A Simple Life of a Simple Person

Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend...when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present--love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure--the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth.
Sarah Ban Breathnach*

I still have not posted a blog introducing myself formally.  There is a draft of my short biography on the deskstop which is waiting to be edited, completed and shared here.

Scrolling back to the previous posts which has collected in more than a couple of weeks, I am guessing if you are not my family, relative or long time friend, whom I invited to follow this blog, but a simple random reader, who happen to come across this blog, you will have a sense of the person, I am.

Well, we are together in that - one of the many purpose of this blog is for me to get a clear grasp of the person I have become. In one year and two months, I'll be turning 40 years old; I could say, that I am at the point of my life, where I feel I have Heaven on earth. 

But sometimes on your way to heaven, most often than not you have to go through hell.  I think, it is part of the deal. :) Just sharing from my own experience.

This blog is not about sharing the journey from hell but more of how I give thanks for the heaven my family and I are blessed with.

I am not saying that our daily life no longer have struggles like everyone else.  We have our share - more than enough!  But what makes it heavenly is the feeling of belonging to this small unit that shares love abundantly, and celebrates life together in harmony.  That for me is Heaven on earth.

Tonight's self-portrait for 365 is special to me because it captures a moment between the eldest and I.  I was struggling as always to take a picture of myself, and the eldest was in the kitchen, just finished preparing her tea.  Her giggles made me look her way and I had to control myself not to laugh.  I had to tell her to refrain from making me laugh because I wanted to post the picture and blogs before midnight!  She offered to take my picture but since it is part of the challenge that I gave myself to do all the self-portraits, I declined.  When I looked at the picture resulting from our shared giggles, I decided it will be the one I will share tonight because it is the mirror image of the joy my family brings me.  Simple treasured joy.

My usual way of working on 365 ~ self-portraits is to take a spontaneous image, and then look for an inspirational quote that sums up the feeling of the day for me, as a sort of prayer of thanks.  It amazes me everytime that the quotes I find puts me in this peaceful meditative state.

Often, I google the source of the quote, and again I am gratified to learn that the person behind my inspirational quote of the day also had a life journey that led to a simplified life*.

I hope with this post, I have given you once again a "picture" of who I am, if not a detailed biography.  Sometimes, I feel the essence is much better than outlined details, don't you think?

What about you, what is your Heaven on earth? What does a simple life means to you?