Last month I made a wonderful discovery – a magazine called The Simple Things, which turned out to be a printed version of the types of blogs I love to read. It has beautiful photography and articles about lifestyle, interiors, food, friends, travel and all the other Simple Things that I love.
I make collages of my favourite images from every magazine I read. These were my favourites from the no9 issue of The Simple Things:
A businessman bought popcorn from an old street vendor each day after lunch. He once arrived to find the peddler closing up his stand at noon. “Is something wrong?” he asked.
A smile wrinkled the seller’s leathery face. “By no means. All is well.”
“Then why are you closing your popcorn stand?”
“So I can go to my house, sit on my porch, and sip tea with my wife.”
The man of commerce objected. “But the day is still young. You can still sell.”
“No need to,” the stand owner replied. “I’ve made enough money for today.”
“Enough? Absurd. You should keep working.”
The spry old man stopped and stared at his well-dressed visitor. “And why should I keep working?”
“To sell more popcorn.”
“And why sell more popcorn?”
“Because the more popcorn you sell, the more money you make. The more money you make, the richer you are. The richer you are, the more popcorn stands you can buy. The more popcorn stands you buy, the more peddlers sell your product, and the richer you become. And when you have enough, you can stop working, sell your popcorn stands, stay home, and sit on the porch with your wife and drink tea.”
The popcorn man smiled. “I can do that today. I guess I have enough.”
Extract from Cure for the Common Life, Max Lucado
It’s been three months since I last blogged or even browsed the blogging community.
Only three months? I feel like I have been away for an eternity. My life has brought so many changes that it seems like an age has passed since my last post.
So what made me come back?
Well, I missed sharing my experiences, my thoughts and inspirations with others. But what I have missed the most is reading the experiences, the thoughts and inspirations of others. I have missed connecting to like-minded people, thousands of kilometers away from me, and knowing that others share my beliefs about life.
I have missed this blogging community in which so many people share their passions, fears and hopes with honesty and courage. I have missed expressing and experimenting.
So now I’m back.
I will no doubt need some time to readjust, to get used to blogging and creating once again.
But it seems like I’m off to a good start: in my dressing gown, with a sweet cup of coffee in a quiet morning house, just like old times.
Dear Reader, dear Friend,
As I mentioned in the last post, I currently – and to my great sadness – have to prioritise other activities over blogging, which means Love Out Loud may be quiet for a little while.
For this reason, I have decided to start a Twitter account, in which I will post one quote, thought, song, idea, link..a day. That way, I will still be able to share my experiences and impressions with you via a shorter and quicker route!
So, if you’re interested in inspirational and thought-provoking daily quotes, check out
https://twitter.com/LoveDoseDaily
Hoping to see you there!
With love
Dear Reader, Dear Friend,
First of all – Happy New Year! May 2013 bring you peace, fulfilment and joy.
It’s been over a month since my last post and I am sorry for this silence. I hope you have been well since we last ‘saw’ each other.
It’s been almost two months since I’ve been struggling to find time for blogging amongst all the other tasks that have sprung up in my daily life. I have recently moved house, I have more and more work at my new job, I am making many plans for the near future. Unfortunately, there are times when we are obliged to prioritise some activities over others.
However, I am proud to say that I have kept up my early morning writing habit. I wake up every day at 7 AM (6 AM was just too early in these dark and cold winter times) and write three pages of anything that comes to mind.
In these early quiet mornings I often think about Love Out Loud and all the wonderful blogs that I haven’t had a chance to read in the past month. And I wonder about the future of my blog: will I have time to keep it up? Is it an important part of my life? What does it give me that should encourage me to keep it up? Is there any way in which I can improve it?
For the moment, I don’t have answers to those questions, but I hope that you will bear with me and I promise I will have the answers soon.
In the menatime, here are some posts that I read today from my favourite blogs. Their beauty and depth reminds me why I miss the WordPress world so much:
Stained Glass – Lady Fi – It’s been a long time since I haven’t seen such beauty where I live.
How to Make Hard Decisions – 6 Months to Live – It’s the reminder that I needed at this time in my life.
3 Years – Express – You are Self! – A message about the power of faith and change.
Gratitude Jar – Love is the Answer – Keep track of all the wonderful things that happen in your life in 2013.
How to Lasso Your Dream Goal – Soul + Sermon – A kick in the ass!
And the sun has risen in the time it took me to write this post and read your interesting articles.
Happy Saturday to you and see you very soon, I promise!
With all my love
