For Today

Tags

conscious effort, For Today, gratitude, happiness, life, poetry, rabrindranath tagore, simple pleasures, simple womans daybook

Another day, another window. This window overlooks a patchwork of suburban gardens and in the distance the constant hum of the motorway competes with the noises of the suburbs. Blackbirds singing and wood pigeons cooing drown out the cries of a child as she falls from the swing that her parents have erected in an attempt to keep up with the neighbours who have a trampoline. I am sad about the trees that have been cut back to allow for play gyms and trampolines. Sad that the children of todays generation will rarely learn to plant a sunflower and watch it grow, see the bees buzzing as they collect nectar from flowers no longer in existence and smell the sweetness of a newly mowed lawn.

I am thinking, as my eyes skim over the five gardens backing onto this one, that  I am saddened by the lack of flowers, the trees that have been cut back to allow for play gyms and trampolines. Sad that the children of todays generation will rarely learn to plant a sunflower and watch it grow, see the bees buzzing as they collect nectar from flowers no longer in existence and smell the sweetness of a newly mowed lawn.

I am thankful for the times spent in my own garden in days gone by. As a child I grew up with only a back yard and a small front garden. Perhaps that is why I have strong desire to have my own garden. Right now, as I travel from place to place and, until I settle again, I have to take the chance to enjoy gardens when I can. London has lots of hidden gem gardens and I am learning that there is great beauty in all kinds of gardens. I am grateful to have found some real little havens.

In the kitchen of the house in which I am currently staying is very little in the way of love. I never really thought about how much love a kitchen can share. For me, the kitchen is the heart of my home. Baking, cooking, making pots of tea, jam bubbling on the stove and cordial brewing on the worktops, bread rising and biscuits cooling. All of these things were ever present in my childhood. I still do all of these things and realise now, as I wander, how much these things ground me and give me purpose. How comforting it can be when worried by something to just roll up my sleeves and knead some bread or to stand at the stove mixing a pot of bubbling soup. Small things in life but important to life. This kitchen is a functional kitchen, the lady of the house now gone. The essence of her spirit no longer present as the kitchen becomes a place to pass through rather than a place to linger.

I am wearing a grin. Despite the melancholic tones of my witterings above, right now, today, my life is good. I am calm and collected and in the moment. The blackbirds singing, the pigeons cooing and the hum of the motorway in the distance all these things are sounds of life and life is good.

I am creating a capsule wardrobe. Slowly  but surely I am discarding things from my case. I have more than enough for my needs and lightness matters. Not only in the things that I carry but in spirit. I am fast learning that the less I have, the lighter I become in many ways.

I am on a journey. It may not be one I chose, it may not be one I would choose again but, nevertheless, I am on this journey. I therefore choose to enjoy this journey, to learn something new each day and to make sure that I put those lessons into practice.

I am wondering where the next few days wil take me.” Will I have rainbows, day after day? We’ll have to wait and see” words from Que Sera Sera just jumped into my brain (oh I do love a bit of Doris Day) but I don’t believe in Que Sera, Sera. I believe in taking each and every opportunity and making it work for me. No “Whatever will be will be” for me. Life is for living not for allowing myself to accept anything less than I want to accept. For grasping it by the horns and shaking every last little drop out of it.

I am reading The Art of Being Brilliant, revised version, after attending the utterly Brilliant conference yesterday. What a motivational day that was for me. Right at a time when I needed it most. In general I am a positive person, ever the optimist, glass half full kinda gal. Sometimes though we all need a little reminder of how good life can be but how it can only be good when you can appreciate the small things. I want to live my life brilliantly and I intend to work on doing just that.

I am hoping to load up Hermann later and head off to the Lake District for a few days. I have a few days off work and I want to make the most of them. The weather forecast suggests rain for the next few days and then a heatwave when I head back to London to start work. So, in true half glass full style I intend to get out there and dance in the rain.

I am looking forward to spending five whole days with Max my dog. I miss him so much when I am away. He is my rock, my soul mate and my defender. To sit with Max by a lake on a hilltop or in the middle of a field whilst doing nothing is my idea of heaven.

I pondered the need to take some time off this week. Other than my conference I had nowhere to go and nothing to do specifically. My pondering (some may call it navel gazing) helped me to understand that having nowhere to go and nothing to do is exactly the right time to take off work. A book, a bag, a campervan, an idea of an area to head to, a map and my dog is just about all I need right now.

A favorite poem for today

Freedom

Freedom from fear is the freedom
I claim for you my motherland!
Freedom from the burden of the ages, bending your head,
breaking your back, blinding your eyes to the beckoning
call of the future;
Freedom from the shackles of slumber wherewith
you fasten yourself in night’s stillness,
mistrusting the star that speaks of truth’s adventurous paths;
freedom from the anarchy of destiny
whole sails are weakly yielded to the blind uncertain winds,
and the helm to a hand ever rigid and cold as death.
Freedom from the insult of dwelling in a puppet’s world,
where movements are started through brainless wires,
repeated through mindless habits,
where figures wait with patience and obedience for the 
master of show,
to be stirred into a mimicry of life. 

Rabindranath Tagore

A peek into my day

This post is part of a series of posts over at Simple Woman’s daybook. Why not head on over and read a few others. Better still why not post your own thoughts For Today