz    Danielle     Kooky   Boo   Janet

P.S. I should add that this award is to promote blogs that you enjoy. There is no award ceremony or anything like that. If you've been nominated you can choose to join in the fun and send people to blogs you enjoy and that they might too. Or you can choose to ignore it. Have fun!

A book on love

Today I finally completed a book on love that I started a while ago. It's made from an old library book. The heart on the cover has sand mixed in to the paint as you might be able to see from the close-up below. 

family love

unrequited love

how do I love thee? 

my love is like a red, red rose

love at first sight

many waters cannot quench love (there is a cut-out on the right-hand
 page that shows through on the next layout)

'til death us do part

love of stuff

greater love... 

Song of Solomon

all hearts and flowers

true love

marriage

a many splendoured thing

index

J is for Journey

What fortuitous timing! An A to Z of Me has reached J is for journey, and Carolyn Dube's *free* workshop - Use Your Words - started with the word 'journey' as well. So this post is a twofer.

Journey. What does that conjure up?

For me there was the journey from one side of the world to the other with all the uprooting that that entailed. I'm not really one for travelling so that was a biggie for me.

There is also the journey of faith. I like the map fragment on this page because it shows two paths going the same way and intertwining. There are people we journey with like that. We are both going in the same direction but the path is slightly different. Of course, there are also people who start out in the same place as us, end up in the same place, but took a completely different route. And that is the fun of journeying. In faith we journey together with the whole Church, our paths crossing and relationships being built. Journeying together is important. When one falls, there is someone there to help them up. When one is in need there is someone there to supply what is lacking. We can advise from our own experience and learn from the journey of another.

Who are you journeying with?

I is for Interests

An A to Z of Me: I is for Interests.

There were two options for this one: the interests I have in terms of hobbies, and the interests as in the Scripture verse. I chose the latter.

I think when you marry and when you become a parent you immediately have to start looking to the interests of others rather than your own. It comes through love. When you love someone you want the best for them even if it means giving up something. When children are small and money is tight there are times where you have to pay for new shoes so that book/new dress/meat for dinner has to wait. Choices have to be made that are sometimes costly to our own desires.

G and H

OK, 2 for 1 today - G for goals and H for humour.

It's important to set goals otherwise how would we know how we are doing along the journey? It gives you a sense of achievement when you can tick the box or see the finishing line coming into sight. I set goals for 2013, one of which was to take more photographs. I'm definitely doing that and building up a stock of texture and colour photos for use in Photoshop and my foray into digital journalling. I'm having fun with it.

And humour. Well, I don't think I'd survive without a sense of humour. Where would we be if we couldn't laugh at life and all it throws at us? It's a safety valve, helping us to release tension, anxiety, worry, stress, and all those negative things that we might otherwise bottle up. Laugh every day - it's good for you :)