100 Ways to Hold a Thimble

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This morning I was checking through my emails and found an update about Blogblast for Peace 2011. Mimi has created a new challenge for Facebook. Here's the email:

Good evening, Peace Bloggers!

I have a challenge for you! In less than 100 days we will launch another BlogBlast For Peace. We say we want peace? Let's put some substance to this movement. What are the reasons you blog for peace? Post one reason a day in your FB status. How many reasons can we find? Let's go!

It's a lovely idea, but my brain just went blank. I couldn't even think of one response, let alone a hundred! I sat for a while, feeling more and more despondent at my utter lack of bright new reasons we need to talk about Peace.

Eventually I just gave up trying.

I shut the email and moved on to the next thinking, "What's the point? Can one unknown everyday person really make a difference and change the world?"

I opened my next email, feeling kind of tired and a bit depressed, hoping it might cheer me up. It's a daily message thing a friend signed me up to (thanks Kim! ), from: bravegirlsclub.com

Dear Persistent Girl,
There really is something you were born to do. Just you. There is a plan for your life, there is a mission you were created to accomplish, and there is a life that is meant JUST for you.

You were not born randomly. You were not an accident, and you are not a number.

Keep holding on. Stay with it. There is so much learning that takes place, so much training, so much boot camp that is so necessary before it all unfolds. Have patience and keep listening to your heart.

You were born for something great and unforgettable. You were born to do things that would never ever be done if you did not do them.

Keep going, keep going, keep going.

You can't ignore a message like that! I went to Facebook to put up my Blogblast badge and there I found two new petitions from other friends - petitions to try to make the world a better place. It got me thinking...

a petition isn't about one "important" or powerful person making a difference - it's about lots of ordinary "little people" standing up together to make a BIG difference.

There really is something you were born to do. Just you.

You can't bail a flood with a thimble, but what if you get all the world to help you?

Have patience and keep listening to your heart.

What if you bail with a billion thimbles?

Keep holding on. Stay with it.

So my response to the 100 Reasons for Peace challenge isn't going to be big grand statements about Peace. They're going to be thimblefuls - small ideas, little hopes, tiny wishes.

Keep going, keep going, keep going.

See you tomorrow! ;-)

glitter-graphics.com

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Shelter

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A music video for a lazy Sunday with a message to start the week on. The video is by "Playing For Change" - who use musicians from all over the world to create songs for the world. :-)

In their own words...

This song expresses the urgency we all face to unite together as a planet and offers us wisdom with the words, "War, children, it's just a shot away... Love, sister, it's just a kiss away". It really is that simple. We dedicate this song to all the lost, homeless and forgotten people in this world.

It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.

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Short Update on Me

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I'm still waiting to find out what's bothering my health. For the last three months I've had lots of aches and pain and lots of water retention, but worst of all - I've been losing the use of my fingers and hands due to numbness and pain. Writing anything is slow and difficult, even holding a book to read hurts and doing anything like cooking? Forget it!! You don't realise how much you love your fingers until they aren't there for you.

glitter-graphics.com

So far my doctor isn't sure what's causing my problems. I've had five sets of blood tests and have more tests and an ultrasound booked for next week. The only medication he could give me for now was water-retention tablets. They've been fantastic! For almost two months I was so swollen up I couldn't get shoes on, but now I can bend my knees and ankles again (trust me... you miss them when you can't!) and I can get my sandals on. That means I can get out and go places. :-)

Now I just need to get my fingers back!
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If Pigs had Wings...

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...they'd live in Scotland. :-) Because all the pigs in our area get their own little metal sheds to sleep in that look exactly like tiny airplane hangars.

Ever since I first came here I've wanted to photograph a pig farm, but never managed it. Last week roadworks and delays meant I finally had a change to stop near a farm and take some photos. You can see the rows of 'hangars' going up the hill. The white things in the front are seagulls gathered around a muddy pond.

More piggies in the distance pottering about the fields.

...and a closer zoom on the pigs pottering about the sheds. on warm days they mostly lie in the sun, but when it's too hot or too cold they hide out in their hangars and the fields look empty.

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The Heart Knows

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One of the blogs I subscribe to is Druid Journal, written by Jeff Lilly. Jeff always manages to make me think and his recent post, Musings on Wild and Goose, is no different. He was inspired to write after attending the Wild Goose Festival - a Christian festival with a difference. To find out more I highly recommend you read Jeff's post and follow his links to the Wild Goose Festival website.

It's very refreshing to have a Pagan recommend a Christian festival, but then that's just an example of the open-mindedness I enjoy about Jeff's blog. :-) The part that struck me the most in his post was about the symbolism of the Wild Goose in ancient Celtic Christianity:

Among the Catholics, the Holy Spirit is often represented by a dove; but the Celtic Christians preferred to think of it like a “wild goose”. Why? For them, the Holy Spirit was not a quiet, demure bird, but a loud one, and uncontrollable one, which arrives unexpectedly and wakes the neighbors. It does not submit to human authority. When this spirit calls, you have no choice but to listen, and your life may never be the same. I think many pagans can relate to this aspect of the spiritual world.

Regardless of your religious background, or belief system, I think nearly everyone can relate to those moments when your heart soars up and tells you, "NOW is the time to fly."

It reminded me of one of my mom's favourite songs:

“Cry of the Wild Goose” by Frankie Laine



My heart knows what the wild goose knows,
I must go where the wild goose goes.
Wild goose, brother goose, which is best?
A wanderin' fool or a heart at rest?

Tonight I heard the wild goose cry,
Wingin' north in the lonely sky.
Tried to sleep, it weren't no use,
'Cause I am a brother to the old wild goose,

Oh, my heart knows what the wild goose knows,
And I must go where the wild goose goes.
Wild goose, brother goose, which is best?
A wanderin' fool or a heart at rest?



May your heart always find wings to fly.
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Living in Beauty

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With beauty may I walk

This last post in my Beauty series is also the first one I was inspired to write. It started with a photo, but came together through a news article and the shared words of friends and family. Here’s the photo:

This is Judith, she’s one of my internet friends. :-)

It’s a beautiful photo and it’s pretty clear to see that Judith is a beautiful woman. She really glows, doesn’t she? Her friends and family can all vouch for the fact that she’s just as beautiful in character too. Judith is my inspiration for a third reason too, but I’ll explain that further on. First I need to get back to that news article.

It was a fairly regular news item about the dangers of everyday things and how to avoid them in order to live longer. I’ve been sent dozens of things like that in emails too. You know the thing – don’t eat this, don’t expose your skin to that, watch for this, be aware of that… they make living start to sound like an ongoing battle against ageing and dying. And the fear doesn’t stop there - there’s also the other fears of being too fat or too old, not smart enough or not pretty enough. So much fear and so many people spend their lives worrying, or working frantically on staying alive, that they forget the far more important issue of making sure they LIVE while alive.

With beauty all around me may I walk

There’s a big difference between being alive and LIVING. Anyone breathing is alive, but probably only a handful of people remember to LIVE every moment they are breathing.

Do you? Do you remember to listen to the birds singing in the street as you dash to work worrying about tomorrow? Do you remember to taste the food and enjoy every joyful experience of eating instead of wasting it on guilt or worry about not eating healthy enough or getting fat? Do you still stop to feel the raindrops on your face or do you see rain as annoying? Do you pause to watch rainbows in oil puddles, stop and listen to the street musicians, talk to the person next to you on the bus or in the shop… or do you move quickly so that you’ll be on time for that important “something” that probably isn’t that important really? Do you see flowers or weeds growing between the paving slabs? Do you remember to live or are you just alive?

With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk

It’s not just about quantity of time, it’s about quality of experience. To be here on Earth for a long life is only a blessing if it’s a life that is truly lived. Living in Beauty is choosing to live every moment completely, in joy and wonder, not simply trying to exist as long as possible.

For that reason I can think of no-one better to acknowledge as Living in Beauty than Judith because not only is she genuinely beautiful… she knows how important it is to LIVE while you’re alive.

I check her Facebook page every week, because she always has something uplifting to share about her life. Her comments are replies are full of smiles, love and gratitude. It’s not that her days are exceptionally wonderful, or that her life is that much better than yours or mine, it’s her attitude to living that makes the difference. In fact… Judith’s life is pretty complicated, but I’ll let her daughter explain that to you:

My mum, Judith, is 53 and was diagnosed with Bowel and secondary Liver cancer last Feb 2010. Since then she has had two major surgeries to the Bowel and Liver removing the tumours. After over 6 months chemo she was told the cancer had spread further to the Lungs and she now has 5 inoperable tumours over both lungs & one in her pelvic lymph gland. Her prognosis is that the cancer is now incurable... and she has been given a statistic of 2 years to live.

Now go look at that photo and tell me what you see…

I know what I see - I see the face of a mother, daughter, friend and wife, but mainly I see a woman most beautifully living while she is alive.

In beauty may I walk
All day long may I walk
Through the returning seasons may I walk

With beauty before me may I walk
With beauty behind me may I walk
With beauty above me may I walk

In old age, wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk
In old age, wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk
It is finished in beauty
It is finished in beauty

None of us truly know how long our lives will be. We might lengthen our time, make ourselves as healthy as possible, but none of us have the power to stay alive forever. What we do have though is the power to live each moment of our lives as fully as possible

…and that is what Walking in Beauty means to me.

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Touching Beauty

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The next part of my Navajo inspired Beauty series. An artist with a difference. I hope you enjoy the videos, but do go look at John's paintings on his own website. They're brilliant, in every sense!

With beauty all around me may I walk...



Beautifully I will possess again

Best to finish with a quote from the artist himself:

“Everyone has an artist somewhere in them;
sometimes they just need a little help letting it out.”

John Bramblitt

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