Tips for coping

wear dresses in bed
get a cat
watch the little things
talk to your soul
love in the depths


Today's favourite song: Natalie Merchant, 'My Skin'

Serenity, Peace and Strength

6pm, Friday night, I am in bed. I am breathing slowly and chanting my favourite mantra...

serenity, peace and strength

(it gets me through some tough times)

Am in my jim jams, two cats under the duvet with me. My friends Lucozade and Ibuprofen sitting by my side.

The reason for this early retirement from the world is 'The Warning Signs'.

The Warning Signs are the signs I get that I am headed for am m.e. episode...

.....my limbs ache, my head is fuzzy, my chest and throat are sore, I feel very tired and very weak. When I get the warning signs I need to STOP and REST in order to stop the attack. Sometimes I'm too late, sometimes I'm ok. Tonight, I'm somewhere in between.

So, that is why, on a Friday night at 6pm I am in my jim jams and in bed.

Sometimes I feel sorry for myself, thinking about the revellers next door and how much fun they're having (i live next door to a pub). Sometimes I feel sad, for having been interrupted from doing something I love in order to force myself to rest. Sometimes I don't feel sad at all... like tonight.

I think about all the people out there who dearly wish that they could settle down in bed at 6pm on a Friday, with nothing to do and no one to see: all those cooking dinner for their families, all those still at work, all those starting their late shifts, all those still on their way home in the rain.

And here I am, all quiet, two cosy cats at my side, breathing slowly and deeply into the quiet.

..serenity, peace and strength.

..I. AM. Serenity ... Peace ... and Strength.

These precious words that keep my alive, keep me going, keep me brave, keep me strong.


Today's favourite song: Nas, 'Hero'

Where are all the photographs...?

... well, I wanted to set up a blog exclusively for my piccies!

This is because as I learn more and more, I wanted to have somewhere I could chart my progress, somewhere to look back on and see what I have learnt, remember my journey.. won't it be great if I can look back at this in 10, 20, 30 years time!!

So that's the grand plan for my photos. That isn't to say I won't still post them here, I will but mainly, they will be here:

www.thebeginningofaphotograph.blogspot.com

Enjoy!


Today's favourite song: The Shins, 'New Slang'

Wow, or, Jill Bolte Taylor's message

The scientific and the spiritual meet...



Today's favourite song: India Irie, 'Video'

Natty rocks

Saw him live last night.

Wow, he was just amazing.. felt like he woke up every bone in my body.

Feels so good to feel his music; feel the words

Loving this man...

First in the queue to get the album:


Loving this song (Bedroom Eyes) {shiver} does sumthin' to me:



Today's favourite song: Natty, 'Last night'

The Alchemy of Illness

In bed again, with a sore throat and no energy.

Again.

Have just cancelled a date with a friend to visit some photograph exhibitions which are only on this week.

Gutted.

Again.

In my sadness I reached out and received this message:

A sacred illness is one that educates us and alters us from the inside out, provides experiences and therefore knowledge that we could not possibly achieve in any other way, and aligns us with a life path that is, ultimately, of benefit to ourselves and those around us.

Deena Metzger
http://www.gratefulness.org/t/body.htm

Wow!

What an awesome, thrilling, inspiring message. It is my path! it is my journey!

How grateful I am to be honoured with this sacred illness and all the blessings it brings me.


Today's favourite song: The Organ, 'Memorize the City'

Scrap Your Day

I'm taking part in this project.


So yesterday was spent taking pictures of everything I did, and everywhere I went.

It was soooo rewarding!

This was because I took lots of pictures that I just wouldn't have taken otherwise...

like the painter decorating the outside of my flat...

like the dvd I was watching...

like my local pub...

What a great (new) way to spend a day!


Today's favourite song: Fool's Garden, 'Lemon Tree'

Red ball

Loving this video. A red ball if ever I saw one...




Today's favourite song: Deep Forest. 'Lullaby'

The Extra-ordinary Life

I just love it when I come across a piece of writing that takes me out of the ordinary and deposits me in the extra-ordinary...

These are two such examples...

Taken from 'A Return to Love' by Marianne Williamson
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

I read this paragraph when I'm feeling frightened, insecure, unsure of what lies ahead and it always, but always, gives me peace.

Taken from 'Stargirl' by Jerry Spinelli
"She was elusive. She was today. She was tomorrow. She was the faintest scent of a cactus flower, the flitting shadow of an elf owl. We did not know what to make of her. In our minds we tried to pin her to corkboard like a butterfly, but the pin merely went through and away she flew... "

I read this book just recently and want to give it to every person I pass on the street. It is a book where, after reading it, you are never quite the same again. It embraces you, cocoons you, then sets you free to be your own 'stargirl'.

Today's favourite song: Ralph Vaughn Williams 'Lark Ascending':

IF you are looking for hope, if you are looking for inspiration, if you are lost in your darkest hour, you will find peace in the above...


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