Relaxation Room

Thursday, December 31, 2009

The Dawn of Love



Gather the world in your hands
and hold it close
gently with great care
a new day is dawning




Reach out to all around you
near and far
different and alike
known and unknown
and fill those hands



with love
all the different types of love
that exist out there
and all the different types inside your heart



because the thing with love is this
you plant it
and it grows
and it grows
and it grows
Love its a wonderful thing
It is after all what makes the world go around.




May 2010 be full of LOVE for you all
and Ill start by giving you some love
from
me



p.s not one of these pictures is mine
they are all sourced from google images.
i had way too much going on to organise anything with my own works
so I had to revert to this at the last minute!!
xsm

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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Sleep well, sleep gentle....



I could not have loved           you more if I had tried
You had my heart from the      minute I first laid eyes on you
So take your piece of my heart with you on your next journey
and thank you so much for all that you gave me, showed me
i have never met a more quiet and gentle soul with eyes
that could speak so loudly of beauty in its most
exquisite of forms you were humble and
genuine and I am beyond grateful
for having found you
on my path.
I love you
Safa


Ill see you later Saffy










Come Rest Within Me

Come, rest within me
Lay your head
Soft
Within the folds of me
Your soul nestled
Upon the cushion of mine
Entwine yourself
Benign your raging wounds
Soothe the scars
Replenish the sparse
Barren landscape
Escape
Place yourself
In spaces
Where love dwells
Welcome haven
Open arms
Balm to soothe
Smooth the ridges
Of life
Of strife
Of constant time
Without divine
Peace sublime
Simply be free
Come, rest within me
by Tina Louise

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Monday, December 28, 2009

The Storm and Safa...

This summer has seen more than our normal amount of dust storms blow through town.  The photo below is the view as a dust storm passes, finally, after 2 1/2 days of draping itself over our town. It is quite shocking to see such blue sky after having most distance visibility reduced to around 100m of a red rose eerie glow, it almost leaves you feeling naked and vulnerable after being cloaked for so long.  Then suddenly in the space of around an hour it is gone, no warning just gone and colour once more paints the earth and the sky.


After the Storm
Photograph by sweetmango

The Glowing Storm

red rose and glows
fear drops and brown shades of red
coat all around
in the hazy glow of morning light
the dust rides in
on the back of the caterwauling wind
the dim glow 
grows and lengthens diminishing shadow
and banishing
light and air to cloudy memory
as day turns into 
night long, red and gritty 


by sm





My beautiful little girl Safa has been so very sick,
she started to have trouble breathing
I took her to the vet
where I discovered that
at some stage before I found her on the streets
she had been hit by a car
and a somewhat common side effect of vehicular injury
This means that the diaphragm that seperates the heart and lung area
from the other internal organs has been compromised
and that the liver, intestines and stomach are now pushing through and filling
the chest cavity which has greatly diminished the ability for her lungs to fill.
Without surgery she will reach a stage where she cannot breath and would have to be euthanased.
This has happened over the Christmas period and she has not been able to have surgery yet
due to the reduced hours at the veterinary clinic
she has fought so hard, there were several times I thought I would lose her
as she slowly suffocated until the organs shifted and she could once again breath
it has been the hardest week and a half
but she has fought through and tomorrow morning
Rowan the Vet will be performing this very difficult surgery.
Safa was found on the streets, starving, days from death
she is around 90% deaf and 60% blind and has a heart murmur
and she is the most gorgeous little girl you could ever meet.
This surgery is dangerous and long
and she is old and tired
Please keep her in your thoughts tomorrow
she needs all the help she can get.



Keep fighting Safa
you are so very loved.


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Friday, December 18, 2009

just in case





Today the life of a young man will be celebrated 
by his friends and family.
To honour the life and spirit of Jake
lets tell someone how much they mean to us today
just in case they aren't here tomorrow.


Fly high Jake <3

xxsm



The Eagle
by: e.e. cummings

It was one of those clear,sharp.mustless days
That summer and man delight in.
Never had Heaven seemed quite so high,
Never had earth seemed quite so green,
Never had the world seemed quite so clean
Or sky so nigh.
And I heard the Deity's voice in
The sun's warm rays,
And the white cloud's intricate maze,
And the blue sky's beautiful sheen.

2

I looked to the heavens and saw him there,--
A black speck downward drifting,
Nearer and nearer he steadily sailed,
Nearer and nearer he slid through space,
In an unending aerial race,
This sailor who hailed
From the Clime of the Clouds.--Ever shifting,
On billows of air
And the blue sky seemed never so fair,
And the rest of the world kept pace.

3

On the white of his head the sun flashed bright;
And he battled the wind with wide pinions,
Clearer and clearer the gale whistled loud,
Clearer and clearer he came into view,--
Bigger and blacker against the blue.
Then a dragon of cloud
Gathering all its minions
Rushed to the fight,
And swallowed him up in a bite;
And the sky lay empty clear through.

4

Long I watched. And at last afar
Caught sight of a speck in the vastness;
Ever smaller,ever decreasing,
Ever drifting,drifting awayInto the endless realms of day;
Finally ceasing.
So into Heaven's vast fastness
Vanished that bar
Of black,as a fluttering star
Goes out while still on its way.

5

So I lost him. But I shall always see
In my mind
The warm,yellow sun,and the ether free;
The vista's sky,and the white cloud trailing,
Trailing behind,--
And below the young earth's summer-green arbors,
And on high the eagle,--sailing,sailing
Into far skies and unknown harbors



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Monday, December 14, 2009

and so I will give of myself



December is and would appear to continue to be my hardest month this year.
December has grabbed me by the throat, lifted me off the ground and is shaking me so hard that my bones hurt.
At the start of 2009 I started my journey as a single mum with 3 young children.  My eldest son is at primary school and the twins are still at home and will be through 2010.  i also have 2 dogs and 3 rescued cats. So all in all I am now responsible for the heath and well being of 8 little souls.  Oh and I sponsor a little boy and a chimpanzee in Africa.
Throughout the year my journey has been, like all years, intermixed with the good the bad and the ugly, only this year there was way too much ugly, a lot of sad, bad and mad and the good when it did shine through was so very welcome in what has been a tumultuous year.  I am someone who usually never has a nightmare or even an inkling of a bad dream, this year I have dreamed far too many nightmares so that my last place of true rest has been reduced to a lottery, will or wont I get some restful sleep tonight, the fact that I do not sleep even close to a healthy amount each night is irrelevant when the little i do get is often so fraught with fear.

I have had people look upon me with emapthy, sympathy, understanding and kindness this year as they listened or told their own version of my story.  I have had people look at me with disdain, disgust and uncomprehension as they argued my own choices and placed their values upon my head.  I have lost and won the respect of people close to me and some not even close to me as they weighed up my choices and passed judgement on my actions.  I have stood silently in the face of wrath and judgement and sometimes after listening to the tirades I have dropped to my knees and sobbed in private.  I have felt completely isolated as I gained the true understanding and value of family and extended family when one is in crises, I do not live in the same country as my family, if I did I think it would have been a very different year.  I have had complete strangers and friends I have never met, reach out and catch me as I am falling.  I have listened as someone to whom I was close, stood inches from me and in their sadness and pain and loss, they threatened on several different occasions to take my life, even told me how they would do it, and so began the nightmares I spoke of earlier.

I have found love, a love like I have never felt before, a love that brings me to my knees in thanks.  I asked the universe, my god, to show me who i am, because I had forgotten and I have been receiving what i asked, I just never anticipated the intensity of the lessons.  In order to remember who I am I need to be stripped bare, naked to my core so that it is only my soul that is left and it would appear the more i try to cover myself, the harder the lessons become.  But I have begun to see me, a little light is starting to appear through the cracks and I am having memories of who I really am.

So comes the end of the year, I knew in 2008 that 2009 would be tough, I don't know how I knew that, but I did, I also knew that 2010 would be good, really good and I still believe it will be.  I know two things for sure about life, Nothing is permanent and for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  So here I am  in the last month of December and it is the hardest month to date, but i guess that is because the last of the lessons are being crammed in before the new me gets to dip my toes into the tranquillity of 2010.  Financially I have nothing and the reality of this is stark.  Do I think it will remain this way? No I don't.  Will I ever forget what this is like? No i wont.  I dream of a financial independence where I can see someone like myself in the supermarket, read the subtle creasing of the forehead, the continuous glancing from the running total on the cashiers screen to the remaining groceries on the conveyor belt and tell them that I understand, that I was there, and that it will change but for right now, at this moment I would like to pay for their food so that they may stress a little less today, that it is not charity, that it is merely one mum helping another mum because I have been there and I understand that it is no fault of your own.  That is what i want out of my life, I want to help all around me, i dream of sponsoring not just a child but a whole village, not just for a year but for the rest of my life.

Why am I writing all of this today? Because today I have felt really lost, my knees are buckling under the pressure of both known and unknown sadness and fear and in an effort to pick myself up I came across some sayings that are meant to be uplifting and when life is going along pretty nicely, those sayings just happen to hang lovely in the air, they dance in the breeze, however when life is tough they dont hang so much as crash to the ground and mock you.......

choose happiness, laugh often, inspire change, embrace change, live courageously, chase dreams, today matters

except for one of them, it shone out at me so brightly that everything else paled in comparison, I mean that, it really really really stood out from the crowd for me......

practice kindness

and that my friends is what keeps me sane, what keeps me going it is this which keeps a light burning, a guide for my naked shattered self to walk towards and it would appear that the closer to selfless kindness one gets the more our true self is revealed.  For it is when we remove ourselves from the center of the universe and instead place another there that we are able to fully understand comapssionate kindness and unconditional loving.

So for now, I need to get up off my knees, again, and this time I am going to get through this month by doing random acts of kindness, which I do anyway, but I am going to mindfully focus on them, each act will be a stepping stone to get me to the other side.  Each act will be an ablution, a prayer, an offering of myself to the greater good of all.  Whether it is a word, a gesture even a smile or an actual gift it is irrelevant, what matters is that we take notice of those around us, really look at them and when we do we need to leave all judgement behind. Unfortunately this is something that we need to practice, non judgement, but what better time of the year than right now to begin our practice of non judgement and unconditional giving.  So that is how I am going to spend the rest of my year and it will be the precedent to the beginning of next year.

Anyone care to join me?

xxsm


Today my prayers and love are for Jake, may your journey home be swift and light, I know you will be greeted with laughter and much love, for who could not but miss a soul with such laughter as yours?  You live on in the hearts and smiles of so many down here, all of whom eagerly await the day they see you again. 
“Be like the bird that, passing on her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing that she hath wings.“ Victor Hugo
My thoughts, prayers and LOVE are with Jakes family and his friends who will be feeling a gaping hole without his immediate presence, when that wound hurts so deeply that you can hardly breath, remember that it is through this very same hole that you will hear once again his laughter, it is the connection you have to where he now shines brightest.  
I love you so very much Stellan.

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Thursday, December 3, 2009

Lightness of Being



  
"All blame is a waste of time...regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you"
~Wayne Dyer~

And that is a very profound truth.  Blame is a distraction, that is all.  We are trying unsuccessfully to distract ourselves from our own truths that we find most uncomfortable by assigning the cause of our suffering to another.  We can blame all we want, we can blame him, her, them, God whomever we wish, but it does not change us or our situation.  It doesn't even make us feel better, it only serves to delay the inevitable, that we must face our own truths.  We are connected all of us. We make decisions along the way that affect everything in our life, that affect us now, or in 10 years or 50 years from now.  We make some choices now that will continue to affect people well after we have left these physical bodies.  Other people make decisions that affect us, in both subtle and profound ways, their choices can influence our own choices for the good or the bad.  But we need to be aware that assigning blame will do nothing to resolve a situation or fix a situation.  True strength of character lies in the understanding that assigning blame will never allow us to grow, it will not allow us to move forward and it will not release us from the pain.  It is a complete waste of time, it is feeding energy into an already energy draining situation.

If you are separated or divorced, you can blame your ex for this and that and all it is doing is keeping you tied to the past, it is not allowing you to move forward into your new life. Whether you chose the separation is irrelevant, the fact still remains you are separated so the wise thing to do is accept what was, leave it where it belongs, in the past and move forward with open arms to the future, remember if you are carrying the hurts of the past, you have no way of embracing the future.

What if illness or death is taking its toll on you? You can blame yourself for past choices that may or may not have lead you to where you are or you can raise your fist to the sky and blame your God but both are a waste of time.  At this point in time, it is no longer important why, or how you came to be on this path, the focus should shift to the path not the villages you passed through to reach this point.  Blame will not help maintain a level of wellness, in fact it is extremely toxic to the physical body since blame falls under the category of anger which disturbs the delicate chemistry of the brain, disrupting normal bio chemical reactions that take place in the body's regulatory systems, it is most unwelcoming when you are fighting any sort of illness.  Instead we must focus on what we can literally and physically can do to maintain a system of balance within the body to help counteract the illness.

If the illness is progressing to the natural conclusion to life that we must all face then so be it.  Do not struggle, that is akin to fighting quicksand, you will only sink faster, instead lay back, it is what it is and nothing more than that.  Keep your health as much as you are able, create and surround yourself with love, do not leave anything unsaid or undone, reach out to the place beyond despair and beyond hope, it is Love.  Love does not live nor die it is an existence that flows within and without us, it is with and it is without form, it is all and nothing, full and empty. Reach out to everyone around you with love and most of all to yourself, love yourself for all you are, for all that you have been, for everything that shaped you to who you are, regardless of whether or not you were pounded, punched, dragged kicking and screaming, or loved and comforted, and educated, and lead gently by the hand, all of it shaped you to who you are.

Embrace it, rejoice it.  The good, the bad, however you perceive it, because in the end it is just our perception of a situation that shapes our experiences.

Wayne Dyer also pointed out that "It takes much more courage, strength of character, and inner conviction to forgive than it does to hang on to low-energy feelings".  That is another truth along our paths.  I think that sometimes we are scared of spreading our wings and seeing just how far we can fly.  We tend to have created a knack for underestimating our own strengths, our own ability to not only endure, but to soar higher than we seem to believe that we deserve.  I have come to the conclusion long ago, that we are only given tests that equal our strengths and that if we remember this then we shall never be fearful of all that we face.  We often admire the strength or courage of conviction of another but fail to realize that many are silently watching with wonder at our own strengths and convictions.  We are all teachers, we are all students, we all teach and learn from each other.  Do not underestimate your ability to move beyond blame, to move beyond all your fears, you have strengths in you, resources in you, that you have not even tapped into yet.  You can conquer the negativity, what ever it may be in your thinking, in your living, whether it is profound or subtle, you have the ability to rise above it.  It is called choice.  Just choose differently to what you would normally do, do the opposite, life can be quite pleasantly surprising when you shake it up a little.

 Finally, remember this .... It is always hardest for us to breath when we are not completely in the present moment, it is thoughts of future & past that take our breath away.  Staying in the present moment is a practice, it is stopping for a second when we are beginning to stress on either the past or the future, what we need to do is remind ourselves that right here right now is all that exists.  Thinking about a past event creates an energy in our body that is parallel to reliving the experience, cells in the body release hormones that reflect the same pattern that occurred when the incident occurred.  We have lived it already, why do we wish to keep reliving a negative experience over and over?  We need to choose to consciously remind ourselves that that moment has been and gone, that we are now right here right now, doing the dishes or driving the car or watering the plants whatever it is we are doing, that is all that exists. The future is not here so we need to stop creating the future in the present moment, we need to make plans and form goals for the future but once we have done that the future has no place in the present.

Be present, be without regret, be filled with and willing to both receive and give Love. Finally, forgive and let go; guilt, blame and anger are too heavy a burden to carry for any of us, they leave no room for lightness of being and it is in being light that we are truly living with Love.

xxsm

P.S If you have some time today, I would appreciate it if you could click on the PRAYERS section, it is located at the very top of the page, my friend Renee is struggling with some not so good news and she needs some love and strength sent her way.  She really is a beautiful soul.  Sheldon, pictured below, is her nephew, he now lives in the spaces between here and now, nestled in our hearts.
 

today I was thinking of Sheldon, sometimes I spend whole days thinking about him,  he taught us how to live with love and acceptance and without the heaviness of blame or negativity.  Thank you Sheldon you continue to teach me so much.


 




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