an oldie but a goodie
cartoon © 2009 Jean Burman
If ever verification was needed for the power of positive thinking… positive action… and the extreme benefits of taking the leaps of faith I have had to take over the past 14 months… I now have it.
Just climbing through 19,000 feet… [okay my love of flying is officially now legendary - say no more] I have been away for nearly four weeks. How did a week turn into four I wonder? I am now winging my way home to pack up and move south. I know I know… I said I wasn’t going anywhere for now… but the Universe apparently has other plans for me!
Funny how things happen when you let go… and say yes to pretty much everything [within reason of course]. I can’t begin to tell you how much my life has changed over the past year… and how many opportunities have come my way since I began saying yes to the Universe instead of fighting it every step of the way… which I’ve now realised is something I have pretty much done all of my life! [Grin]
And this especially includes saying yes to a whole range of opportunities and experiences that I might otherwise have thought were not for me. I’ve now learned not to do that… for things are rarely as they seem at first glance.
We all have limitless potential but first we have to get over our limiting beliefs to realise it. All I can say is…
TAKE THAT LEAP!
The only downside to this move [if ever there could be one] will be that I shall have to relinquish… for now… my beautiful tropical northern Australian location… my good friends [if they don't come visit! grin]… and life as I had re-invented it. But that’s okay for now.
Nothing is ever for nothing… and nothing is ever forever!
ahhh… I love this place… [insanely hot here at the moment tho]
What it does mean though is that for the time being I shall have a home on my own terms… and a definitive place from which to go forward. And the very best thing of all is that…for the first time in over a year … I shall have a dedicated creative space from which to work!
Oddly enough this one requirement has become more essential to me than breath… so urgent is my need to simply get on with the work at hand. My creative process has been the one sure thing that has sustained me throughout this transformational period of my life. And it’s this process that shall finally have my utmost priority over the next few months as I adjust to my new home.
At last I shall have somewhere to do what I love to do more than anything else in the whole wide world… when… where and however I want to do it.
Write. Paint. Create. Plan. Dream. Go forward… and move on.
It’s a sensational feeling… almost as exhilarating as those first few moments of flight! (((chuckles)))
With the stars aligned… and God willing… I may [at last] be the master of my own destiny and the architect of my own dreams.
I would have once said “I can’t wait”… but of course… I now know that I CAN [wait] and that now anything… absolutely anything… is possible.
The sky might be the limit.
But the Universe knows no such bounds!
Hope to see you all on the other side… watch this space for updates on my new space! Coming soon.
One last coffee – for now – at the Port Bookshop
[but I'll be back]
I drove up to Brisbane this morning from the coast to do a couple of things. One of them was to go to Eckersley’s Art Store to buy some art supplies… you know… paper paint charcoal etc. Can’t seem to go away for long without my art supplies. And if I find myself away from them for too long… I simply have to smoke out an art supply store and get my fix along the way!
I’m writing this from a little place called the Room With Roses. It’s a beautiful room in the middle of the city. A haven from the madness out in the street… and a quiet place to put down some thoughts.
[water not wine... remember it's lunchtime! grin]
I was just sitting here sipping my jasmine green tea and enjoying a yummy piece of passionfruit strawberry cream sponge cake and got to thinking about cake and life… and this is what I came up with.
PS I know… give me a piece of cake and I go and get all philosophical. Can’t help myself [chuckles]
PPS And yes… I know… it’s lunchtime… but hey… life is short… we eat cake first!
LIFE IS A PIECE OF CAKE
If life would be a piece of cake
with heart and soul and such to bake
the choice would be a simple one
We’d make it light and full of fun!
Strawberries cream and fruit of passion
pinkie poised… the height of fashion
we’d lift our teacup to our lips
and savour life in giant sips
If life would be a slice of pie
with pastry crisp and never dry
we’d slice it into giant bits
and let it go right to our hips!
Cherry pear or chocolate flute tin
No matter what the pie is baked in
We’d scratch our head in times to come
And wonder why we’d chosen… plum?
Just think…
If life would be a pie or cake
Oh what fun to negotiate
Imagine life upon a platter
Nothing else would really matter
So bake your cake and please don’t wait
there is no time to hesitate
then grab yourself a large cake knife
and enjoy right now your slice of life!
© 2010 Jean Burman
That’s what I just did anyway…. now I’m going out to walk around the block [probably more than a couple of times!] (((chuckles)))
Have a great Saturday everyone! Eat some cake!
“Dance like no one is watching.
Sing like no one is listening.
Love like you’ve never been hurt
and live like it’s heaven on Earth.”
— Mark Twain
To this end… I have recently been doing my utmost. But you know what? Lately I am learning that it’s often a case of “easier said than done”.
Let me tell you… people DO notice when you fall over on the dance floor. They DO hear you when you sing out of tune… even in the shower. You WILL get hurt along the way. And LIFE… you can be sure… often bears absolutely NO resemblance to heaven on earth!
Really sorry to break it to you Mr. Twain (((chuckles)))
But you know… despite the obvious risks… life CAN be a whole lot of fun. Even if you do sometimes get injured in the process.
Finally… after all these years… I am dancing again. And it is so much fun!
[Read about Living Life to the Hilt ]
After the first couple of classes… with burgeoning confidence… I decided it was about time to invest in a good pair of dancing shoes. Why?
1. To keep me motivated.
2. So I could try to achieve some of the fancy footwork demanded of a budding ballroom dancer [chuckles] on a slick and slippery dance floor without sliding over and hurting myself trying to attempt any/or all of the above in stilettos, sandals or joggers.
and lastly… [but not "leastly"]
3. Because I found a lovely pair of gold Pasodoble’s that I simply couldn’t resist.
You know… boys and their toys… girls and their shoes… [grin]
Besides… my thinking has always been that you should always arm yourself with the appropriate tools for the job in order to achieve the best results. [That's why we artists buy good brushes right?] Okay… it sounded like a plan. And so it was.
I bought the shoes.
Can’t tell you how pleased as punch I was with my purchase as I twirled around the floor… my beautiful new shoes carrying me hither and thither across the floor. But then… just when I was getting the hang of a step… and attempting to execute the perfect turn… those beautiful shoes all of a sudden got a mind of their own… went their separate ways… and I crashed down with an almighty wallop in an inglorious heap on the floor.
Fortunately I went straight down… crashing on one knee first then landing flat on my you know what… and not the alternative… [ie] flat on my back with my legs out from under me. A girl I guess… can be grateful for some such small mercies.
Oooo… ouch… now that hurt! In fact… everything hurt as I sat there in a crumpled heap shocked and unable to get up. [The last time I felt like that was a few years ago after hurtling down the driveway with my son on the back of the billy cart - read the story here]
Finally after what seemed like an age… and would have been less than a split second… someone [have not a clue who] hauled me to my feet and with the music still playing the dancing continued. Now that’s what I call professionalism (((chuckles))) And heck… what stamina. I quite surprised myself. Grin.
Later however… much later… my knee came up a beauty. A huge bruise the likes of which I had not seen since my days on the vigoro pitch in primary school. And my back hurt. But only just a tad. Ahem. Okay then… maybe just a tad more than a tad. At the end of the night I limped sheepishly to the door… my pride tucked neatly in my pocket…. got home… took some magnesium and lay down perfectly flat for the next eight hours (((chuckles))) Next day… all good. And so far… so good.
As for the shoes… well… they will live to dance another day. I took them straight into Theo’s Shoe Shop from whence they came and had the man rough up the soles on whatever the machine is that they “rough up” soles of shoes with there. I made sure that those beautiful shoes were going to stick like glue to the dance floor from that day on.
Now if only we could do that with people.
Life would be so easy. Grin.
I was saying G’day to the good people over at Motto Agency yesterday and it struck me how amazing the internet really is. Yesterday was of course Australia Day… and I was discussing this fact with the innovative duo who just happen to be half a world away in South Carolina. [It was raining... and we had Bob Marley in common. Grin]
Motto Agency is a brand strategy and design firm who also happen to be reggae aficionados. [Just knew I liked these people the minute I heard Bob Marley on their homepage] As it turns out they were celebrating right along with we Aussies on our national day…
“We’re celebrating Australia Day here too… Motto style. We have our sunglasses on and the movie Australia is on loop in the conference room! Enjoy the festivities!”
To me… these are the small conversations that glue this big [cyber] world together.
Hangin’ in there
Like I said… yesterday was Australia Day… but I won’t be commenting further about that. I believe I well and truly covered our National Day way back in January 2007… leaving pretty much nothing left to be said for the rest of the decade!
Reading back over the archive… I had to laugh how I really came out swinging from that very first post three years ago today [give or take a day or two]! Ever the emphatic idealist!
Here is the link for those of you who are up to it! Grin.
Cartoon Pen & Watercolour
Copyright © 2007 Jean Burman
Read Blogging On here
So yes… it’s been THREE YEARS since this blog began and I can hardly believe it. So much water has gone under the bridge since then… so many topics hashed and re-hashed… and so much has changed.
In those early days I wondered what on earth I was going to talk about each and every week from that day forward… but you know what? So far something has always turned up. Sometimes just in the nick of time! Grin.
And I’m happy to report that life not only goes on but just keeps getting better and better.
And the best is yet to come!
So thank you for being here with me… and living it along with me. It’s been a whole lot of fun!
