Category: 366 days of novice motherhood

Place: bed

Poison: toothpaste

Favourite things: friendship & family

Today I read Save our sleep. With my little mr nearly 6 months I have read a lot of different sleep routines, books and websites.

Until this week we have been doing pretty well, but post tooth number one and two, our sleep has been getting smaller and smaller and our little man has been struggling.

So operation save our sleep began today.

We actually went pretty well.

The only problem is I am most creative before I fall asleep and when you are awake three times or so a night, I am coming up with more and more ideas.

The more ideas, the less energy, the less energy, the more spacey. It goes on and on.

If you’ve had a baby you get it, if not standby.

What can I do about these ideas collecting?

Let them go and pray if they are worth keeping they’ll come back.

How about you?

When are you most creative?

Find a way to capture it.

The shower
The car
The shops

A

Place: home

Poison: Egyptian rice pudding

Favourite things: a quiet house

The last two days we have had strange but sad encounters with elderly people.

Yesterday we were driving to have dinner with our friends and out of the corner of my eye I saw a person lying on a side street road as we passed.

I asked Charl to stop and return to check they were okay.

We found a very elderly lady who had tripped badly down the curb and was in immense pain on the road.

An ambulance was called, a doctor stopped as he drove past and humanity gathered to help this nameless senior citizen.

I was proud of the neighborhood and their growing response and love but was deeply moved by the pain of this dear old lady.

Then this morning as I spoke at a church a dear old man caught my eye. He smiled richly as I spoke and made my heart feel safe.

Then after the service had finished I walked into the foyer and saw this dear man had fallen from his wheelchair and cracked his head outside the church.

My heart sank.

I was reminded about how fragile yet how deeply precious our senior citizens are.

One of the greatest times in my week is when I spend time with my 88 year old Granma. Her squeals of delight as she bounces my son, her cheeky grin as I tease, her pearls of wisdom that I crave.

Our elderly in our community are deep caverns of wisdom yet how often they are ignored and dismissed.

How I wish I could yell from the rooftops the lessons they have not only learnt but survived.

My Granma was in the army for a season of terrible armed conflict, she survived seasons of terrible drought and depression, she survived on a farm that was plagued by progress, she has endured the technological age and thrived.

Dont forget those who have gone before us.

I believe the lessons they have paved provide perspective to keep us safe.

Sit and have a cuppa with someone over 70 soon. I promise you won’t regret it.

A

Place: cafe

Poison: Pepsi max

Favourite things: gym on Saturday mornings

We all need a dose of perspective sometimes.

Often I get lost in my sense of injustice that I lose perspective. I lose sight of what truly matters. I forget how blessed my life is.

The fact that I have food in my fridge is a bonus not a right.

I remember a story of a little man called Got. I met him in a village in the middle of Thailand. He was orphaned by aids and he was super excited the day I met him because an Aunt had come to visit. (he got to see her maybe once every couple of years) and she had given him a one dollar note equivalent (baht actually) as a present.

He was overwhelmed with excitement. One dollar. He ran immediately to the village shop and bought himself an icecream. The most expensive one. A drumstick.

He ran back to where I was sitting with a group of his orphan friends. With the cheekiest, craziest smile on his face. An icecream that extravagant was a once in a few year treat.

What happened next took my breath away. He proceeded to walk from child to child, orphan to orphan and give each child a lick of his icecream.

Tears streamed down my face.

One little man with so much loss, had shared the only little thing he had.

Perspective gained.

How often are you stopped from giving because you question motive, you question how they will use it, you question?

This weekend is the 40hr famine for world vision and I am so aware of the compassion fatigue that has become rampant in our society.

Every news piece about the asylum seekers raises a groan, we allow the messages on social media about injustice to float by, we ignore the plight of the forgotten.

The truth is we have so much. We are overwhelmed by choice, we have the resource to not only buy a icecream but the whole factory if we really worked at it.

What stops you from being part of the answer?

Often I find…

Perspective

A

Place: home

Poison: flat white

Favourite things: being home

Fear holds so many of us captive.

Fear holds us in a place of condemnation and constraint.

What holds you back?

Curiosity compels us forward but fear keeps us contained?

What contains you?

What keeps you living small?

What stops you from giving? What stops you from living life beyond your now?

Curiosity.

Are you curious about what your life beyond today could contain?

Live a curious life. One of searching, seeking, trying to find the fresh new perspective, learning something new.

A curious person is a person who is propelled towards growth.

Has your life become stagnant from fear. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of public opinion, fear of being different, fear of loosing yourself.

Fear.

Combat your fear today with curiosity.

Live curious.

Instead of thinking about walking inside that art exhibition, do it.

Instead of thinking about going to higher education to learn a new skill, do it.

Instead of thinking I might join that dance class, step inside and look. Set yourself free.

Fight fear with curiosity for the future.

Be curious and combat your fear.

A

Place: hairdressers

Poison: tea

Favourite things gumtree

What do you love doing?

What do you procrastinate with?

What do you do and time flies?

Life is way to short to hate your everyday.

Are you bold enough to do what you love?

Every job has its hard times, every job has painful clients/people/colleagues, every career has moments of growth.

BUT

What can you put up with, to mostly do what you love?

How can you make a living out of what you love?

Then embrace it, follow it, dream after it and make it happen.

I am realizing that life is just way too short.

If it means you live with less, you sell off some of your excess and live lighter.

Do it.

Stuff is just that.

A new wardrobe won’t make you sing (unless your passion is fashion)

A new car loses its smell very quickly

But passion and happiness cannot be bought.

Live what you love today.

A