I may be the last person on the planet to see this, but if you haven’t yet seen this wonderfully dowdy lady from a village in UK blow Simon Cowell’s mind (and change the mind of all those rolling their eyes and sniggering as she first appeared on stage) you need to watch it. Now.

Go watch… I’ll wait…

You’re back? Great…

What a miracle for Susan Boyle. No matter what happens now, she truly is a star. Her dream has come true. She has the voice of an angel.

What dream are you chasing? There really is hope, you know…

Sit quietly doing nothing,

spring comes,

and the grass grows

by itself.

~Zen Wisdom

I’ve just settled back at my desk after mowing our lawn (with the ride-on mower – we have two acres:) and this saying sprang to mind. Even though it’s late summer our grass is lush and green and seems to grow as you watch it!

I love the smell of fresh cut grass. It’s so earthy and rich and, well, green.

The seasons roll around so serenely, don’t they? Mother Nature just keeps on doing her thing, never fretting about heat or wind or hail. Taking damage as well as lushness in her stride. Even in times of chaos her power and rawness are breathtaking.

Sometimes, in times of mental chaos – longing for stillness – I seek out Mother Nature as a balm to soothe my soul and calm my frantic thoughts.

When was the last time you sat quietly doing nothing and let Mother Nature work her magic on you?

I felt unappreciated, uptight and drained. Very drained.

But as I pulled into the riding school, there she was on her big boy – riding up a dream. I told her to keep going and parked the car so I could sit and watch without being eaten alive by mozzies.

And as I watched her, I felt this release… This time was a gift. Here I was watching my gorgeous daughter ride her magnificent horse, the almost-full moon rising behind her, the sun setting to my left.

I took a deep breath.  The tension magically bled out of me, flowing through the seat of the car and off into the ether…

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!

And now let us welcome the New Year – full of things that have never been…

~Rainer Maria Rilke

Tonight we see out another year. Where it’s gone, I’m not sure. It seems to have flown by in the blink of an eye, yet I am having a hard time remembering New Year’s Eve 2007… that was only yesterday, wasn’t it?

To you, my friend – I wish a happy reflection of the year gone by, a rousing celebration of the start of a new one, and a year ahead full of possibilities and resounding with magic.

Happy New Year!

]]> http://www.theclearingspace.com.au/2008/12/31/happy-new-year-to-all/feed/ 0 http://www.theclearingspace.com.au/2008/08/08/our-duty-to-be-happy/ http://www.theclearingspace.com.au/2008/08/08/our-duty-to-be-happy/#comments Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:57:07 +0000 karen http://www.theclearingspace.com.au/?p=461

There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.

By being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world.

Robert Louis Stevenson

I often think about being happy, what makes us happy and what stops us feeling content. (Drives my family crazy!)

On one of those thinking expeditions a few months ago, I came to the realisation that drastic change was necessary for my inner equilibrium. Something was throwing me off kilter. Way off.

I’ve been dropping hints about change here and there quite a bit lately, and now’s the time to tell you that the steps have been taken. The fear has been faced. The aftermath has been lived through.

Today is a red letter day indeed, and not just for the auspiciousness of the date.

For the last 20 years, I have held down a corporate job with the same company. I’ve borne my children while working for them. I’ve seen countless people come and go, made friends, grown as the company has grown and learned innumerable lessons along the way. I have grown up, I guess, working for them.

No longer.

I dropped off the key, Lee, I’m free. (Actually, it was a computer, not a key, but that doesn’t work in the song that’s been reverberating around in my head for the last week). Last night at 6pm I logged out for the last time.

This morning I woke up a free woman.

I no longer have staff reporting to me. I no longer report to the MD in another state. I no longer need to switch on my computer at 8am every morning and check emails. I no longer need to deal with complaining clients and recalcitrant staff!

I’ve left it in good hands – hands that are eager for the challenge, a heart that’s ready to take charge and a level of energy and enthusiasm that I had lost, somewhere along the way.

Now is my time. I’m not sure exactly what that will look like, but I am certain that The Calm Space is going to be a big part of that. The dreams and ideas are bulging from my notebooks and now, apparently, I’ll have time for them.

It’s going to take a bit of getting used to. Right now, I’m not sure I feel any different… but the two beautiful bunches of flowers remind me that something very special has happened this week.

Today is celebration day.

Here’s to being happy.

Over the weekend, I was thrilled to find the clip and the transcript of JK Rowling giving the commencement address at Havard “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination” here.

We all know that JK Rowling is phenomenally successful… but it wasn’t always so. I have heard the story of sitting in a cafe, with her baby daughter in a pram beside her, writing the first draft of Harry Potter #1 by hand. What I guess I didn’t think about was why.

“So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

…

Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.”

It made me think about success, and how many of us settle for a moderate success because, well, because we don’t fail at it. And in so doing, we compromise ourselves, our dreams and often, our life, for a ‘settled for’ existence.

We get the car loan, the mortgage, the spouse, the kids, the school fees, the holidays and we feel tied to whatever it is that brings in the money to pay for our lifestyle. Even if it is slowly killing us.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

To do what matters most is all there is. We can learn from JK and others like her, without having necessarily to hit rock bottom ourselves.

Now is the time to do what you are meant to be doing. Don’t wait until you hit rock bottom. Don’t settle for.

There is a step or two you can take today. Then another step tomorrow. Maybe a little jump the day after that. Before you know it, you’ll be leaping and soaring and flying towards your dream.

Go listen to, or read, her speech – it’s magical.

(And for the Aussies, nope, not that sort of SOB.)

This sort of SOB:

It stands for Successful and Outstanding Blogger. And it’s very much a badge of honour.

Thank you Liz - you’ve included me with some pretty amazing people, which makes it doubly special!

If you’ve followed over here from Liz’s place, welcome! There’s lots to see and do, the kettle’s always just boiled and if the kids haven’t invaded, there should be some home-made biscuits in the jar.

You’re welcome to browse around as much as you like… there are no locked doors or barred windows here.

And once you’ve had your fill of The Clearing Space, I’d love you to step on over to the hot-off-the-press June issue of The Calm Space.

This month, the gorgeous (oh, and handsome, now – can’t forget our guys: ) contributors have all shared their unique talents and skills on the theme of FREEDOM.

It’s a hefty topic, and there are some great, thought-provoking posts, some good reads, a beautiful Breathing Space (once again using Amy Palko‘s gorgeous photography) and lots more besides…

[And for those of you who are curious about me, the person, you'll be interested to meet our newest contributor at The Calm Space, writing The Money Space. That's all I'm going to say... you have to go over there to find out more. Hint: check out my editorial here for the goss.]

PS I’ve been travelling and resting and recharging the last couple of weeks… lots to tell, lots and lots of photos to show you… as soon as I’ve had a chance to catch my breath I hope to find time to share some of it with you. Until then, keep well and be free.

Let me see if I can explain.

I love this thing called blogging. And I love the connections that the internet brings my way, that allow me to make friends in far off places. If you’d told me 10 years ago that I’d know two wonderful women in Scotland, I might not have laughed in your face, but I certainly would have been sceptical, no matter how shiny your crystal ball.

But wonder of wonder, the crystal ball would have been correct. I have met (virtually) and got to know Joanna Young, who is now a good friend and a valued contributor to The Calm Space. Through Joanna, I met Amy Palko, and her beautiful photography graced this month’s Breathing Space.

Ever since hubby and I spent time driving through Scotland in our just-married and childless years we have loved the place. It doesn’t hurt that I married a Wallace – and that my father-in-law’s name is William! We both can trace our roots back to that small, cold, so-picturesque country on the other side of the world.

I have often said I want to go backand have Christmas in Scotland in a castle … coldness and open fires and woolly jumpers and mulled wine and snow balls and all that magical, fairy-tale stuff that a hot summer Christmas in Australia just isn’t conducive to.

Um… so what does this have to do with the title of this post?

Well… the Scots, you see, they have their own language. Yes, they speak ‘English’ but they have another, beautifully rich and evocative language that is uniquely theirs. And sometimes they talk about things, and I have no idea what they are talking about.

Recently Joanna went to Chicago for SOBCon08 and gave Brad Shorr a book of Scottish words and phrases. Brad gleefully shared some intriguing words from the book. One of them was Thunderplump.

Say it out loud. Thunderplump. mmmm…

I read his post (thanks to a pointer from Rosa - another magical connection) right after a thunderplump had passed through here on Saturday.

Here’s a couple of the photos I took (as inspired by Amy, I’m learning to see things through a lens…)

Typical sub-tropical storm – came in from the west and down it poured. The gutters just cannot cope…

The storm retreats over the mountains to the north…

The beauty of a rainbow to the east… taken from my front door. Hope remains.

Yes, a thunderplump is a thunderstorm… don’t you love it? Can’t you just hear the word, rolling around the mouth before exploding out in a barrage of scottishness?

What magical things have exploded in your world lately?

or a one day thing.

It is a right now,

everyday thing.

Life is in the living,

every hour of every day.

~source unknown

On this beautiful Monday morning, I found this poem a powerful reminder! I’ve been thinking a lot about the future and needed the reminder that I am living now. not then.

It is easy to get distracted and lose focus on right now, isn’t it?

I have been planning and preparing and mentally challenging myself over some big changes that are looming rather largely on my horizon. It is accompanied by anticipation, fear and a sense that if I take my eyes off it, it may disappear like a mirage in the desert – never really there at all…

This morning, this quote I had copied into my diary some time ago jumped out at me as a reminder that here and now is my life.

I realised that if it is a mirage instead of a miracle, then obsessing focusing on it won’t make a scrap of difference.

I cannot put my life on hold, waiting for it. I need to live and experience all that is my crazy, topsy-turvy life at the moment.

And somehow, I feel a weight has been lifted. I don’t need to worry, fret or be fearful. I don’t need to be there, at all. Here is enough. There will be there when its time has come.

The challenge is to remember that. Regularly.

[I will be sharing the changes with you as soon as I can... they are all wonderful and positive.]

A Clearing Space Moment

What are you giving up this current moment for?

Is there something in your future (or the hope of) that is drawing your attention away from your now?

How do you bring your attention back to here and now? Please share in the comments!