In my view gratitude is still the greatest inspiration for happiness available to us today

Slow down…....You could miss something extra ordinary today.

Sometimes even when our schedule isn’t too full our minds can be running a marathon. We can be so swept up in thought that we are not tasting our food, listening well to the people around us or noticing the warmth in the sun. When I do stop and take in the incredible detail in a day I am left in wonder. Why is it so beautiful, if we were meant to be ignoring it anyway?

If you speak to someone who has lost their sight, you will learn about what a gift it is to see the faces of your family and friends clearly. I have listen to a beautiful lady who lost her ability to taste her food. I remember how she spoke about her favourite milkshake. Imagine a world in which we couldn’t hear music or the birds. What about the millions of people who cannot protect themselves from the cold by standing near a warm heater or having a hot drink of tea?

We take so many thousands of things for granted when we get busy and caught up in thought. As cliché as it sounds, gratitude is still the greatest inspiration for happiness available to us today (in my view). Before I ask for more in my life I try to check in on how much I am appreciating all that I have.

I hope we as adults can find ways to inspire gratitude for the next generation. Most of the children I know live in a truly abundant time and we can barely think of what more to purchase for them when birthdays and Christmas comes around. Sadly unless they have the latest version of technology they can feel a lacking somehow.

I hear a discontent starting even in some young people with the competitiveness of social media and how much energy it takes to keep up. What happened to the lazy Sundays out in the garden, the tree climbing, the cubby building, the days when the house phone rang a couple of times a day and you had to walk to the library to complete your assignment.

When you can wind back your ‘wanting’ a beautiful sense of contentment arrives. When you can steady up your ‘striving to prove something’ an inspiring sense of wonder arrives. When your eyes open up and your taste buds tingle, the richness of aromas blossom and a gentle touch becomes the most precious part of the day…that’s when you know you are alive and on track…....that’s when you can start giving back rather than living in a constant state of wanting.

Comments

Bribbaree Show, One direction, Boarding School and Hay Making. What a week!!

#Champion Bloom of the Show!! One Direction Concert Breakfast at Bronte Beach Mowing Hay Yo u wouldn’t believe what I have been doing in the past week. The local Bribbaree Show was on during the final weekend of the school holidays so our 2 youngest girls entered a few events on their horses and Howard joined in the team penning. I walked around with our eldest daughter, passing some very well groomed dogs on our way to the equestrian area. The show ground was filling with families and local women were dropping off cakes and sandwich fillings at the canteen, while the children convinced their parents to let them go on some rides. Howard entered a big red rose for me, that had opened in our garden a few days earlier and I am pleased to ‘announce’ that we won ‘Best Bloom of the Show’. What fun!! We had tea, sandwiches and cake for lunch, Howard skipping the fatty food this year. By late afternoon we gathered with everyone for a cool drink befor

Can creativity be good for our health?

Hello, It has been a while between blogs but as my intention for 2023 is to write full time, I should manage a regular post once again. Writing has always been something I do early in the morning or in the tiny spaces in between all else, but this year I am putting creativity at the top of my priority list. If you know me well, you would know I have always wanted to write a book. The sensible project would be to share what I have learnt over the past 12 years about health, yoga, breath work and mindfulness, to support the healing of trauma and rural challenges, but at the moment it is a farm based novel that is flowing well. Perhaps all of the above topics will turn up in the lives of my characters, we will see. It is so liberating, giving myself permission to do what I love, here on the farm. Although on some level it also feels isolating to be here on my own each day at the desk. The opportunity to witness this landscape from this quiet space feels deeply healing and quite confront

Discovering Meditation in small stages - 3 Audio Recordings attached.

10.11.23 Discovering Meditation If I can define meditation in the simplest way, I would say meditation is ‘ being in the space in between our thoughts .’ Meditation is no ‘easy’ task when we have over 70 000 thoughts a day. This is why I stepped todays class through a 3-stage process, in preparation for a brief meditation experience. Below is an explanation of each of these stages I taught and why these techniques are great preparation for potent stillness. Stage 1. It is more challenging to meditate with lots of tension in the body, so the first step is to let go of the extra holding that we may not even be aware of. This is done by noticing the body and slightly moving each area, or tensing and releasing each body part. (Starting at the feet, legs, spine and then the belly as we breathe. Open and close the hands, stretch the arms, lift and drop the shoulders, carefully stretch the neck and face.) Stage 2. Secondly, we can begin to be more aware of our breathing patt

Narelle Hunter RURAL LIFESTYLE

Search This Blog