Photo Friday – Signs of Spring

Signs of Spring

Tags: Blossom, Branches, Buds, Earth, Flowers, Nature, Photo, Photography, Spring, Trees

Rumour in the Treetops

The Sun was knocking on my window.

“Come and join us!” she beckoned. “Rumour has it, someone important is on her way!”

Enticed by the Sun’s soft voice, I opened my balcony doors and stepped outside.

I soon saw that the Sun was right: the whole of nature seemed to be preparing for some grand event. The birds had a surplus of energy and were chasing each other at roller-coaster speed through the sky. The trees were standing taller than usual and were turning towards each other for advice on the most attractive position to hold their branches. The grass was showing off its new highlights, and the clouds were parading all of their shapes and forms across a light blue sky.

The Sun, with its long elegant rays, was nudging awake the sleeping flowers, who were reluctant to throw off the warm layer of dry leaves that had kept them warm during the winter. A zephyr came shyly towards me and kissed my cheek so softly that I barely noticed. Before I could give him an embarrassed smile back, he had already slid away silently.

The air was gathering perfumes from all corners of the Earth, and my eyelids were drooping slowing from this overdose of odours.

And in my dazed state, I believe to have heard a Whisper make its way through the treetops.

She spoke very quietly, but I caught the most important part of her message: “Spring is on her way!”

Tags: Birds, Clouds, Creative, Description, Earth, Flowers, Grass, Rumour, Spring, Story, Sun, Trees, Writing, Zephyr

Keep Your Love Afloat

On Valentine’s Day, I would like to share with you the most beautiful metaphor of a relationship that I have heard, with all quote credits going to my partner:

“We are a team. We are not two people rowing down one river side by side in separate boats; we are in one boat. And we have to work together to keep the boat afloat. We have to communicate clearly and regularly to give each other advice and instructions, we have to understand and accept the other’s weaknesses and work with them, we both have to make a little more effort in turbulent parts of the river, and we have to offer help when the other is struggling.
Only continual effort from both sides will create the balance and movement to keep our boat afloat.”

I wish you all a calm and beautiful ride down the river in your boats with your loved ones. If you do not yet have a rowing partner, I hope you find one with whom the journey will be peaceful and the scenery will be breathtaking.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Tags: Boat, Couple, Journey, Life, Love, Quote, Relationship, Ride, River, Saint Valentine's

Photo Friday – To Love

“For one human being to love another human being: that is perhaps the most difficult task that has been entrusted to us, the ultimate task, the final test and proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation.” 

Rainer Maria Rilke

Tags: Couple, France, Love, Photo, Quote, Rainer Maria Rilke, Saint Valentine's, Task, Test, Village

Today, I am Grateful for…

A good night’s sleep.

Morning jam, morning biscuits.

Living in a place where it is not stressful to do shopping.

A refreshing walk in the rain.

Being surrounded by kind, thoughtful and open people.

A clean home.

Receiving a wonderful e-mail from a friend.

Laughter.

What are you grateful for today?

Wait, hold that thought. Go get a gorgeous notebook, some colourful pens and set aside ten minutes to write.

To write your daily gratitudes.

We all have things to be grateful for. But they often go unnoticed, overshadowed by all the negative things that happen in our day. If we start paying attention and appreciating all of the good things that happen to us – however small they may be – our vision of our daily life transforms. By recognising and focusing on the positive, we improve our mood, our health and our energy.

“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 of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.“
~ Melody Beady

Some days, we may only have one or two things to note in our gratitude journal; other days, we may fill two pages. But there is always something to be grateful for, even on the greyest of days.

So go on, start that gratitude journal.

I was inspired to start my own gratitude journal after reading SeaSweetie’s Pages.

Tags: Appreciate, Day, God, Good, Grateful, Gratitude, Health, Improve, Journal, Positive, Writing