In The Moment

Do you sometimes feel that you’ve been spinning in an endless circle for days and never really getting anything accomplished?  This week was a busy one … not to the point where it was painful … because I like to be busy … but I felt like I had got to the end of my week so fast and couldn’t really picture what each day had been like.  It’s a bit like when you go for a drive and you arrive at your destination and don’t really remember anything from the journey … you sort of just turned up!!  Hmm, does that happen to other people or is it just me??!!  

My deepest thinking always happens during my morning walk.  I often listen to inspirational podcasted radio shows while I walk … sometimes I listen intently the whole time, other times I listen for a bit and then it gets me thinking about something and I totally tune out to the person talking in my ear and have a conversation with myself in my head instead!  Then the music for the end of the radio show comes on and I haven’t listened to a word they’ve said!!!!

So how does this relate to hearts & swirls??  Well that was the topic of my conversation with myself this morning!! When I think of a heart I immediately become aware of my own heart … which is in the centre of my body … the image it conjures up in my mind brings my thoughts back to me … what am I doing at that moment and how am I feeling?  And so my mindless “doing” sort of stops for a moment and I reconnect with me and how I am “being”.

Similarly with a swirl …  it’s sort of a visualisation of how we can spin off from our core self into our daily busy lives … we’re still connected to our centre, but the momentum of our lives has taken us farther and farther away.  But we always have the ability to turn inwards and spin back to the centre again.

So I’m using hearts & swirls as touchstones, if you like … having them around me and where I can see them each day helps me to remember to be centred.  To breathe and just “be” for that little moment in time … it only needs to be a few seconds.  Maybe if I do this often enough I will remember more about what happened each day and when the end of the week comes around again it won’t feel like the week has just flashed before my eyes!!

A big thank you to Kirra, my little 7 yo friend who is always on the lookout for hearts and swirls for my blog.  She appeared one day with a plate and a handful of rocks and then proceeded to create these patterns so that I could photograph them. I love her generous heart in wanting to make me happy and be involved with my little project … and I love her imagination, creativity and resourcefulness.

Good Enough To Eat

Mmmmmmm baked cheesecake … with not one, but two swirls!!!!! 

Not much to say about this tasty little delight except that:

1.  It was only half a portion … I shared the other half with my friend … so we were both only half as naughty!!

2.  We were celebrating my friend’s birthday so we told ourselves that this was definitely a special occasion to lash out and have dessert!!

2.  The swirls on the plate were definitely a sign from the universe that I should eat and enjoy it without any guilt!!

3.   It was thoroughly delectable and we enjoyed every mouthful!!  🙂 Yum Yum !!

Heart Centre

I need to thank my lovely sister in law, Bernadette, for today’s “heart + swirl” inspiration.  This is a card from Louise Hay’s affirmation card deck … Bern pulled this card the day she first read my “1heartaday” blog post!!   I especially love the positioning of the swirl … right in the heart centre!!!

And so the message from this card is “I am centered in truth and peace”.   Yep, it’s a challenge to try to let go of all our grudges or negative thoughts about people or situations.  But why spend precious energy on feeling bad about something you can’t change … either because it is in the past or because it is out of your control.

I would rather spend my energy on thoughts and activities that bring me joy, inspiration, love, excitement, passion, peace, happiness.  Sometimes it’s not easy to always be in this frame of mind, daily life certainly delivers constant challenges, but visual reminders such as these affirmation cards can help bring our attention inward again and help us focus on things that really matter.  Thanks again Bern!  And thank you Louise Hay for continuing to being an inspirational shining light in our world.

A Swirl Of Protection

Isn’t it funny how children are sometimes so much more naturally inquisitive, intuitive and switched on that they help you see things you may have simply overlooked!!

My neighbour’s children were asking me yesterday what a “blog” was and what I was writing about in my blog.  I explained it was a bit of fun I was having finding 1 heart or 1 swirl a day, taking a photo of it, posting it on my blog and writing a little story to go with it.  They seemed marginally interested, and I thought it was maybe because they didn’t understand what it was all about.

Well how wrong could I be!!!  The new concept of a blog obviously took a little time to sink in to their necktop information system (aka the brain!!!) and then “whamo” their creativeness and eagerness to be involved kicked in!  Early this morning they came running over with an idea they had for my blog … an object they had thought of which was shaped as a swirl … something I had not even given an inkling of a thought about and yet I had been handling these objects every day for the past 3 weeks!!!!!   A mosquito coil !!!  We are holidaying on The Murray River and because it is in flood, the mosquitos are rampant and we’ve been burning these coils pretty much non stop!

So these little green swirls have been faithfully looking after us all by slowly sending out their little grey tendrils of scented smoke and warding off the pesky mozzies.  So as I said in my very first post … “gotta love a good swirl” !!!!

Hearts & Swirls

I am obsessed with hearts and swirls!!  I notice them everywhere. I am drawn to anything that has them in their design or pattern. I am renowned for saying “ooh it’s got swirls … love a good swirl”!!  Ok, so I guess that could just mean that I love hearts & swirls, end of story. But I have come to realise that when I notice them, it is at the right place, at the right time, confirming for me that I am making a good decision or am on the right track. So now I’ve started to seek them out … continually looking for them everywhere.  I’ve started taking photos of them and have got a nice little collection started.  The more I seek them out, the more I notice them, the more I know I am on the right path and that the universe is somehow looking after me.  So here is the very first of my expanding collection. 

This photo was taken inside the entrance to my house one morning when the sun was streaming through the glass at the front door.  No, there are no heart shapes in the glass, but this is what was reflected onto the floorboards … a perfect little rainbow coloured heart … I just love it!