Wild Grass by Kevin Dooley

The winds of life often blow us around… and I’ve certainly had my fair share of that lately. Thought I’d do one of those quick update posts about all the bits and pieces.

Where I’ve been when I’ve not been here

You can still find me around the web, even when I’m not here at The Clearing Space (and yeah, I’m very aware I haven’t been here much):

Join me at Twitter (the newest way to watch time fly by) I’m enjoying meeting wonderful new folk and learning something every day!

At The Calm Space (which does take up the bulk of my time these days, as new and exciting things are cooking on the stove…) – this month you’ll find our incredibly wise contributors (and me) writing about Kindness.

At Joyful Jubilant Learning – where my latest article about my journey post-employment and being kind to myself – A time to consolidate, A time to be kind -  has attracted an amazing array of comment conversation! I’m so honoured to be a part of that community of wise, warm and witty learners.

What else has been happening – off-line

We’ve bought a block of land – big enough for horses – and we’re planning our new home! Please throw me any hints and tips on how to handle the stress of building a house, and selling the current one. We’ve never built before… and have been in this home over 15 years!

One of the reasons for my absence lately was a glorious trip, just hubby and I, to Palau last month. Hubby went diving and I learned how to relax! Yes, I was twitchy for the first few days, and there were moments when I panicked at the thought of running out of books to read (I found no book shops on the island) – but we had a fantastic time with the six other Aussies on our trip.

I snorkelled for the first time ever – in a lake full of jellyfish! Here’s the photographic proof. Those things all around me & in the separate photo are the jellyfish…

So, that’s me all caught up. What’s been happening with you?

With an article to get up at Joyful, Jubilant Learning, I borrowed hubby’s laptop and got to it.

My contribution to the April line-up at JJL is A Time for Space:

Whether we need to clean out the fridge, our wardrobe or the entire house; whether we need to reassess relationships to sort the good from the not-so-good; whether we need to turn down the volume a little and retreat; or whether we need to open space in our diaries, cull items from our to-do lists, ditch some obligations or say ‘no’ a little more often: creating space is about making room for living our best life.

You can read the full article at JJL.

My diary has just reminded me of one further thing I’d like to mention. Whilst posting here at The Clearing Space has been sporadic of late – as The Calm Space soaks up my energy and attention – I’m forever thrilled and grateful to those who continue to read here, those who comment and those who let me know privately their reactions to my occasional postings.

Yesterday, in amongst the kerfuffle of the laptop drama, was The Clearing Space’s Fourth Birthday!

When I began writing here at the suggestion of Leah Maclean, way back in 2005, I don’t think I ever imagined a fourth birthday happening. I took it day by day. Writing here has taught me that occasionally what I need to write is what someone else needs to hear. And that is the reason I have never given it up, despite it looking a little like I was going to sometimes.

If you’re reading this, then you are someone I truly value. Thank you from the bottom of my heart – the birthday wishes are all for you.

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, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are 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 get goosebumps every time I read that! What about you?

Now here’s how I was reminded…

Joyful, Jubilant Learning is that wonderful community place where I sit in awe of the wisdom, generosity, acceptance and love of those who contribute and those who join in the conversations. And for the month of March, and half way into April it’s A Love Affair With Books time! My favourite time of year at JJL…

The book I read and selected for review this year is Marianne Williamson’s The Age of Miracles: Embracing the New Midlife.

I have to admit this book sat on my shelf for quite some time while I came to terms with the fact that, yes, I probably am in midlife now… and not something younger. Sigh…

After reading this book, I’m no longer in such fear of being ‘older’ and not quite so ‘cool’ as I used to be. In fact, being cool was never something I aspired to. My kids have words for me that I don’t think will change with age. Words like weird, hippy, and crazy.

You can read the full review, and the wonderful comment conversation on JJL here. Will you join in the conversation?

Why not check out the rest of the book reviews while you’re at it. We’ve had an amazingly diverse range of books reviewed so far – and many more to come! Here’s to an overflowing list of books to be read!

The Calm Space celebrates it’s first birthday this month with a huge lineup of prizes, and wonderful articles, ideas and celebrations on the theme of Adventuring.

Happy 1st Birthday Calm Space and a huge thank you to all our wonderful contributors!

Joyful, Jubilant Learning (or JJL as it’s affectionately known) also celebrates with two years of wonderful writing, learning and conversation! I am a proud contributor to JJL, and you can find some of my recent articles here. Take a look at the wonderful conversations that happen there in the comments, they really warm my heart.

Happy 2nd Birthday JJL!

A Love Affair with Books is continuing throughout March at Joyful, Jubilant Learning. Each day, there is a new review posted on a book someone loves. So far, I’ve been intrigued, inspired, and motivated to add books to my ever-expanding list of books to read.

And there is so much more to come…

I cannot recommend highly enough these reviews, and the conversations they encourage. Stop on by and take a look. Interact.

You know how sometimes if you’re browsing on Amazon (oooh, what a time burner that can be), or in your favourite bookshop. You feel in need of a good book. Some inspiration, a fresh point of view, something different to widen your horizons, or something to solve a particular dilemma.

And you get frustrated… books aren’t cheap (especially here in Australia), and I don’t know about you, but I don’t think my husband would take kindly to me spending every cent I earn on books (although I could, easily). Your time is valuable too… too precious to waste on books that aren’t worth reading.

Sometimes it would be great to have a specific recommendation. Something tangible that you can sink your teeth into and say – “Yes! that’s the book I want to read next”.

That is what is so good about the annual Love Affair with Books… great people, people I trust, giving their recommendations on such a diverse range of books. I don’t think I have finished all the books I found in last year’s affair, and yet – here I am adding again!

Of course, I’d love you to read my review of A Perfect Mess: the Hidden Benefits of Disorder. How crammed closets, cluttered offices, and off-the-cuff planning make the world a better place by Eric Abrahamson and David H Freeman – it has generated some very interesting conversations.

PS I really do need a new bookshelf or five… just as the heading says!

How do you manage your time?

[Wait! Let me just jump up on my soapbox here for a minute... I hate the term 'time management' - you cannot manage time! I prefer to call it Time Organisation. I'll climb back down now, let me start again...]

How do you organise your time?

How do you decide what you do in any given moment during your day?

Do you plan ahead, have it all mapped out… your diary full of ‘things to do’?

Or are you more a ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ type, seeing where mood and circumstance takes you?

Do you like being scheduled and knowing what you have on, or do you hate to plan ahead – preferring to see what options present themselves moment by moment?

I was talking to a lovely lady called Bronwynne at a dinner party recently. She is a coach and consultant for businesses who want to get the best out of their staff. One of the things she does for them is a personality profile – and apparently the traits I have mentioned above are often key to getting the best out of yourself and your staff. If you like to know what you’re doing, when you’re doing it, how long you’ll be doing it and all this three weeks ahead of time – then apparently you’ll more than likely fit into her definition of ‘precisionist’.

This intrigued me as my youngest son and I continually butt heads over this very issue. He’ll ask me on Monday morning what we are doing next weekend. He needs to know. He has always thrived on routine, on knowing what is happening ahead of time. He likes to be organised.

Me? I’m more a last minute type… most of the time. I’m not good at knowing what we’ll be doing on the weekend – you never know what last minute invitation we’ll get, or what the weather will be like, or what we’ll feel like doing. I like to leave room for the unexpected. He doesn’t.

So, we’re learning to compromise. We’re learning about the differences in how we operate and what we need.

I was intrigued to read Ariane Benefit – organising expert extraordinaire – talk over at JJL about her challenges with time management. You can read her learnings about the ah ha moments she’s had around the difference between growing a business and sustaining a business in terms of time and schedules.

The mindset that ENABLES you to succeed, is not the same mindset that allows you to REMAIN SUCCESSFUL and have a balanced life.

Click here to go read her whole post. (I’ll wait). Ariane weaves in the analogy of our time being like a bank account, with finite funds and having to ‘balance the books’ which I found very powerful. It’s my guess that Ariane is one of those ‘precisionists’ that Bronwynne talked about – needing to be in control of time in order to feel in control of her life (but feel free to contradict me, Ariane… : )

I have been reading A Perfect Mess* and in the book, the authors discuss Arnold Schwarzenegger and his success. Arnie has been able to successfully go from bodybuilder to film star to Governor and he doesn’t. make. appointments! You cannot book in a time to speak with him, because he doesn’t keep a schedule. He goes from minute to minute. Does that make you feel funny? Yeah, me too… I am totally intrigued by his story. If you want to see him, you phone. If he’s available, he’ll see you now. If not, phone another day and try again. [Obviously there are some appointments he has to keep - but the rest of the time he's open to what comes up in the moment.]

The more I learn, the more questions I have.

I’m curious today – do you prefer, like Ariane, to ensure you balance your time and ensure all parts of your life are given the attention they deserve (whilst still maintaining your success). Are you like my son, always planning ahead, needing to know what you are doing next weekend…. next month… next year? Or are you more like Arnie and prefer to live life moment by moment – after all, who knows how you’ll feel tomorrow, let alone on the weekend?

Get the details here. Review a book, Win a book and share your aloha with your love of reading.

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere

~Chinese Proverb

I live in order to learn, and learn in order to live.

What about you?

I believe a day doesn’t go by where we don’t learn something.

And so I love the Rapid Fire Learning that happens at Joyful, Jubilant Learning each month. This month, it is my pleasure and privilege to host Rapid Fire Learning – five things I’ve learned with only five days left in the month – here.

Are you living a learning life?

We’d love to hear your learnings too… please join in, even if you keep your learnings to yourself – simply writing them down will help cement the learning for you.

Join with me in turning the learning into lifelong habits and powerful mindsets…

I like to start my week with joy. Filling Mondays with precious inspiration helps the week start the best way possible. And what could be more inspirational this morning than joining in with a veritable multitude of voices to write about the environment.

It’s Blog Action Day.

What would happen if every blog published posts discussing the same issue, on the same day?
One issue. One day. Thousands of voices.

Today is that day. And the issue is the environment.

Joanna has been spearheading the project at Joyful Jubilant Learning – and her post today How Much Can We Learn In A Day – says so much. She talks about learning:

So as well as thinking about what we’re going to write today – I wonder if we can look out for just how much we can learn. Maybe that’ll be learning about:

• Finding the words to describe what the environment means to us
• Things that are happening close to where we live
• New research that’s changing what’s possible, our understanding of what can be done
• Other people who share similar ideas and interests, who are working in similar ways
• Images that move us to wonder – or to action

My contribution isn’t about getting on my soapbox; nor is it a rant or rave. My contribution to blog action day is to showcase some of the beauty of this wide brown land I am proud to call home, all taken with my camera in the last couple of years. (Please, no using without asking me first:)

Magnetic Island off Townsville, North Queensland – August 2007

Consequences of drought, South East Queensland, May 2007

Far Horizons and Mountains of Blue, South East Queensland, May 2007

The Gold Coast, Queensland August 2006

Bringing the cows home… June 2007

Lorikeets (those two blurs of green and red) as they are startled at the water trough…

Gold Coast Waterways, August 2006

The view from my kitchen window…

The beauty and serenity that is so close to my home is something I constantly give thanks for. Gratitude for what we have, and appreciation for those who have come before us and left this here, keeps me active and involved and aware.

What are you grateful for, this Blog Action Day?

Life is chock-full of possibility, but when we get really busy with living it, sometimes it is hard to see past our schedule and to-do list to what that possibility may be.

I’m guilty of this. Some days I can almost see the possibility, shimmering out there on the edges of my vision… taunting me, teasing me, enticing me with a feeling of something better, something truly wonderful.

For isn’t that what possibility is? A magical sense of what could be?

Then, life gets chaotic… again… and I lose that sense of possibility in the daily doingness. It’s been happening a lot lately. I’ve had this feeling that if only the world would stop for a while, I would be able to finally see what that is – sitting there on the edge of my vision. Only, of course, the world isn’t going to stop. It isn’t even going to slow down any.

So, the universe has it’s own way of dealing with things – doesn’t it? Since I’m not taking the time, it starts to hit me around the head with hints. I guess I have been getting hints for a few years now, and I do take some notice… only I never stop to really absorb the messages.

The universe isn’t one to be trifled with. When you don’t hear the messages, they become louder and louder – from many and varied sources, in the hope that in the end, the combined impact of all those voices will eventually coalesce into the lightening bolt that finally reaches your soul.

And so it was this week with me. I learned that my biggest possibility is that I make a difference. It’s been a gut-wrenching kind of realisation – the kind that makes me well with tears just writing about it. You can read of my journey, and some of the voices sent by the universe, at Joyful Jubilant Learning today – and while you are there, please check out the comments made by some amazing, truly awe-inspiring people.

Now this is possibility!

Greg Balanko-Dickson left me a beautiful comment, with some wise words I couldn’t resist. This is beautiful – thanks Greg!

 

It is not what we learn in conversation that enriches us. It is the elation that comes of swift contact with tingling currents of thought.

- Agnes Repplier

I am not late to meetings. I normally manage to meet all my deadlines. I arrive at the dentist on time (even early, as happened recently!)

But parties? I don’t know what it is, but by the time I arrive, the party is in full swing, the music is blasting, and all partygoers already there are having a wow of a time without me.

Maybe it’s something that is a legacy from my past – you know, the thing about being fashionably late?

Well, whether I am fashionable is highly debatable… but I have my party pants on and I am ready to jump in the fray! Better late than never – it’s a motto I live by : )

So, where’s the party? Sure, you can tell by the heading, can’t you? It’s over at Joyful, Jubilant Learning – or JJL as it is fondly known. This month marks the anniversary of the birth of JJL as a separate, amazingly collaborative place of learning, with the Third Annual Signature Forum on – what else? – Joyful, jubilant learning! This year, we’ve a theme going – Making a Difference.

And because I am so late to the party, there has been a lot happening whilst I have been busily preening and making myself beautiful (yeah, right!).

A wealth, in fact, of amazing writing from amazing people – all making a huge difference to the world, and to every single life they touch.

I was going to give you the line-up, but really, it’s time for me to dance and celebrate and join in the fray – so why not pop on over to JJL yourself and sift through the beauties that are there and make your own picks. No, it’s not greedy to want more than one. In fact, it’s recommended!

Enjoy the party (and, of course, watch out for my grand entrance on Friday!!!) The canapes are coming around soon…