A-Z of Life as I know it...today it's 'F'

I could easily think of an appropriate word for my 'f' letter today but being the good mannered person that I am I will find another.......ummm thinking, thinking, thinking???

Ok the word for today is "Focus" - and quite simply the word FOCUS for me means to do the following

W - watch your words

A= watch your actions

T= watch your thinking

C= watch your character 

H= watch your heart

It's about being on 'watch', it's about being focused on every part of my being. There's no better way to stay focused than to be mindful of each of these actions.

How good I am at doing it remains to be seen, it's a bit like my being "Miss Congeniality" as I wrote about in another blog. I don't always remember it in every minute of my day but I am brought back to that reality at some point in each day.

Sometimes it's during a conversation with someone and sometimes it's because somehow I find myself not being very congenial and catch myself.

I guess it's practicing 'mindfulness'. Being mindful about everything I do whether that's eating a sandwich, drinking a glass of water, washing the dishes and even driving the car which I found out today through a costly lesson.

To be in the moment in everything that I do, now that's something to aspire to and something I will practice. I know I won't do it all right today, tomorrow, next week or maybe not in years but if I can consciously do my best to be more focused then I know my life will all the better for it.

Sai Ram

Eldorado because today my letter is "E"

 
I loved the sound of the word Eldorado, it sort of reminded me of the old westerns I used to watch as a child. So thought I'd do a little research to find out the true meaning of it.

Wow what a Pandora's box I've opened, Eldorado has been used to describe so many different things from towns or cities  in many countries all around the world, an odd assortment of  music groups, quite a few songs and a Cadillac motor car has one of it's many models named the 'Eldorado' which in my mind is a very fitting name for such an iconic vehicle.

The Dictionary gives a few of different meanings, from 'mythical city of gold'  to the less enchanting explanations such as  'imaginary land of great wealth' or place of abundance or opportunity'. The one that rings my bell is the mythical city of gold as it conjures up images of the mighty Incas or the Aztecs and gold!

Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Australia, the US, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Mars, Colombia and Canada all have towns or cities named El Dorado, how many of them befit the title I wonder.

Bogota in Colombia has named it's international airport Eldorado, there is a Guyanese Rum named after it too.

El Dorado is a Japanese rock band, Neil Young had a 1989 EP titled El Dorado and a German band called '17 Hippies' had a song titled El Dorado. The Electric Light Orchestra named an album and a song after El Dorado and many more used the title. I wonder what the impetus was for all of these groups, was it the hope of finding their own mythical land of opportunity. Or does it just have a good ring to it!  

Then there's the casino in Nevada named Eldorado, what a great name for a casino of course...come to think of it I guess I must have associated it with gold or wealth or something along those lines now that I'm thinking about it. But I can't say I ever thought about it in any depth before but thinking about Casino's and Cadillacs now,  it certainly would imply wealth!

It's also a name used extensively in films, a handful of books, the odd soap opera, a musical comedy and even a French silent movie...so there must be something to this El Dorado connotation.

I think I might have seen the odd scratch-it ticket or lottery ticket named El Dorado along with sparkling gold as part of the logo. Yes I'm certain I've been under the influence of the old El Dorado term before as I am more convinced as I write that I always knew it was some well worn symbol for wealth, not just any wealth but GOLD!

Now I'm back to reminiscing about those old western movies I so loved to watch as a kid and that I might add were an intrinsic part of my family life....after all didn't everyone watch cowboys and indians as they were known, way back when!!! Probably due to the lack of any other options, quite likely all we were given on our black and white tv that only ran for what seemed like a few hours a day into the early evening....but we always had the good old test pattern which held a certain type of fascination in itself! But I do digress :)

So in closing, El Dorado has been an interesting word for my day and I'm sure I'll be super sensitive to the word wherever I go over the next little while...I think I have even seen apartment blocks named El Dorado and I know I'll think of more examples as I try to put this out of my mind and not spend any more time on such a wasteful pursuit!!! Only kidding, I love it of course!

But wait there's more.....a super computer called Eldorado, a period of Colombian football, a Japanese wrestling program and finally a Canadian mine which somebody just had to name Eldorado of course!

A-Z Thoughts and Today is 'D' Day

My letter for today is 'D' so I'm choosing Dream

Some phrases spring to mind like 'living the dream' for instance. Some of my friends would probably think that I'm living the dream. I do lead an independent life and only have myself to think about which allows me the freedom to be spontaneous.
I might decide on a whim to pack up and head south and then just as quickly say 'its time to go home' or see a cheap flight overseas and just book it.
I am always on the move, either overseas or within the state. And I am most fortunate to have good friends to catch up with wherever I go. So if that's living 'the dream' then I'm doing it for sure.

I wonder what exactly 'living the dream' means, could it mean different things to different people. I think it's something like living a charmed life, a life that someone else might be a little envious of and yet for me it would be absolutely that if I had a bottomless bank account. But don't get me wrong, I am a fortunate person and I am forever grateful for the life I'm living because it's a darned good life.

 'I have a dream' said Martin Luther King, it was a strong and passionate dream and unfortunately for him, short lived.  But it was strong, clear and concise. If only we could all have strong and passionate dreams, visions of what we want for out lives and the strength and the means to go out and get it, to create it, to make it so.

'Dream a little dream of me', oh that's a song! ...well a silly little love song, and I'm not commenting on that.
'I'm dreaming of a white Christmas', another song .....nope a white Christmas doesn't appeal to me, give me a good old Aussie hot Christmas any day!

'Life is a dream, realize it!' now that's a favourite of mine a quote from my beloved Sathya Sai Baba.
The crux of this statement is that life really is a dream, it's not reality from a spiritual perspective.
We get tied up in living the dream, creating wealth, keeping up with the Jones's and measuring ourselves against others.
What is the purpose of gathering material possessions, amassing huge fortunes and claiming our place in societies social ladder? We can't take any of that with us when we die!

I'm sure they're other phrases that include the word 'dream' however at this early hour on a Sunday morning, these are the ones that popped into my head and without getting into an epic novel, I am going to leave it here.

'C'....C is for Congeniality

When I think of the word congeniality the first thing I think of is Sandra Bullock in the movie "Miss Congeniality"....so how can I be serious here? :)

Well it's a word I don't hear too often these days, but the dictionary says it means to be 'kindred temper to' or 'with another or others' or 'suiting one's disposition, pleasurable'.

What a funny old word that is...I still can't stop thinking about Sandra Bullock and that snorting laugh she had so is that why they called her 'Miss Congeniality'?

I think I'll try to be more congenial, to get along with others more, let that read family!!
Gee can you be congenial all the time? I doubt it, so perhaps most of the time? I thought I did that generally. And yet I am not sure I would be described as being congenial....so I'm gonna think about that one and see where it takes me.

I'm going to strive to be a type of ' Miss Congeniality' myself....but wait does that mean  for me to be getting along with everyone that I will have to agree with them all the time.... ignore my own values and opinions......well I could keep my opinions to myself of course, not that I've been known for that particular quality!

Oh dear, now I have myself a little dilemma don't I? :) How will I get around that one, not having an opinion unless of course I'm asked for it.....mmmmmmmm that might be hard cause I always seem to have something to say, just ask my friends.

And sometimes, just sometimes I say, having an opinion has not always produced the best outcome so maybe, just maybe there is something in being an observer rather than a participant in the show!

Ok, I'm going to give that some consideration, I wonder what my life would be like if I just listened, nodded my head politely, or gave it the odd shake here and there, perhaps I could practice thinking on the inside rather than expressing outside.

That sure would make life a lot easier for certain situations for sure...so ok, congeniality, I'm gonna give you a try!

Stay tuned folks hehehe

Today is 'B' Day, B is for Bliss

My word for today is 'Bliss'

There are many ways to find your Bliss. One special way I find bliss is by attending a Bhajan.
A Bhajan is a devotional song, a song to God!

Interesting considering my spiritual name is 'Giitanjali' which translates as 'offering of song to the Supreme'. I was given this name some years back whilst attending a gathering known as the  Festival of Bliss.  

I first attended a Bhajan way back in around 1983. This was when I first heard about Sri Sathya Sai Baba....who was to become my Spiritual Teacher and has remained so for this past 29 years.
I was hooked and went on to host many Bhajan sessions through the formation of  a Sai Baba Bhajan Group.

Initially I was quite fearful of singing out aloud but with the encouragement of the other participants I took the plunge,  never to look back.  In no time at all I found I could put my fear aside and that I actually looked forward to leading a Bhajan, after all I was offering my song to my Spiritual Teacher and in so doing there really was no room for ego.


A Bhajan is a song rather than a chant, a leader sings a line and the group follows repeating that line and so it goes...the first round is slower and then the second round sees the pace quickened.
It's not a repetitive chant where you are encouraged to loose consciousness of your immediate environment.

 The vibration can be so high at times and the subsequent feeling is pure bliss,  it's like food for my soul and the uplifting feeling I receive and take with me is something to be treasured and nurtured. 

I've had quite a long break from my Bhajan sessions due to my path twisting and turning and yet now I am finding that I am being lead back along that sacred path.

A Bhajan is not generally a tool for loosing yourself in deep mediation, it's more about a conscious offering to God and being in the moment. Having said that it's quite easy to find yourself consumed by feelings of bliss and love.


Wherever your bliss comes from, embrace it, soak it up and in so doing it becomes like a magnet to those you come into contact with....uplifting and feeding their souls too, regardless of whether they are conscious of it or not.

A - Z thoughts on life as I know it! Today is 'A' Day

Just for now, I'm going to write this blog based on the letters of the alphabet so today I start with the letter 'A' ....a theme you might ask? Well what about whatever comes to mind on the day and maybe a theme will unfold and maybe it will be a random selection of words about anything and everything.

So today being the first day my letter will be 'A' and my word for the day is 'Action'

I will strive to be aware of my actions, how my actions impact others and how they impact my life generally and in so doing, I might even discover that my actions need some fine tuning.

I am reminded of the old adage that for each and every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
How so?.....well take family for instance..one simple word or action can trigger a minefield of emotions.

Often they are good memories, warm and fuzzy thoughts that trigger lots of laughter and reminiscing about some event from long ago. These are fun times where we  reconnect with uplifting and positive results, a good action.

Then there is the other side of the coin where some comment triggers a memory that surges up almost without warning and in the blink of an eye a 'reaction' is released, usually with the result being that the people involved are plunged into the murky waters of a time gone by where all was not so rosy for at least one of the people involved.

What to do then becomes a major point of contention....perhaps one of the people involved still feels deep hurt or pain from something that occurred in the past, maybe one person has worked through that to some degree and is not carrying that issue, one person or both may be totally oblivious to the fact that there is an issue in the first place, that is until a trigger is pressed releasing the scars of the past?

Either way it's a very real reminder that we all have hurt, pain, sorrow, loss and regrets locked away in our emotional vaults. It was once explained like having a filing cabinet where all of those past issues are neatly filed away on different shelves. Whilst the cupboard remains untouched, all is well to a degree but when that cupboard is rattled and shaken up those emotions that were once neatly stacked, now become 'all shook up', and out of order with the result being that we are thrown into emotional turmoil and once more are given the opportunity to look at our files, re assess them and re file them before we can move on. How we do that is entirely up to us of course..we can just shove them all back in and slam the door shut whereby they are left to rattle about with the slightest movement, the slightest provocation or we can take them out, have a good hard look at them and make a conscious decision as to whether we really do want or need them in our cupboard, clogging up the entire system.

Whilst I may not like what's happening in the moment, I sure do know what I prefer and that is to seize the opportunity and use it as a stepping stone along my path to personal growth and personal fulfillment.

How we do that becomes the tricky part. I see it as another opportunity to re evaluate whether those issues are worth keeping any more, can they be re addressed, re filed in a different order, moved from being filed high in the order of priority, those issues still needing much work or re filed on a lower shelf  where they have become of less importance, no longer having the ability to send us into a tail spin when being confronted by them.

So taking 'action' is paramount in order to reduce the clutter in the old filing cupboard. After all who would want to have the contents ruling your life, wouldn't it be so much better to feel as though you are in control and that those messy items aren't controlling your life. It's often hard work, to take responsibility for your actions, ascertain if you're actually acting with a clear mind or reacting from an emotionally cluttered stance.

The reward is worth the effort and I have a few strategies for working through the mire. To be continually working on maintaining my cupboard in a neat and uncluttered way is reward enough and each time I do the maintenance I feel a great sense of personal satisfaction which has it's own rewards, including strength of character, self worth, peace of mind and a happier heart.

I have a few strategies for my own type of maintenance including the following...

• Firstly it is imperative that I take the focus off the other person
• I must accept responsibility for my actions/reactions
• Then I can more clearly look at what's going on for me 
• Ask myself what am I feeling and name that emotion, if I can't name it I can't move on!
• Having done that I ask, when was another time in my life that I felt like this
• What  was happening in my life at that time
• Having ascertained the above, I then keep going back asking myself the same questions
• Is there a theme unfolding here?

Once I have followed these steps I am well on the way to realizing what it is that I have been reacting to...it's not the other person, it's something within me, the other person is merely the trigger.

From here I am in a position to take action. I've realised that I have a problem in some regard and it's my responsibility to do something about that...I can make a conscious decision to change an aspect of myself or I can choose to ignore it or be in denial because it all seems too damn hard.

Either way it's my choice, no one else's and I can only change myself, I cannot change another.
But I've found that a funny thing happens when I choose to change something about myself, I've found that by me changing how I react, that others change too as they will no longer be reacting to the old me and my old ways, they too have to change and adapt!

Authenic or Real, what's the difference?

 
Being your authentic self....mmmmmm how often can I make the claim to being my authentic self?
And what does it mean anyway? Is being real the same as being authentic? Sounds pretty similar.
I think I'm 'real', I don't pretend to be something I'm not, in a nutshell I'm genuine.
I'm a compassionate being,  I think of others, I try to put myself in other shoes. I do my best to understand where someone is coming from even if their behaviour is objectionable to me.
Basically I live by the motto, 'do unto others'...it's always worked for me.
Being a believer in reincarnation, I certainly don't want to be building bad karma, after all, what goes around comes around in my book of beliefs.

So being 'authentic' is what? I think it's all of the above and I think it's a bit more too.
If being true to yourself meant that your actions might cause another to feel hurt,  would you go ahead? And what if that person is a beloved family member.
Could you allow your true feelings to be seen or heard regardless of what ppl might think?
Is your self esteem, your self worth robust enough to stand out from the crowd, to express a different opinion than the majority and not feel inferior as a result?
Would you take a risk to explore the possibility of achieving your true potential?
How hard is it to stand back when someone you love is out of line and allow them to learn their own lesson from the experience?
Will you feel that people will think less of you because of that person's inappropriate behaviour or will you feel strong in the belief that you are your own person.

For some people it's a goal to work towards and for some people it all seems too hard....as for me, I'm one of the former....it's a work in progress and one day I'll earn my diploma and the real me, my authentic self will finally rejoice.

Joy in the Moment

Joy has many forms, it can be the joy of basking in the beauty of a deep pink frangipani, my favourite of the species or any vivid or striking flower that chances to catch your eye like this extraordinary white bat lily.

A colourful butterfly circling around me, looking for somewhere to land, the colours of my clothes attracting the fragile creature.
It can be as simple as watching a dragonfly flitting across the surface of a still pond or landing on your foot as you sit quietly watching.

The brilliance of a chance meeting with a spectacular peacock....truly a sight to behold.

Little pleasures and yet a joy in themselves.
It's that simple really, the art of finding joy in our lives.
It doesn't have to be some momentous task it's more how we set our minds to recognizing the simplicity in the little things around us.

To view a sunset, the sun sliding down beyond the horizon, it's brilliant and vibrant colours captivating and seducing the senses..... the mind has no choice but to surrender to the moment....a moment of great joy that often brings with it an inner peace that is so often missing from our busy lives.

What price freedom?

I've searched for freedom nearly all of my life

Most of my struggle has been in being a wife

Giving away my most precious possession

My personal power lost all self expression.....

This was the first verse of a poem I wrote back in 1999...fast forward to 2012 .....all I can say is wow!

If I had known then what I know now I wonder what direction I would have taken when standing at that crossroads?

Would I have gone left, would I have gone right or would I have  marched on straight ahead with my head held high?

Looking back at that difficult time in my life, I can only speculate as to what impact a little knowledge might have had on me.  

What if I had been given a glimpse of what riches the future held for me?

My advice to me might go something like this......

Dear Precious Self

You will regain your freedom and grow in personal and emotional intelligence, believe it!

You will meet an amazing  girlfriend, who will like you for who you are, who will enjoy your company, who will support you through the ups and downs of life and that your friendship will still be as strong 13 years on.

Travel will feature prominently in your life and will become a way of life for you and in your wildest dreams just imagine that you will almost fill a passport with stamps from so many different countries in just 5 years. 

The perfect job will be presented to you that will be exciting, challenging and rewarding and will change the course of your life entirely...a defining event in your life and one you will so often have cause to reflect on and to be grateful for many times over.

 Your confidence will grow and expand tenfold and you will be brave enough to travel overseas alone to teach English in China and Vietnam, imagine that??

The most  amazing and eclectic bunch of friends will be attracted to YOU,  along your many colourful journeys from many different places both in Australia and overseas.

You will embrace your new life with open arms, you'll be as free as a butterfly, you'll love your own company, you'll make your own decisions and you'll be happy, truly happy!

Yes, if only I could have been able to give 'me' some tips, some insight, some direction...hindsight is the most wonderful teacher.

It has been said that 'a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing' and who could possibly know if this would have been the case for me 13 years ago...I can only imagine that my fragile and defeated self would have struggled to believe that any of these things could possibly be true or could just the slightest little bit of trust and hope in such wild and seemingly unattainable dreams have impacted my life for the better back then when it all seemed so hard.

But then again it is also said 'that those things that don't beat you make you stronger' and I believe that to be the truth for me.

I like who I am today, I like where I am, I do like the freedom I have so rightly earned and I am happy in my own skin.

A boss once said to me way back in the early 80's when I had just been promoted to a retail management position and he said 'remember this'.....'when the going gets tough, the tough get going' .  It obviously resonated deep within me and I took it into my work and more importantly I embraced it and made it one of my mantras in life.

As Forrest Gump once said 'life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you will get'.