Positive Essence of the Self

Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes).

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) American poet.

It seems contradictory, that I write about wanting to take a break from blogging and here I am maintaining not one but several blogs.

I seek balance and peace.  Sometimes, I find it in the midst of frenetic creative activity.  Contradictory?

Tonight, in the process of editing a 365 self-portrait, two different version came out.

Ultimately, I chose the sepia version as the 365 self-portrait of the day, and shaed it as Being Beautifully 40's post of the day, my page counting the days to my 40th birthday.  I feel it was more self-empowering image, compared to te orangy version, asking for more juice.

I acknowledge both, and feel I am learning more and more to internalize the more positive side of me.

How do you highlight your positive side in daily life?

I Grasp Still Life - (celebrating a Book Anniversary belatedly)

On the 27th of May, 2008, I self-published a book with a collection of poems, using Blurb under my pseudonym Paper, which also served as it's simple title: Paper Poem.

It chronicles a difficult period through poetry.

book cover

The image below is the catalyst and inspiration for the book. This single image gave me hope, and helped my struggling spirit and clouded mind to write simple words, which I always struggle to find in times of stress and conflict.

I usually find it very hard to share, which is one of the motivation behind my 365 projects. It is very easy to slip into being a hermit when one is going through major transitions in life.  I have found comfort, strength, and focus in living life literally one day at atime

image originally taken April, 2008

I Grasp Still Life

There is utter happiness in a simple moment

There is simple joy in a basic action

As a little hand grasp the still life

Hope is rediscovered


Looking back, life has indeed changed a lot since I wrote this poem three years ago.  There are still a lot of major changes ahead, the only difference is, I feel my spirit is much stronger, my mind clearer.

celebratory collage for  the 365~self-portraits

I found this quote, that I would like to share to celebrate the third year anniversary of this book, that empowered me:

Words are a form of action, capable of influencing change.
Ingrid Bengis

How was life for your three years ago? Has writing words changed your life?

How I Silence the Noise

The only way I silence the noise of everyday life in my head is to empty it first through prayer, then read and fill it with words of wisdom.

Some words of wisdom, I would like to affirm for today:

We find greatest joy, not in getting, but in expressing what we are... Men do not really live for honors or for pay; their gladness is not the taking and holding, but in doing, the striving, the building, the living. It is a higher joy to teach than to be taught. It is good to get justice, but better to do it; fun to have things but more to make them. The happy man is he who lives the life of love, not for the honors it may bring, but for the life itself.
R.J. Baughan (no known info about the source of the quote)

How do you silence noise of everyday life at the end of the day?

De tweede avond

De tweede avond ~ tonight was the second evening of de avondvierdaagse, an annual (four evenings) walking event in Holland, which started in 1909.

It has been a long day, and I decided to simply share quotes I am meditating on as part of my nightly ritual to positively end the day, instead of writing an account of how the day has been.

I have shared them previously in past posts but they are worth sharing repeatedly. ☺

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.
Robert Brault

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense out of the past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
Melody Beattie

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
Leo Buscaglia

These are great days.
Winston Churchill

How do you positively affirm your day?

Apple of Our Eyes

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
Audrey Hepburn

Littlest~ apple of our eyes, has in numerous occasion saved the 365~ self-portrait project from going bust.

She makes us laugh, she can sometimes be exasperating in her stubborness but she always inspires! 

If you like to see some of the 365~ self-portraits that the littlest took, I archived (will archive) them under the tag LittlestLens.


Who inspires you, when the going gets tough?

Black & Blue

Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.
Carl Jung

Perserverance & Persistance

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
Confucius

Th above quote is my battle cry not only for how so far my participation in WordCount Blogathon 2011 is going along but for all my 365 projects, and my ultimate professional goal as well.

I am currently having a challenging time with myself, and I have always found that reading quotes helps alleviate the pressure I feel from within me.  With today's post, I share the selected quotes I am meditating on to keep me focused and centered, as well as a self-empowering personal poster, which is also today's 365~ self-portrait.(I was channelling, The Thinker by Rodin, but I feel my apathetic disposition was in my way of making a better effort.  Sorry about that!)

In the realm of ideas, everything depends on enthusiasm. In the real world all rests on perseverance.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
Thomas Alva Edison 

How often—even before we began—have we declared a task ‘impossible’? And how often have we construed a picture of ourselves as being inadequate?...A great deal depends upon the thought patterns we choose and on the persistence with which we affirm them.
Piero Ferrucci

We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough.
Helen Keller

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.
Anne Lamott

 I hope you have been uplifted by the wisdom behind these quotes, like I have.  If you would like to read more please check out Joy of Quotes, my source for inspiration!

What quote inspires you to perservere and be persistent?

A Slice of 365 (2)

Warming-Up for the WordCount Blogathon

"I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs."
Jesse Owens

Today, in search of inspiration, I googled quotes using the keyword marathon, and came upon the above quote, which I liked best.

I could replace the word "running" with writing, replace "the wind" with self-doubts, "feet" with imagination and "lungs" with will, then it will read for me:

I always loved writing...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power.  You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting self-doubts as they come, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your imagination and the courage of your will.

 This quote could also apply to biking, my other passion but that is another topic altogether.

When I think of this year's WordCount Blogathon (my first!) , I automatically have to think on how I can compare it to running a marathon.  An endevour I would very much like to do in the future.

I feel that with patience and persistance, I could train for a marathon, and with will I could join and eventually finish it.  I started training 5 years ago, and every year I had to give up my training due to health and other personal reasons.  Still, I have never given up on this goal.  Someday soon, it will be achieved.

This somehow mirrors my dream to be a writer.  I know with patience and persistance I could create a body of work worthy of being recognized.  But I have had to battle health and other personal issues in my life many times during the last two decades,  that at one point the stress of it all disabled me to even write a simple personal letter.

In 2006 when I discovered blogging it was like learning to stand up again after what seems like half a lifetime paralysis, and as the years passed with anonymous writing online, I learned how to walk slowly back towards the path of my dream.  The first quarter of the year of writing on this page felt like a joyous jog.  With the participation in A to Z Blogging Challenge 2011, it was like running a half-marathon in preparation for  the WordCount Blogathon 2011.

I guess with this post, it is like waving at the other participants of this event just after we all left the starting point of this blogathon, and saying, "Hey! It feels good to be writing with all of you!"

When you wave back, what will you be telling me? ☺

365~ self-portrait for today, entitled: catching the last ray of the setting sun

Marathon Writing in May & Monday's Reflection on the A to Z Blogging Challenge 2011

 

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” ~ Mark Twain

Welcome to May, and welcome fellow excited bloggers, who are participating in this year's WordCount Blogathon 2011!  My warm greetigs as well and congratulations to accomplished participants of the A to Z Blogging Challenge April 2011 ! Last but not least, a  resounding, hello to the enthusiastic circle of  ICLWers!

In the short time of creating this small writing corner in this huge space of blogosphere,  I have participated in three blogging events.

First was the NaBloPoMo in March, something I have been meaning to do since I heard about it, more than a couple of months after I begun with anonymous blogging in September, 2006.  If you want to read about it's beginnings (November, 2006), you could check out an old interview with it's creator Eden M. Kennedy, which I recently found.

Through NaBloPoMo, I discovered Melissa Ford, who brought to life and hosts the IComLeavWe  (Interational Comment Leaving Week) on her page Stirrups Queens.

At the same time I came across Arlee Bird's annual blogging event, A to Z Blogging Challenge 2011, which is held every year in April.

I participated at both events within the same month. 

They say all good things come in threes, and I am happy to share that in the case of all these blogging ( ICLW is blogging related) events, this absolutely applies.

365~ self-portrait for today, entitled: I finished the A to Z Blogging Challenge!

As I continue my daily writing in the month of May, I am dedicating it to all readers old and new, generous, encouraging commenters, new friends, new bloggers I subscribed to follow, and most of all to those who would like to create their own blog page, and are seeking encouragement and inspiration!

I could and would write a long list, and posts of what A to Z Blogging Challenge gave to me this May, as a writer and a blogger. Today, I will summarize it in one thought: A to Z made me thoroughly enjoy writing, communicating, blogging in it's truest and simplest form like how I enjoyed and experienced it as a newbie, when I  discovered blogging 5 years ago!

All that I have experienced, the wonderful positive feelings, I will take with me as I do my marathon writing for WordCount Blogathon 2011. The time I did not have to visit pages of many A to Z participants ( & IComLeavWe participants), in April I will make in the month of May, and write about what I learned from each blogger I visited linking to their blogs.  Also looking forward to getting to know and learning from bloggers of WordCount Blogathon 2011.

Once again, thank you so much for the A to Z event Arlee Bird of Tossing it Out!


Inspire & be Inspired, fellow bloggers!

BlogNote 

If you would like to be inspired in your writing and perhaps  participate in next year's A to Z Blogging Challenge, please visit Arlee Bird's :

 

2011 Blogging from A to Z Challenge Reflections Mega Post

M - Message of Love & Hope

If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give.
~ George MacDonald

Today's post is dedicated to my Soulfairygodmommie!

We are at letter M, and I did not wake up with a word like I usually do but Soulfairygodmommie indirectly gave me my word for today via mail.

When I opened the mailbox on the way to picking up middle daughter from school, I saw a huge flat envelope lying in it, and although the littlest and I were running late, I was too excited to just leave it behind unopened!

The mail was from my long standing dearest online/blogging friend, my source of inspiration through the years, specially at the most crucial turning point in my life.  

One amongst those small special circle of positive influence in bringing me to photographing nature the seasons; instrumental in animating me to appreciate the beauty surrounding life; the inspiration for the pictures family and friends often have told me has had a calming effect on them.

My heart was glowing as I wore the bracelet around my wrist, and bike along the country, on my way to pick um middle child with littlest, feeling so very  loved.

As I wore the bracelet, I felt as if my friend was giving me that encouraging, reassuring squeeze of her hand, like how she touched my life with her simple but empowering words  of taking baby steps towards life again, four years ago.

When the girls and I finally reach home again, after spending a carefree afternoon -  so relieved that is finally Friday (!!!), I read aloud to them the note that came with the bracelet.

Perhaps they would not understand completely what it meant to me, but I am very sure they felt the joy I had over the message of love and hope I received this afternoon, like the liberating joy I felt over the message of love and hope four years ago.

Online friendships means as much to me as the friendship I have offline.  I never differentiate it as online life versus, real life friendship. The former is as tangible for me as the latter.

It is a long story to tell but my connections in the internet has helped me reach out in my personal life when I could have easily disappeared and sink in the daily existence of unhappiness, just flowing along the ebb of life - lifeless.

Friendship across the ocean, I can say with much conviction could be more powerful than the one in one's close proximity.

Again,  my heartfelt thanks to a treasured friend, my fairygodmommie, who has  with simple words made a huge impact to my well being.  May you continue to inspire and touch lives, as simple and as powerful as you have mine. 

Do you have friendship(s) across the ocean?  Have they made a huge impact in your life?


Blognote :
Please click on images for better view ☺

Happiness

please click on image for better view :) ♡

A quote to positively affirm my new year in life, also the conviction behind it will be my mantra as I approach my 40th birthday (!!!):

We learn in our guts, not just in our brain, that a life of joy is not in seeking happiness, but in experiencing and simply being the circumstances of our life as they are; not in fulfilling personal wants, but in fulfilling the needs of life…
Charlotte Joko Beck

Welcome to the 39th year of my life! :)

Tonight, I chose a quote to make me remember this day vividly:

Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I thank my beloved P for making this day simple as I lovingly requested, but nonetheless he still made it special. Ik hou van je, liefste.

Truly looking forward to experiencing the first week of Spring with my beloved at home. This is the best birthday present I could have. :)

♡ Lucky ♡

please click image for a bigger, better view :)

 I've always considered my self to be blessed with a charmed life because of my wonderful family and cherished friends...

Today, we had to call Omi B last minute to help us bring the girls to school. The littlest is sick and since I always need to bring the littlest along on the bike when I do the school ride with the older girls (except when P is free from work or has a later start in the day) I had to stay at home too.

The littlest hardly slept through the previous night because she was crying from pain, the source of which we could not tell specifically because she cried in her sleep.  This morning she was running a temperature, had a clogged nose and when she woke up she complained of having pain in her throat.

P was relieved when he called Omi B and she was already up, and is available to help out.  She has been our support in times of many emergencies not only this year but many times in the past years since we moved to be together with P.

But I felt a bit down because it is still a source of stress for us to find a consistent way to bring the girls to school, that will not be too dependant on my being healthy or the littlest. The last weeks of battles  with my health(stomach flu, cold virus etc) affected the girls going to school. Admittedly, this has pulled my spirit down because it reminded me of the hard times I had while they were going to school in Germany and I was suffering from chronic depression.  Although in hindsight those hard times, were times I experienced a lot of  love, extra ordinary support and caring coming from family, friends and concerned people from the community.

Still, even with the knowledge and assurance from people concerned, that it does not hurt to ask for help, it still is hard to do so.

When the girls came home, eldest was carrying two packages.  I was too distracted with the littles that I did not get the mail, but eldest always checks the mail box anyway because of letters or packages that might come from Oma H.

Today was such a day, there was a package from Germany with pictures from their last month's Spring vacation.  AND a package from our friend in CA, USA!

The littlest wanted to open the package from USA right away, but I told her it will be more fun if we wait until Dada comes home to open it with us.  She happily agreed and had the teatime I usually served when Omi B comes to visit or brings home the girls from school.

Talking to Omi B always calms me because of her positive spirit.  Teatime with her almost replaces breakfast/teatimes dates I had with my girlfriends in Germany, whom I all sorely missed.  She gives me the same feeling of total acceptance for who I am, and reassurance that everything is going to be alright at the end of the day.

Littlest opened the package after dinner, when Dada finally came home from work, and as I put on the earrings that were inside for me, I could not help being teary-eyed.  My heart squeezed and I felt this warm gratefulness in my being.

I was reminded by this thoughtful gesture that if I keep holding on baby steps, of taking one day at a time, in time I will be able to personally celebrate this unique bond of friendship with people I shared my inner-most thoughts during the times of my struggles, and who have inspired me with their own inner-strength and their love for life. The gifts were not only symbol of friendship for me but symbols of hope being eternal; it reaches across and covers the entire globe

It was a great coincidence that the gifts arrived today at St. Patrick's Day, and 3 days to my birthday 39th birthday.  I guess you can say, I am a gal who loves coincidences and interprets what some would view as something random, as signs, and messages from the universe.  I say, the world needs a couple of numbers to fill the statistics under the category: hopeless dreamer. :)

Happy St Patrick's Day to all who celebrates it!

To a special friend, from CA, whose heart is huge, warm & generous, a loving message:  I am so lucky to be considered  your friend, thank you for the wonderful gifts, your friendship and your inspiration!

Quotes to positively affirm this day:

A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.
Bernard Meltzer

Friends...they cherish one another’s hopes. They are kind to one another’s dreams.
Henry David Thoreau

My father always used to say that when you die, if you’ve got five real friends, then you’ve had a great life.
Lee Iacocca

Sleepy & Springy

This 365 is once again saved by the P!  Thanks so much for the support my beloved; you truly know how much this project means to me.

I was almost talking myself into giving up prematurely on the 365, telling myself, I have affirmed all there is to affirm in my "new life" here in the Netherlands and that I only have myself to answer to now, which is in itself the purpose of this project - to give myself back a sense of control, which I felt I lost.

Everyone who goes through major changes in life could, I think, identify with this feeling of somehow falling in a hole, like Alice in Wonderland.  One is ready and curious enough for the adventure but in the midst of it one feels disorientation.  In the end you find yourself back to where you were before all the adventure began but with a better understanding of yourself.

One factor for my deep regarding the 365 is that lately I've been experiencing early Spring lethargy, and I would love to shake it off fully before Spring officially begins in 5 days.

Biking daily does help a whole lot, and I am trying to watch what I eat, and when I eat.  I do envy the littlest with the seemingly abundant energy she has almost the entire day!  We started napping together again this week, thinking this will also help me further reach my goal of having more stamina through the day.  Let's see how the week goes!

How do you deal with Spring lethargy?  Or are you one of the lucky ones who does not get affected by the changing of the seasons?

Here once again, a few quoatations to end the day with positive affirmations:

To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.
Buddha

"To the illuminated mind the whole world burns and sparkles with light."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

According to Vedanta, there are only two symptoms of enlightenment, just two indications that a transformation is taking place within you toward a higher consciousness. The first symptom is that you stop worrying. Things don’t bother you anymore. You become light hearted and full of joy. The second symptom is that you encounter more and more meaningful coincidences in your life, more and more synchronicities. And this accelerates to the point where you actually experience the miraculous.
Deepak Chopra

Empowered

image taken on the way home from picking the girls to school

The 14th of March! Can you believe it that the last month of the first quarter of the year is half way through?  6 more days to my 39th birthday.  More on that in subsequent posts this week.

I feel mentally strong today, stronger than I have ever felt for a long time; the last weeks has once again tested my stability and I am grateful that I withstood the self-doubts, the self-defeating thoughts, and the self-sabotage that I usually go through when in this sadly familiar cycle.

Writing is healing, the 365 project in it's many forms for me has kept me focused in my priorities, goals and visions.

Tonight, as the day nears it's end, I would like to record for posterity - once again - that the individual has the power to conquer any adversity in life.  We simply have to believe that the impossible is possible.

Love life; strive for a liberated life.  Abandon the fears, it's a prison cell, the key for which, you yourself possess. 

paper  ~

I hope this thought helps you not only this week, but most specially at difficult times.

Sharing quotes for positive affirmation:

Being vulnerable doesn't have to be threatening. Just have the courage to be sincere, open and honest. This opens the door to deeper communication all around. It creates self-empowerment and the kind of connections with others we all want in life. Speaking from the heart frees us from the secrets that burden us. These secrets are what make us sick or fearful. Speaking truth helps you get clarity on your real heart directives.
Sara Paddison

 Re-examine all that you have been told. Dismiss that which insults your soul.
Walt Whitman

 I think education is power. I think that being able to communicate with people is power. One of my main goals on the planet is to encourage people to empower themselves.
Oprah Winfrey

Aberration

That time of the month....

Meditating on these words to overcome what for me are always challenging times:

There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle.
Robert Alden

ust as liJght brightens darkness, discovering inner fulfillment can eliminate any disorder or discomfort. This is truly the key to creating balance and harmony in everything you do
Deepak Chopra

 I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe.
Dalai Lama

Serenity

A self-potrait to meditate on, and affirm thoughts behind the selected quotes for the day:

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.
William James

Stress is basically a disconnection from the earth, a forgetting of the breath. Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is that important. Just lie down.
Natalie Goldberg

Suppose you read about a pill that you could take once a day to reduce anxiety and increase your contentment. Would you take it? Suppose further that the pill has a great variety of side effects, all of them good: increased self-esteem, empathy, and trust; it even improves memory. Suppose, finally, that the pill is all natural and costs nothing. Now would you take it? The pill exists. It is meditation.
Jonathan Haidt

Littlest' Lens

Please click on the image to have a better view

Today's post is another attempt to move my blogging time to the a.m. part of the day!  Here is hoping I will be able to be consistent on this the entire week because I do NEED to sleep earlier than way past midnight.

I took a  couple of pictures on my way back home after bringing back the girl's to school.  The weather outside is fantabulous!!!  It is still cool though, but what the heck, the sun is out beaming wonderful sunshine!

Never did I imagine that sunshine will be a cause of celebration in my life having grown up in a tropical country and growing up with the habit of taking an umbrella to shield myself not from the rain but from the sun.  Life can be entertaining when you muse about it from different perspectives of your life.

Speaking of perspectives, the littlest shot today's 365~ self-portrait!  Sooo proud of her.  This is not the first picture she shot of me.  She actually took a picture of P last week or two weeks ago.  I'll post it some other time.  I guess, this is one very lucid example that when you want your young to be creative, the best way is to simply practice creativity yourself, and they'll follow.  Littlest (3 y.o) asked me very politely "Mom, take a picture?" and then  took the camera in the hand like she's been doing it forever, and manipulated it that  after taking the simple picture, she was able to view the result right after and showed it to me for approval.  Did I say, I am so proud?!!!

I could not help tweaking the image a bit in picnik (I used the Threshold feature in edit mode) to make it appear as if I was frozen (couch+chill + relaxing~ cool chillaxing) because I felt blah and it showed on my complexion; I am making a mental note today to start moisturizing my dry face, which I neglected in the couple of weeks I was sick.

It was great being back on the saddle again.  I had a mini-anxiety attack as I woke up, thinking about the bike route to the girl's school.  The nausea felt so bad but luckily P knows better now how to talk me out of it.  Lucky for him since he could sleep in, and not bring them in my stead. Kidding aside, I am RELIEVED that my panic and anxiety attacks are getting more under control.  More on that some other time. 

taken on the way back home from a visit in Loosdrecht, 5 May 2010

I am simply full of bliss that I am well again, and I cannot repeat that enough after the terrible two weeks!  Cannot wait to tank some sun, and so I am ending this entry with three quotes to affirm the day positively (also to shoo away remnants of negative thoughts I suffered from while fighting depression, which is always the side effect of being ill for a long period):

I’ve learned that making a ‘living’ is not the same thing as making a ’life.’
Maya Angelou

 Love and do what you like.
Saint Augustine

I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before. But it’s true – hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don’t love something, then don’t do it.
Ray Bradbury

Wishing you all a magnificent week!

Heavenly!

Please click on image for better view :) of the cow! My mascot for this blog :D

To be well again, and productive - heavenly!

I share with tonight's 365 ~ self-portrait, an idea (a sort of a reminder) for a sketch (eventually a painting), I would like to work on, when I can go back to devouting time for that passion again.  It will be my modern interpretation of The Milk Maid by Johannes Vermeer.

I have to say in case you are wondering, I still plan to write posts and not only photo blogs this month.  Due to my health condition for the past couple of weeks, I resorted to photo blogs (simplifying!) but  I plan to write some subjects I have briefly mentioned in past blogs, as soon as the family schedule allows.

Tonight a short summary of our Sunday.

We all slept in.  After brunch each member of the family had their "playtime".  The girls travelled with their imagination with the help of their Schleich toys.  While P and I were both behind our laptops.  The weather was great, but we were all simply too sluggish to go out and do a family bike tour.  We'll have enough biking opportunity the entire week when I bring the girls to school.  Also P has again the weekend off!

The girls did their grooming in the afternoon while I thoroughly cleaned the master bedroom, and P cleared the kitchen.

I am very proud of middle daughter; she proudly showered by herself again today.  It will not only be helpful for me in the future when I go back to work that they are able to do a lot of things on their own but also great for their sense of self.

P cooked chicken tikka massala for dinner while I put on the clean sheets that he laundered this afternoon. There was laughter at the dinner table and relaxing conversation.

Simple heavenly Sunday!  It is great to feel one's health back, and be able to truly share family time as it should be.

Here is wishing that you all have a lovely Sunday evening what remains from it, and a good start in the new week!

Three quotes, I share tonight, which I will use to affirm the day &  meditate on, before I go to bed:

Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity.
Plato

Our life is frittered away by detail…simplify, simplify.
Henry David Thoreau

I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex.
Oscar Wilde

Resilience

Affirming the day...the past weeks, and the future.

Art is about energy positive and negative. All art has the power to heal because it helps us see who we are, and what we resist.
Shirley MacLaine

I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.
Albert Einstein

Never, never, never, never give up.
Winston Churchill