I Love Being Warm

I was pondering recently on how much “I love being warm.” It’s winter where I live and I was appreciating the care and the detail I take in ensuring that I am warm wherever I go and no matter what I am doing.

I often received comments such as, “You must be a cold fish,” but that is not entirely true. What I do love is to feel warm and toasty in the cooler winter months. I love how my body feels when I am warm, whereas my body does not enjoy being cold at all. Many years ago I was camping in Europe in winter and it was not a pleasant experience – I was literally cold to my bones. I found that being cold is painful to the body and it does hurt.

My Frozen Shoulders and the Big Thaw

A number of months ago I started to ‘feel,’ for the very first time, my shoulders. I didn’t feel the beauty of them or even their connection to my arms and the rest of my body. What I felt was how frozen they were.

Frozen as in a numbness that went so much deeper than numb, I can only describe it as frozen. I would reach back and press my fingers into different areas across my shoulders and not feel a thing. All that was there was a solid wall, if you will, that no feeling could penetrate. It was the oddest sensation and I kept pressing my fingers into my shoulders and upper back area at different times of the day as if checking that it was true, that I couldn’t feel a thing and I would ask myself how this could be possible.

Riddle me this, Batman

What is the one thing that we say we do the most of, without actually doing it at all?

Answer: “Love.”

The idea of love is woven through pretty much every aspect of our lives: it’s mentioned in almost every song that we sing and poem that we write, it features in nearly every book that’s ever been written and has centre stage in many of our plays. We use it to advertise everything from chocolates to nappies, it’s written in our cards and on our clothes, we talk about it and we proclaim that we feel it (passionately), but is our use of the word ‘love’ true?

Moving with the Ageless Wisdom

Settling in to my new home, I have time to reflect on the miraculous flow of events that have brought me to this point, and how they unfolded.

I wasn’t looking to move although I had begun to feel that my son and I were outgrowing the sweet mews house that we had been renting. I had a week off work and, as you do, casually yet curiously browsed the property pages.

Tools for Life

As I sit here writing I can feel a warmth in my chest and a gorgeous feeling of yumminess throughout my body. I feel confident, strong, light and playful, I can feel sparks of joy, and most of all I feel appreciative of all that I have done for myself over the last few weeks.

Only a few short weeks ago I was in a very dark place of depression and confusion. Life had thrown a few big challenges my way over the course of a few months in the form of what felt like attacks from forces that appeared to be bigger than me. My reaction was to be scared, withdraw, and contract into a hidey hole thinking that is where I would be safe.

Bringing True Love to Caring

I recently travelled to Australia to be in a new relationship and after 5 months, my partner and I bought a house in an area we liked and started to get to know the local community and what shops to get whatever we needed. We registered for the local doctor’s surgery and notified all the official places of our new address.

Within a month of our being in the new house, my partner, who had been living with emphysema for seventeen years, had one lung collapse (pneumothorax) and was admitted to hospital.

Unravelling “Busy’s” Fabricated Web

I have been meaning to have a chat with you, ‘Busy’, about a few things that I have realised – and you might have already noticed that things between us have been changing. All my life I have believed that keeping busy meant being productive – not a ‘loafer’ or lazy – and that ‘getting things done’ was an important part of being mature and responsible. Since I can remember, you have always been there. Yes, I grant you that you have been very diligent in keeping track of me and how I was going, relentlessly urging me on when I slowed down, but I’ve connected with an inherent wisdom recently and am now taking back responsibility for this part of my life.

Here are a few things I have been reflecting on and why I feel it’s time for us to part ways:

My Relationship With Me And My Body

What I have noticed recently is that the way I am in one relationship has a direct impact on how I am in all my other relationships. This shows me the responsibility I have to not hold back in any relationships and to be open with everyone I meet. I have spent so many years putting on a façade that I am OK, so it is a big change to be more transparent about what is really going on for me.

Dealing with the “Silly Season”

As we approach the Christmas holiday season, we all need to ask: will it be the “Silly Season,” where we all eat too much, drink too much, and don’t cope well with all the family situations that may present at this time of year – or will we choose to care for ourselves, look after our bodies and our wellbeing, enjoy and appreciate those around us to the best of our ability, and work to build connection with our loved ones in whatever way that may take shape?

Washing my Car: a Lesson in Appreciation and Self-Care

We are moving to our new house in a few weeks, so this particular Sunday morning I had committed to getting started with some packing. I was halfway through the first box when I had a strong impulse to go and wash my new car so – box abandoned with slight feelings of guilt – outside I went with my favourite car washing cloths.