I’ve been seeing websites with gorgeous compilations and collages of photographs, and was dying to be able to do it myself. So yesterday, opening up my pics in Picasa, lo and behold, the answer was right there. Did I have some fun! I can see many an hour ahead wasted spent creating glorious collages.

What do you think of my first effort? This is the sunset I wrote about here. A stately gum or two, a barbed-wire fence, green paddocks, clouds and that sun fading in the west.  Brisbane winter in all it’s glory… still green thanks to all that recent rain.

When was the last time you simply stopped and noticed a little piece of heaven, here on earth?

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!

Slowly I grew in confidence while all the time searching for the right thing to say.

I knew, right from the start, that I was meant to do this. It was in my blood – that calling – like some ancient knowing.

At times, I came close to addiction – unable to simply walk away. There was always just. one. more.

Then life would interrupt, or I’d feel insecure and inadequate. Or I’d simply change my mind, and move in an entirely different direction.

But I kept finding a path. At times well trodden, where others had gone before. Other times, I needed a machete to slash away the undergrowth and forge my own path ahead.

And those times I struggled to find the path often led to beautiful vistas, found unexpectedly as I crest a rise, or round a corner.

Friends have helped me, held me up when I couldn’t do it alone, forever encouraging me on my journey.

Some have made sarcastic or dismissive comments about this journey of mine. They just make me stronger and more determined.

I am a very different person today to the one I was three years ago. My growth and my learning on this journey have been incredible.

I have made sacrifices, but hold no regrets.

I will stay on this path I have chosen, wandering the trails and hidden lanes, the open paddocks and the mossy streams. And I reserve the right at all times to change my path – to decide a detour has become the route. To change direction and to move with the seasons and the ebb and flow of life.

I’d love to have your company on my journey – for a moment or a lifetime, or any space in between. I know we’ll have fun.

Today is the third anniversary of The Clearing Space blog. Thank you thank you thank you.

It’s been a big day and I’m thinking it might be time to pop a cork on a cold bottle of bubbles tonight.

This morning, we launched the lastest edition of The Calm Space - our sixth edition! This month, we’re talking about Dreams… and I am loving the incredible variety of ideas and perspectives that comes from our amazing team of contributors – each writing on the theme of the month.

Even though we’re all talking about Dreams in some way this month, you’ll find we go from sharing our dreams with our beloved, to books to help us make our dreams come true. From dreaming big, to believing in the power of our dreams. From writing dreams to writing down dreams (and yes, it’s a subtle but distinct difference) to dreaming about free technology… From listening to dreams to breathing in dreams. There’s all that and so much more…

This afternoon, to top off a lovely day, a courier arrived at my door with a parcel. I wasn’t expecting anything so my curiousity was instantly piqued.

It was my graduation certificate from Coach U! I am officially a coach now…

What a great start to the week!

Before me peaceful

Behind me peaceful

Under me peaceful

Over me peaceful

Around me peaceful

~Navajo Prayer

My summer holidays are over.

If you were wondering where I was, then worry no more. We’ve been resting, rejuvenating. Playing games and having fun. Lots of love and laughter. Lots of food and drink. Some sun (it’s been a rather wild and wet summer here). A little travel. A little packing and unpacking. Lots of books.

It was all over too quickly though. A week at the beach before school went back was not nearly enough time to restore the batteries. And sitting here at my computer today, I started to think about the fact that my holidays were over. Wail.

But, as you may guess by the title, I started to think it’s not an end, it’s the beginning of another year of our life. Once January is done, we’re back into the activities and chaos of family and school and work life.

The finish of holidays doesn’t have to be an ending. We can take the things we discovered as we relaxed, and bring them with us during the busiest of times.

What I am bringing with me into the new year

What this means for The Clearing Space

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

ahhh, so wise I’m not going to add anything…

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.

Dr Seuss

Happy New Year!

Today, January 1st, like no other day, marks the first day of the rest of your life (all clichés aside).

I’m wishing you opportunities abounding, possibilities astounding and love rebounding…

(in honour of that most favourite of writers – the inimitable Dr Seuss…)

You deserve them, every one.

And while I’m at it, I’d like to point you over to The Calm Space. The January edition – all about Opportunity - is now ready and waiting for you – please visit, browse around, read the articles that interest you and don’t forget to register to win our beautiful jewellery prize this month, courtesy of Anne Maybus from Beauty Banquet.

The important thing is not to stop questioning.

Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvellous structure of reality.

It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day.

Never lose a holy curiosity.

~ Albert Einstein

Never lose curiosity. I think being curious keeps our mind active and our horizons open.

Having an open, active, curious mind helps us to have a generous loving heart.

The week ahead that lies ahead of me is packed to the brim with activity, to-do lists and obligations. My eldest son graduates high school this week and this means things such as speech night, valedictory dinner and last assembly… on top of the rest of my life.

I have decided to approach the week, not with worry and stress, but with curiosity.

I ask myself:

How can this week be really great?

How can I mark the significance of this occasion, for us all?

How can I ensure I don’t fall in a shattered heap at the end of the week?

As this chapter of Captain Scarlett’s life comes to end, I am really curious about where he goes from here. It is appropriate to mark the occasion, to celebrate, and also to feel a little nostalgic for my little boy that’s all grow’d up now.

I am trying to comprehend mysteries, and can only do this by being open to the experience. By not being fearful of what the future may hold.

As he looks onward and upward, I’ll hold the curiosity about his life for him. Who knows when he may need it?

Where do you need a little curiosity in your life?

Always be a first rate version of yourself instead of a second rate version of someone else.
~ Judy Garland

As I start another week, ushered in by violent storms right through Sunday night and into the morning, I found this quote.

Yes, you’ve probably heard it before. I have. But it is no less meaningful or right for this week, this particular spot in our lives, is it?

Who are you? Are you the best you you can be?

Or are you trying to be ‘just like’ someone else? As my sons used to want to be ‘just like Dad’ when they grow up? (Isn’t it sad when they grow out of that hero worship stage?)

This week, I plan on being the first rate version of Karen.

Karen. The whole Karen and nothing but Karen – so help me God.

Who are you being this week?

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?