Discovery journal

A discovery journal, I'm sitting in a warm cafe enjoying the background chatter of happy people, drinking tea and mulling over the idea of my discovery journal, I have been reading my book "simple abundance" again, a years worth of a journey into self discovery, fantastic.

Why is it today I am discovering how hard it is to write this blog some days nothing seems to come easily I'm struggling, or was it mulling? I must have written this so many times now it will have to stay as it is. That's all for today.

Louise x

GRATITUDE

Well I found myself walking in the woods this morning, a dog walker without a dog, I was so excited to be able to go out and enjoy the winter sun, smell the damp moss, get mud on my boots (the snow has melted) and listen to the birds. My knee is not completely better, but able to to take me walking again, although it is still quite stiff after not being used properly for three weeks. I was beginning to get terrible cabin fever, as much as I like being holed up beside my fire against the snow, a couple of days is plenty.

At least I have been quite productive during my hibernation and made up some nice new jewellery, amongst other things, some turquoise earrings which can now be seen in the jewellery section of the website, I have decided to have a winter sale of a selection of items in each category, well worth a quick browse.

The sun is pouring through the window as I sit here in my virtual reality wanting to pass on my excitement at finding a book called "simple abundance" by Sarah Ban Breathnach a totally inspiring book, with a page for every day of the year, I have just been reading about gratitude and the book suggests I make a gratitude journal, a beautiful book covered in my favourite cloth to write down all that I am grateful for in my life, and you know what as soon as I do that I feel like the luckiest person in the world.

"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 Beattie

Louise x

New Year Wishes

I have had so much time to wish and create this last week, I am hibernating in my cosy little house beside the fire nursing a sprained knee, that I got because I seem to think I'm still a big kid and went sledging in the snow...I have to say it was great fun and so beautiful, my kids love it. I'm paying for all that fun now as I can't work, not that I could get a fork into the frozen ground anyway, so I'm forced to believe and dream all I can. It is amazing how an injury can cause so many emotions to come up, not all positive, I have had days of deep despair when its hard to believe I will heal, feeling useless and stuck, and realising how much I take my physical health for granted, being such an active person usually it is a stark contrast for me to be still for so long, I have to force myself to move my knee and push through the pain threshold ouch.

The 6ft" scarf I'm knitting just gets longer and longer, not quite finished yet, but close, I will be happy when it's done then I can begin my next project. One of my wishes for 2010 is to give myself a new front door, the one I inherited with the house is really on it's last legs, it really is very tired with many young children slamming and banging kicking and generally abusing it. So I look forward to showing it off when it's there.

Enjoy the snow Louise x

White Christmas

Well I have returned from a white Christmas in the French Alps to a white new year in Devon, snow, snow, everywhere how beautiful, if not treacherous, it has been, lots of skiing, tobogganing and eating, I even ate my first snail, which seemed to taste very much like garlic and butter to me, not at all slimy as I'd feared, plenty of wine to wash it down and yes I can actually say it was delicious.

All was going well until I injured my left knee and had to spend the next three days confined to bed. That's when my knitting came into its own and the scarf I was making for my son suddenly doubled in length. Thank goodness for knitting it stopped me going mad.

I am now concentrating on creating new year wishes rather than resolutions, wishes are so much more positive than resolutions, which always seem to mean giving up something. It feels very good to think ahead and put some thought into what I want to create in my life, rather than seeing what happens, this is with great thanks to my sister. Wishing everyone a very creative and inspiring new year.

Louise x