Joy Express

How cute are these little cupcakes?  I made the card on the left for my neice to celebrate her 5th birthday and then was inspired to keep going and made another variation.

I LOVE the glitter and the cupcake and the small size.  Ooh La La!

Happy New Year!

I love that I have become so Computer Literate ~it’s taken quite a few years and it’s weird that the kids skills almost surpass mine even though they’ve been doing computer stuff for a much shorter time.

This morning, I opened emails to find 3 fabulous connections from 3 fabulous people.  I LOVE that some folks completely ‘get’ what I am sharing … and want to tell me so!  I LOVE that I can connect with people a long way away from my home, or those who are really close yet our paths can’t cross for some reason or another.

And, more than anything, I LOVE being able to use this forum for exploring things which are important to me. 

Thank Goodness I am away and able to actually take some time to think about what this blog was all about in the first place.  I realised that while I love “Simple Abundance”, Everyday JOY was taking a back seat.  So, yesterday’s post about JOY in 2009 was a fabulous reconnection with Sharing the JOY … the purpose behind doing this blog.

I also like that writing a blog is like keeping a diary ~ Simple Abundance has been a real diary process and I am looking forward to reconnecting with the journey once I am home.  I have even started keeping a copy in a word document because I like the idea of reading back over the year of attending to “Simple Abundance”.

But, I guess most importantly, blogging allows me to navigate a way through the things which are happening in my life, and the thoughts which are competing for attention in my head.  I have received GREAT clarity through the process of writing a post and reached a place of peace by the end of the process.  That’s Cool!

So … today’s JOY:  It’s  just after 9am and I have experienced JOY already ~

breakfast with just Mum and Neil (oh, so lovely);

emails from delightful friends;

a meeting of the minds and the discovery that at least one other person is sharing my Universe with me;

Kels and Mum in the kitchen preparing food;

understanding how to work and use my new iPod docking station thing;

feeling back to normal in my health and wellbeing …

JOY is … feeling that you are a part of something special. 

Be Happy.  Live Your Passion.

As I spend my down time hours reflecting on life and love, feeling a little sad, not quite ready to gather the energy to summon the positive approach to life (we all need time to wallow ~ just a bit), I decided that I do have the time and energy to revisit some Moments of JOY, which have occurred in the last 12 months.  This is the place of Sharing JOY, after all!

Moments in Time which have been Filled with JOY …

Beverly’s Passion for Writing, and her discovery ~ “I Am An Author”!

The day Daniel finally left school and the Happiness he (and ‘we’) experienced.

The Understanding I gained when learning about “thoughts”.

Standley Chasm ~ oh, Bliss.

My first public meditation ~ profound in all ways.

Watching one of my NEW Angel Friends move from “I want to be doing all this 5D stuff” to Being 5D.

Discovering the Wild Women!

The light in Josh’s eyes once we arrived at Mum & Neil’s and he was feeling better.

The Magic of Crystal Essence Creating.

My first UStamp!

“Mother Earth Dreaming”.

Spring Flowers ~ Poppies, Cornflowers, Chamomile Daisies, Californian Poppies, Violas.

Clothes Shopping with Kels.

Observing David’s love for our children.

New Friends.

The peace in my head during and after personal training … how is that possible?  It’s amazing!

All Things Angels, Past Lives, Animal Dreaming, Crystals.

Seeing the passion for her chosen path, in Sierra’s eyes.

Davine’s passion for Creating Jewellery.

Being Nurtured by my Friends.

Be Happy.  I am (under the surface if not always obviously).

Live Your Passion.  I am.

Maintain a sense of Curiosity, Indulge a sense of Adventure.  Trust Yourself.  I do.

EnJOY the Moments in Time which bring a Smile to your Face, and a Profound Clarity of the Magnificence of the Universe.

The extended family are in various stages of holiday relaxation ~ the boys are still asleep, Neil is in bed reading, David is indulging the coffee and his new Kindle, Kels is bouncing around in her new Christmas Gift Socks, Mum is in the shower and I have finally found some energy to blog.

Life is as it should be.

I decided not to bring Simple Abundance away with me (although mum probably has a copy somewhere) because my ‘gift’ to myself was to have some time without pressure ~ to just hang out and do whatever tickled my fancy for a few days.  Thank goodness Christmas is over, and Josh is looking in good energy after a Very Heavy Week of emotional and physical ups and downs during the second lot of surgery on his arm.  We almost didn’t make it to Newcastle because Josh is in plaster and that causes all sorts of complications for flying.  He is looking relaxed, is back to joking and smiling, the swelling has gone down dramatically ~ I’m sure that has been aided by the crystal healing mum is doing on his arm twice a day ~ and he can move his arm in the half caste.

Over pumpkin scones and coffee/drinks, yesterday, we discussed what each of us has learned this year and what knowledge we are taking in to the New Year.  Josh has been rethinking the whole NICA process, well actually, I think that he’s been not thinking about it so has lost some of the momentum with circus performing.  He and Sierra have been a couple for about 4-5 months and things are going well in that area. 

Daniel has had so many experiences this year, from deciding not to do exams for Year 12, then leaving school in July, to discovering the pace of life as a free and independent adult with a car and a job. We have all noticed that!  He has had enough experiences in the workforce in the last 5 months to have formulated a few ideas of what he’s prepared to incorporate in his life and a few things that are not to be revisited.  All in all, he (and ‘we’) have come through the first part of his ‘post-school’ life relatively unscathed.  He and Alex are travelling along ok, after about 6 months together.

Kels is growing up!  Oh My Goodness!!!!  Grade 6 next year and our family’s final year in Primary School.  Woo Hoo!  Kels loves cursive writing, is becoming more discerning about boys, recognises that as she grows and develops (ahead of most of her peers) that boys (and men) pay her more attention (about which she is not very comfortable).  She is currently absorbed in Lovely Beverly’s first novel ~ “The Creators” ~ and can’t put it down.  I know there will be a phone call to Beverly about the publication date of the second book!!

David is probably most battered of all the family at this end of the year.  He has worked on some very challenging projects in the IT field and coped with a lot of challenges at home ~ Daniel’s journey (school, girlfriend, leaving school, working, buying cars etc), my breakdown, Josh’s arm ~ including dealing with his decision to participate in a public performance playing guitar (in front of 700+ people!).  His plan is to work on ‘smaller’ projects in 2010 …

I have had an amazing year.  It’s been a journey out of the greyness of the last part of 2008, through acute ill health, and then finding my way back to the JOY which had been missing from life for such a long time.  My learning has included discovering how debilitating my head space can be when thoughts are allowed to just run amok; the experience of such Peace and Grounding at Standley Chasm (and how easy it is to go away with Lovely Beverly); discovering, yet again, that Beverly is always correct about what kind of year we are going to have (her birthday is 6 months before mine and she always tells me how our year is going to pan out – correctly!) ~ I recall lamenting to her that her year was going so much better than mine and her reply was that I hadn’t reached my birthday yet – so true!!! because when I had my birthday, life changed! 

I have reaffirmed what is important to me; made New Friends who think like I do; moved on from Old Friends who don’t think like I do; facilitated Angel Workshops, Angel Lunches, our first Mother Earth Dreaming Workshop; attended the Animal Dreaming Workshop and the Crystal Awakening Intensive Workshop; participated in the primary school Pamper Night and International Angel Day events, with Great Success.  And, I have reached a Place of Peace in my relationship with my father.

All in all, a LOT of learning and discovering has taken place in 2009.  The first half was Very Reflective of my being in a “9″ year, numerologically, the year of Endings.  The second half has been an AWESOME start to my next 9 year cycle … Woo Hoo!  Bring on 2010!

Be Happy. Seek Adventure.  Maintain Your Sense of Curiosity.

Live Your Passion.

I am thrilled that I have achieved 29 days of stamping in the last month and a half.  Woo Hoo!

I am thrilled that I have been journeying on the Simple Abundance path for more than 50 days.  YAY!

It’s Christmas week and I have a large pile of gifts still awaiting postage … that’s next on the “To Do” list … and cards still needing to be written.  Kels has some Christmas Shopping to finish today; Daniel and David are off to play golf; Josh will be given a LOT of chores to do, to get his quota up before going on the ‘invalid’ list.

I am still Very Inspired by stamping ~ it really is my distraction when there is so much else going on around me ~ and I found some fabulous projects to work on, after a bit of time surfing the ‘net, yesterday.

I also have another project, non-stamping related although I can see how I could incorporate some creative work (Yay!), which involves transferring all my Clairvoyant Readings from Cassette to CD … a new process to master, with David’s help.  My box of reading tapes is huge – there must be about 50 or 60 tapes from an almost 10 year period.  I am looking forward to revisiting those memories … what another great diary process!

Simple Abundance is about revisiting different stages of my life.  What a lovely journey!  I am blessed with a relatively comprehensive scrapbook of many memories and photos from my childhood through to adulthood, pretty much up until I got involved with David (that became a new scrapbook album all about US).  I remember the curtains in my bedroom when I was  6 or 7 – they were of gorgeous, 60′s style girls with long brown hair which flicked up at the ends, in shades of green and brown (very 70′s!); weekends away in Victor Harbour where Dad taught me to colour in - properly (the joys of having the son of an artist for a father!); teenage angst with one particular girlfriend at high school; my passion for posters which I used for decoration in my first rental accommodation – lots of ‘statement’ posters, and highly creative and visual posters … things have changed quite a bit over the last 25 years!

I still love Highly Visual pictures and decorative bits & pieces; I still love being creative and colouring my stamped images; I don’t have to deal with too much ‘angst’ (thank goodness!); and I feel that my own style has evolved which incorporates a lot of things I have felt passionate about since childhood/teenage life and incorporates things my mother did during my time growing up.  I find myself using some same approaches with my kids.

Connecting with my Authentic Self is not just about pushing boundaries, getting heard and out there, being True to Myself in a ‘stand back and let me through – don’t tell me I can’t do this’ way.  It’s also about understanding which things are in the mix of my approach to life that I ‘just do’.  The little building blocks that are the foundation upon which I stand.  Hmm.  Pretty cool approach and thought today, Sarah.