Thursday 1 May 2014

18. Liberation

1st May 2014.                  WHY? Click here!


Resting my beard!

BELTANE BLESSINGS beautiful people -x-

Well, here we go........I have SOLD

My house wasn't actually on the market, someone contacted my estate agents to ask if anything new had come in, he looked around even before they could do the photos and paperwork- and made me a decent offer!
So thats that. Nice and quick too, just how I like it.

I have always lived a divergent lifestyle, selling the house and getting rid of stuff [for me] is very cathartic, you could look at this in many different ways- failure to be able to afford to keep the house, which it is. Following a dream of getting out of the rat race, which it is. Living a life more on my terms away from the pressures of society, which it is. Enjoying a life of travel whilst being mortgage free, which it is!


But I just wasn't prepared to struggle on anymore, feeling trapped in a lifestyle that didn't feed my soul, so it is the right time for letting go.

There is a big difference between giving up and letting go. Giving up means selling yourself short. It means allowing fear and struggle to limit your opportunities and keep you stuck. Letting go means freeing yourself from something that is no longer serving you. Giving up reduces your life, letting go expands it. Giving up is imprisoning, letting go is liberation. Giving up is self-defeat, letting go is self-care.

So the next time you make the decision to release something or someone that is stifling your happiness and growth, and a person has the audacity to accuse you of giving up or being weak, remind yourself of the difference. Remind yourself that you don't need anyone’s permission or approval to live your life in the way that feels right. 
No one has the authority to tell you who to be or how to live. No one gets to decide what your life should look like or who should be a part of it. No one, but you.

Sometimes we just have to cut off the dead branches in our life. Sometimes that’s the only way we can keep the tree alive. It’s hard and it hurts, but it’s what’s best for us to grow as people.


                                     The impulse to travel is one of the hopeful symptoms of life.


Take time to simply be...
Imagine your life a year from now. Two years. Five.                                                               
Imagine living a healthier life, one in which you don't just look better, you feel better. Imagine a life with higher standards. Imagine a life with less clutter, less stuff, fewer distractions. What would it look like?
Imagine your life with less—less stress, less debt, less discontent. What would it feel like? Now imagine your life with more—more time, more contribution, more elation, happiness, freedom and peace.
Imagine better, more interesting relationships. Imagine sharing meals and conversations and experiences and smiles with people who have similar interests and values and beliefs as you. Imagine growing into the direction that you want to.
Now imagine living the dream until you can’t imagine a day without pursuing it. Imagine creating more than you consume. Imagine giving more than you take. Imagine a consistent commitment to growth. Imagine growing toward your limits and then past your limits and waving back at your previous limits with a smile.
Imagine still having problems, but better problems, problems that fuel your growth and excitement, problems you want to face.
Imagine real success. Imagine making your priorities your real priorities, Imagine feeling lighter, freer, happier, less stressed, at peace...
What you’re imagining is a meaningful life. Not a perfect life, not even an easy life, but a simple one. There will of course still be hardships and pain and times when slipping back to the old passive world is appealing, but you won't have to, because the real payoff is worth the struggle.

Imagine your life doing the same as you did last week, and the week before and the week before that..and probably next week, and the next. Imagine living in the same town for years and years, going to the same places, seeing the same people about, doing the same things, being the same person- never allowing yourself to become the person you could be. To me, its a frightening thought!


Inspired by Andy 'the hat' Bos

So this month has seen me sorting out, packing, selling stuff and giving stuff away. Sadly none of the family contacted me, I had some great stuff to give them, which is now in a skip! I had some good stuff too, an ironing board, 2 computer desks, my pc, monitor and keyboard, books, DVD's, furniture, hoover, clocks, decorating equipment and pots of paint...all sorts really. 
But I certainly can't keep it...and it hurts to be throwing things away, but as no one seems interested, it has to go!

I still have more to get rid of, including kitchen stuff, pots and pans, bowls, plates etc... so it looks like a few more trips to the skip and charity shop for me!
As I unclutter my life, I free myself to answer the callings of my soul.


Embracing the change
I had a lovely new tattoo done as way of celebrating selling the house, I had promised myself a year ago that when the house goes, I would get these autumn leaves, they represent CHANGE, and are a way of embracing my new life. 
I have said many times before that life is all about changing, moving on, creating something new and different and generally experiencing the different places that the UK has to offer. The thought of living in just one place year after year, or working in the same job actually sends shivers down my spine!
So this new tattoo fits in well with my wanderlust soul. Its all about lifes cycles, when one thing goes, another rises up.
I think we as humans are a little like the seasons, and as such should reinvent ourselves when the opportunity allows, we simply cannot grow as people if we don't allow ourselves to create and accept change.
I also love nature, in all its forms, especially trees and the Autumn, so this tattoo also nods towards that.
I also had the 'original' on my fingers re-blacked, which looks nice.


Adopt the pace of nature

Sometimes in life, you find a special friend. Someone who changes your life just by being part of it. Someone who makes you laugh until you can’t stop. Someone who makes you believe that there really is good in the world. Someone who convinces you that there’s an unlocked door just waiting for you to open it. This is a forever friendship. When you're down and the world seems dark and empty, your forever friend lifts you up in spirit and makes that dark and empty world suddenly seem bright and full. Your forever friend gets you through the hard times, the sad times and the confused times. If you turn and walk away, your forever friend follows. If you lose your way, your forever friend guides you and cheers you on. Your forever friend hold your hand and tells you that everything is going to be okay. And if you find such a friend, you feel happy and complete because you need not to worry. You have a forever friend, and forever has no end.


1, 2, 3, 4 eyes!


Every dreamer knows that it is entirely possible to be homesick for a place you've never been to, 
perhaps more homesick than for familiar ground.



Toby

I overheard a conversation my old Mum had in her local shop, the woman asked how she was and said 'it is nice of your son to help you out', my Mum replied 'for now, god knows how I shall manage when he isn't here'. Bless her.
I can only hope that, once I am travelling, that the family can rally around a little more, visit her, take her to the doctors and shopping, mow the lawn, walk her little dog and collect her pension.
It isn't much to ask, but after 6 months of me hinting at that on here, she still only has me to take her shopping or to the doctors. 
She has the two regular visitors each week, which she really looks forward to.
She needs to go shopping just once a month, even when I have the motorhome [must think of a name for it], she won't be able to come with me as she won't manage to clamber into it!
Part of her whole shopping 'experience' is actually going there, getting out of her bungalow for an hour, and seeking out any bargains they might have!
Maybe the others will step up a bit? I can dream.

Actually, a bit more on this- Whilst out walking her dog and delivering Easter cards for her today, one of her friends had a chat with me for about half an hour. My Mum won't tell anyone this, but she is really worried regarding how she will manage when I am flitting about.
Out of all the family living close, children and grandchildren, she gets just TWO regular weekly visitors. Disgusting. The rest hardly ever phone or pop over!
She told me that not one single person text or called her on the first anniversary of her husbands death, that must have hurt her more than any of us could ever imagine.

So, its over to you now family. My Mum needs you. Get together, sort out a rota PLEASE
There are currently 6 people with cars, they could take it in turns taking her shopping etc..........

She is 80 years old, has chronic backache, has trouble walking far or carrying anything. Her fingers don't allow her to open up things and she struggles on every day. She hardly sleeps, has a nebuliser and asthma ventilators. She takes a dozen pills each day and had just been told that she has the pneumonia virus. 
Yet she remains positive and NEVER asks for ANYHING.

At the moment she is desperate for someone to pop over for an hour to sort her garden pots out. She is also going to pay [probably through the nose] for a firm to come round and erect a wooden fence!
She is going to pay an unemployed lad to help sort her garden out- whilst the family are living within spitting distance!

Anyway- I'm fed up with asking now.

                                                             I read; I travel; I become.


Peace, is the ONLY way

One thing I have never been able to do is to conform, I have never felt comfortable trying to live how other people think I should live. This is my life, a short life, and a life where I try to live exactly as I please. I figure the only person I need to really please in my life is me. So, some advice, or words of wisdom [maybe] 

You'll learn, as you get older, that rules are made to be broken. Be bold enough to live life on your terms, and never ever apologise for it. Go against the grain, refuse to conform, take the road less travelled instead of the well-beaten path. Laugh in the face of adversity, and leap before you look. March to the beat of your own drummer. And stubbornly refuse to fit in.

You don't have to be what other people want you to be. You don't have to be interesting or agreeable or entertaining. You don't have to tone yourself down, quiet your voice, or hide your feelings. You don't have to be outgoing or spontaneous or sociable. You don't have to be thin or beautiful or anyone’s definition of attractive. You don't have to be anyone other than who you authentically are, and you sure as fuck don't have to spend your time and energy trying to convince people that you're worth keeping around. 
The right people are going to recognise your worth. They are going to respect you, appreciate you, and accept you, without forcing you to compromise who you are. Life is too short, and your happiness is far too important, to make room for anyone who treats you otherwise.
All you need to do is be yourself, live your life on your own terms. No compromise, this is my life I am living and I will live it according to my own moral compass.

Just as a madman becomes crazy and is put into a lunatic asylum, so we, losing sight of our spiritual identity, become crazy and are put into this material world. Therefore the material world is a sort of lunatic asylum, and we can easily notice that nothing is done very sanely here! 
I'm not crazy, my reality is just different from yours!

April sunshine

A lot of bad things are going to happen to you- First off, you are going to die! So, that said, theres not much to worry about. No matter what else happens, you really only have two options: You can either handle things well and be happy, or you can handle them poorly and be miserable!
In any given moment we have two options, to step forwards into growth or step back into safety.

I refuse to accept other peoples ideas of happiness for me,
as if there is a 'one size fits all' standard for happiness!



No longer bald !
I'm pretty sure that many people feel like me [even if only at times], the misfits, the outsiders, those seeking 'something', the freespirits amongst us.
Right now, there are people all over the world who are just like you. They are the different ones, the quirky ones, those that have their own thoughts and opinions and live their lives in search of peace, knowledge, inspiration and wonderment. 
They have secrets you wouldn't believe. They wish and they dream and they hope, and they look out the window whenever they're in the car or on a bus or a train and they watch the people on the streets and wonder what they've been through. They wonder if there are people out there like them. They're like you, and you could tell them everything and they would understand.
They are the seekers, the truth givers and they feel the weight of the world crashing down on them at times, they are the ones who care so deeply that it hurts. They are the ones searching for a connection, the ones that can lose time looking at the sky or trees, or get distracted by shiny things.
And right now, they're sitting here reading these words, and I'm writing this for you so you don't feel alone anymore. {{{HUG}}} -x-

Some mornings you wake up full of the joys of spring- here is one of them!

I asked a question in my last blog, trying to find out if people would like more regular updates via this blog. There wasn't much of a response to be honest, so I think I will keep it monthly for now. I am writing this blog for me, something to look back on in years to come. Obviously it is nice if anyone else reads it, but essentially it is for me.
As I have mentioned, once travelling, I might do a kinda blog via You Tube- we will see.

So there we go, thats April done and dusted. A warm and beautiful month for the larger part, that let go of the last throws of winter, we can now let the spring and summer wash through our souls, warming us, waking us up, energising us and transforming us into the outdoor creatures that we should be.

I'm so pleased to have sold the house, I am also a little amazed that I managed to get all the decorating, jobs and tidying done. 
The last 6 months have been quite a struggle in many ways, obviously I have needed to spend a great deal of my time helping my poor old Mum out, and with the Osteoarthritis coming to attack me- things have been difficult. But I'm here, I'm on my way....


Beard - 4 months.

                                                  Only dead fish go with the flow!


Bucolic Frolic

FAMILY MEET UP -Saturday 24th May. Now is the time to book off of work, arrange a lift etc.

PEACE -x-

Sitting on the moon <<Click this!