In the space between the edge of the night and the chaos of the day, you have a chance to make a special space for yourself.
In this space, thoughts and contentment neatly overlap, where past and future issues cease to exist, and time touches eternity.
Hovering about your mind, as you gently begin to stir, there are beautiful visions no one has ever seen and soothing harmonies no one has ever heard.
These first few moments of the day are sacred.
Savor them.
Protect them.
Awaken yourself peacefully, stretch fully and breathe deeply in them without rushing forward.
Give yourself this time as a gift, to simply be and feel alive, to conquer the anxiety of life, and live in the moment breath by breath.
Monthly Archives: March 2016
Like water
The most prolific experience is not in achieving something, but in seeking it.
It is the journey towards an endless horizon that matters….goals that move forward with you as you chase them. It’s all about the pursuit and what you learn along the way, the moving.
The most important reason for moving from one place to another is to see what’s in between. In between is where passions are realized, love is found, strength is gained, and memories are made. You can’t get any of that without firsthand living.
Life is a series of natural and continuous changes….everything is a moving target. What’s truly important is to embrace these changes as they happen. To let life’s happenings flow naturally forward, and to swim proficiently with the current. Your body, after all, is over 60% water.
Learn to flow like the water that’s already a major part of who you are.
Water never resists.
Water’s strength is in its patience, persistence and adaptability. It can’t stop everything that’s thrown at it, but it always goes around obstacles and through them.
Very few things in the end can reliably stand against it. In time, even a small, slow, steady drip can wear away the face of a massive bolder.
So keep this in mind always as you deal with life’s ever-changing obstacles.
Practice your patience and persistence and remember what you’re made of.
Like water, if you can’t go through an obstacle, flow around it.
Flashback Friday with a twist
It’s a Friday that feels like a Saturday. It’s been a day of normal everyday tasks which I had done and dusted by 9 this morning, where that energy came from I really don’t know, but I wish I could be that on form everyday.
So today has been a beautiful spring day, I’ve felt a little warm for the first time in months, I’ve managed to spend time outside which really does not happen in my life at the moment, still I had to wear two jumpers, thermals, two long sleeve t-shirts and my coat, boy I’m sure that must have been a picture for any on lookers. Reynaud sucks. ⛄️
So anyway I found a burst of energy from God knows where and I laid a patio/shed base all on my own. Feeling kinda chuffed with myself if I’m honest. I’ve never done anything like that before but boy don’t I know it know. I need my bed, even though it’s the loneliest place on earth.
You may be thinking, “where are you going with this?”
Well as I was trying my hardest to put a base down for a woodshed, memories came flooding back to me and as it is flashback Friday and I don’t have any posts to share with you, (No posts have been blogged on the 25 March since I started this blog back in 2013) I thought I would share a memory from my childhood instead.
I’m sure we can all remember being given our pocket-money as a child.
I do, I remember how important I felt, having the responsibility of money, how grown up I felt when I was allowed to the corner shop to buy a pick a mix. How I made those 1 pence sweets last the whole week because I was trying so very hard to show responsibility.
Such powerful feelings for such a young child.
One of my strongest memories from my childhood, was saving up 50 pence a week, so I could buy my grandad a birthday present.
I loved my grandad, I really wanted to buy him something special, little did I know back then, what a rat he was, a complete waste of space and an evil man he really was.
Growing up really does suck, I wish I could have worn rose-tinted glasses as children do for the rest of my life. If only the world and the people in it, were really as we saw them as children.
Back to it…… My grandad was train crazy, he had a huge train set, set up in a massive shed at the bottom of his garden.
The hours I spent sat on his knee, watching the trains go round and round. Watching the lights in the buildings light up and helping to change the tracks so trains could get to stations or sidings. It was a mini advantage partly in my mind but also in front of my eyes.
The pure excitement I felt, when I knew I could see how the towns and village had changed since the last time I was there. Such joy from the simplest of things.
So I saved and saved to buy my grandad a new train or carriages for his track, and the day finally came when I counted up my penny’s and ran to the toy/model shop to buy, the most important present.
I still remember every feeling, every bit of excitement, every inch of pride I had for myself, for saving up to buy a pressie which would be just from me, that I had paid for with my own money.
The disappointment when I saw how much everything was in the shop, even the tiny little people and trees were more than I could save in a year. I was crushed, I wanted to do this more than anything and within seconds my dream faded away.
The feeling of determination that I would buy him something but what, you needed a bank loan to do this hobby, wow my grandad must be rich.😜
I spent forever looking around the shop, my hand in my Nan’s as tears filled my eyes. A lump in my throat and a pocket full of change. But not a single thing I could afford.
Until………..
I noticed modelling clay.
I remember the feeling of a smile returning to my face, the sunshine pouring through the window as I jumped up and down, pulling on my Nan’s arm from pure excitement.
Shouting “Grandad can make something for the trains” as I pulled the clay off the shelves.
In those few minutes the world was put to rights.
Such a simple, simple thing had brightened up my whole being, life was once again magical and pure.
I guess that is why flashback Friday’s are important to me, it’s not the day, or even what is written but the feelings, that go with every word that I wrote.
Memories are everything, they are life, love, passion, joy, longing, tears, they are us.
Balance
Life is an endless balancing act. There will always be more than one option and more than one obligation competing for your time. Your power ultimately lies in your small daily choices, one after another, that you use to balance these demands, which gradually create eternal ripples of a life well lived.
You have to find the happy medium that works best for you in your unique situation…the right balance between activity and rest, work and family, passion and money, short-term and long-term goals, getting things done and leaving them undone.
Without balance everything falls out of whack. For instance, when you let your work life, or social life, or family life consume you, and 100% of your energy is focused in that one area 100% of the time, every other area of your life suffers.
If you’re going to get things done right, be successful with your endeavors, and find lasting happiness, you need to balance the various dimensions of your life in a way that makes sense to you and your priorities.
Over time, and with enough experience, you will be able to evaluate any situation and find a happy, healthy equilibrium.
Discontent is the principal necessity of positive growth, but only if you do something constructive with it. Without deviation from what you’ve been doing, progress is not possible.
Don’t be someone who goes through greater lengths to avoid change than you do to obtain what you desire. You must define and embrace the necessary changes that move you forward. Your life will begin to improve when you define precisely what improve means to you. The agonies and frustrations will start to ease only when you have something real and positive to replace them with.
Be specific.
Too close
You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of.
You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.
Sometimes you are just too close to the puzzle to see the big picture.
You need to take a few steps back to gain clarity on the situation.
The best way to do this is to simply take a short break, a breather, a vacation and explore something else for a little while. It will help you return to where you started and see things with a new set of eyes. And people may see you differently too. Returning where you started is entirely different from never leaving.
To let go is to be grateful for the experiences that made you laugh, made you cry, and helped you learn and grow. It’s the acceptance of everything you have, everything you once had, and the possibilities that lie ahead.
It’s all about finding the strength to embrace life’s challenges and changes, to trust your intuition, to learn as you go, to realize that every experience has value, and to continue taking positive steps forward.
Harbor your own inspiration
A new Monday.
A new week.
Have a beautiful one.
Whatever it is you need to achieve in life, take everything in stride, one tiny step at a time. Don’t build mountains in your mind.
Don’t try to conquer the world all at once. When you seek instant gratification you make life unnecessarily painful and frustrating. When you choose instead to treat each moment as an opportunity to make a small, positive, investment in the present moment, the rewards come naturally.
Although each individual effort in each moment may seem to have an insignificant impact when you make it, at some point you’ll look back and realize the momentous impact these moments created once they were added together.
By moving at this sustainable pace, you’ll be able to continue moving forward for as long as it takes to get precisely where you need to go.
Take a step now, then another, and keep on stepping.
In life you can choose, either action and results, or inaction and excuses. You can’t have both. You may not feel like taking another step right now, and that’s fine.
Take a break, rest, and then take another step as soon as possible.
Know that the pain of discipline and persistence is far less than the pain of regret.
Define your own meaning, and harbor your own inspiration. It can only start from your inside…nowhere else.
Growing older
There is something about getting older that changes you, you seem to see things through a different light. Life somehow becomes a lot clearer, more noticeable, more beautiful.
You start to appreciate everything that around you, from the view, the fragrances, the shadows, the light, the people, the books you read, the hobbies you undertake, the friendships, your family.
Friendships seem to be a big change for me, I’ve worked out that it’s better to have fewer friends, than a list of people who are on your social media, that really you know nothing about, you never see them and you wouldn’t go out your way to make plans to go and spend time with them, if we are all honest, they or yourself would only say hi, in the street and move on, that not friendship, well it’s not in my eyes.
Few and far between seems a much better picture, you somehow know that they are the ones you want to spend time with, they are the ones that you will pick the phone up to or randomly message just to make sure they are ok. They are the ones that no matter how long it has been since you last saw them, it only seems like yesterday when you were together. No uncomfortable silence, no word blocks, no uncomfortableness, just contentment and ease.
These are your true friends. The ones that are always there no matter what, the ones that know that we are all getting older but want to share that journey with you. They are the ones that understand that life is hard and that it gets in the way, but no hard feelings arise if you have to cancel or change plans at the last-minute. That to me is what true friendship means.
And that’s one of the good things about adding a number to your year of age, knowing that somehow in that last year or so, you’ve worked out, part of what it means to be honoured to have a few special people in you life.
So as my friends and family toast their glasses to wish me a happy birthday this weekend, I know I’m in the best of company and to me, it makes getting older worthwhile.🎂
Flashback Friday
Do you ever wake up and just know, it’s going to one of those days. The days you just feel ratty, the days you drop or spill everything you touch, the days that every thing you try goes wrong, just one of the days you just want to be over.
I seem to be having a lot of those lately, rraaahhhh, I wish they would just jog on and let me be.
I can feel myself, getting wound up, swearing under my breath at myself, looking for the next disaster to happen.
Maybe it’s that I have been holding in all my emotions for way to long, that I’ve built walls higher than ever before or just the fact that it’s just one of those weeks, so welcome Friday, you couldn’t have come at a better time because I truly need this week to be over.
And as its Friday, that only means one thing, it’s rewind time, so here goes, let’s step backwards to the 18th March 2015.
Enjoy 😃
Don’t be ashamed.
https://icemaidendiaries.net/2015/03/18/dont-be-ashamed/
Nothing is wrong with telling someone else how you truly feel.
Sharing something personal makes you stronger in people’s eyes, and most importantly in your own.
Being able to show the real you when most people would rather hide behind a fake mask is an admirable quality.
So don’t be ashamed to shed a tear.
Being vulnerable only shows that you’re able to face the truth… even the hard truth with dignity.
Open yourself up.
Allow yourself to feel, to be mindful and authentic. Tear down any emotional brick wall you have built around yourself and experience every exquisite emotion, both good and bad.
This is real life.
Pave the path
Character and wisdom are sculpted over time. They come with loss, lessons, and triumphs. They come after doubts, second guesses, and exploring unknowns.
The seeds of your progress are planted in your past failures.
Your best stories will come from overcoming your greatest struggles.
Your praises will be birthed from your pains. So keep standing, keep learning, and keep living. Life really is not easy, but it has to be worth it, right?
If you expect it to be easy, you will perpetually disappoint yourself. Achieving anything worthwhile in life takes time and effort. You must align your efforts with your goals and then start every day ready to run farther than you did yesterday and fight harder than you ever have before.
The beginnings to good things are always the hardest, but it’s these hard times that pave the path to greatness.
Be strong and keep the faith that you can succeed. It will be worth it in the end.
The greatest miracle of your success in life will not be that you finished, it will be that you found the strength and courage to begin.
And remember, it’s not that those who are strong never get weak in the knees, or that they never hold their breath before they embark…….It’s that while their knees are shaking, they force themselves to breath and take the first step.
In the privacy of your mind
In the privacy of your mind, you constantly talk to yourself. Your inner monologue might seem pointless at times, but the truth is the act of talking to yourself can help you learn and maintain a positive lifelong trajectory. Right now, you have more than enough to be happy. Right now, you have the full capacity to find something small to celebrate. Right now, you have a choice to make.
Don’t make the mistake of waiting on someone or something to come along and make you happy. True happiness comes from within, when you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions, and when you choose to focus on what you have, not what you haven’t.
One of the great secrets to happiness is to pay more attention to the beginnings than the endings.
So many people say they want a new life, but then they take the new one they get every morning for granted. Don’t do this. Don’t wait until your life is almost over to realize how great it has been.
A great life begins right now, when you stop wanting a better one.
This moment will never happen again.
Look around.
Cherish your time as you’re living it.
Work towards something, but enjoy the journey of getting from here to there.
Experience each step.
Don’t succumb to a vicious cycle of overbearing productivity that forces you to constantly think about every imaginable time and place except right here, right now. It’s often hard to tell the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory, I know this to well.
Some Day you will likely discover that the small moments you’re living now are really the big ones worth dreaming about.
So learn to appreciate what you have now before time forces you appreciate what you had then.
Ice Maiden Diaries 