♥LOVE TIP – Sunday August 19, 2012
Happy Sunday Friends♥
“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.” ~ Henri Matisse
This is such a perfect quote for me to receive this morning in my in-box as I turn on my computer [thanks to Simple Reminders]….Yes! Yes! Yes! Flowers are everywhere and it isn’t even Spring yet…….I’ve just returned from being out walking in my garden and then out in the bush……I am so happy….such beauty all around…………♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ singing oh what a beautiful mooooooorninnnnnng……..and thinking of how grateful I am to be able to delight in Nature….in flowers…..and of how important it is to teach and share this with children….with everyone….
Note to Self: connecting to beauty is a basic life skill.
What flowers have you seen today……..?
And, by the way, we are back Home – Yay! We arrived back to Warm Fuzzy Hill 12.30am on Thursday night ……Goodbye to Melbourne and Hello Perth…….and after checking my calendar I’m surprised to see that we’ve been away from home for a whole month!!….I hadn’t realized that till I looked….. days have just rolled into weeks…..I’m amazed at how good we have become at living in the now!…I’m also pleased to report that my daughter ♥Zoe is on the mend…..It has been good that we have been able to spend this time with her….and as well, I am looking forward to being able to post much more regularly now I’m back ….and I do appreciate your patience…..♥
As always one of the first feelings of being Home was – I can’t wait to get out into the garden and see what’s growing, what’s blossoming,.….and bulbs have sprouted, flowers are growing, trees are laden with blossoms and fruit and new growth is everywhere…..
And ♥Susie, why is connecting to beauty “a basic life skill”?….I can imagine you wondering what I mean…. Are you?……..Connecting to beauty! Delighting in flowers!…..to trees and to the Earth…..Why would that be a basic life skill?…….
Well, what I experience over and over is that in our western culture we are not very good at focusing on the things that make us feel happy and full and blessed. We are more skilled at looking at what is going wrong, what is missing or lacking, what we can’t have, where we/’the other’ fail, where we/ ‘the other’ aren’t good enough…where we don’t have enough….
And having that mindset means we are constantly scanning for that and as a consequence we will constantly be finding it. What we focus on is what shows up! It becomes like we are blind to what is not in our mind-set.
And Yes I own up! – scanning for the negative is one skill I am trained in and good at! So one of the things that I am doing is re-training and re-wiring my brain. One way I am doing this is to focus on things I ♥LOVE and am grateful for……and high on my list of things I adore are flowers of all types and colours and shapes and sizes. What I am noticing using this as a practice is how it is turning things around……
Let me show you a very recent example of what I am talking about………I still find fault and see the negative!!
This very beautiful bunch of flowers and note above was left for me by my gorgeous ♥Shelton on Friday morning as he left early to go away for the weekend with his Men’s Group………….
I just need to note that it is my intention is to be honest and authentic here but as well it is a bit s-q-u-i-r-m-y for me to own up here as the critical stern ‘Judge part’ of me tells me I shouldn’t do this stuff anymore given all that I know and teach…let alone share out loud that I still do it!!
Well, the first thing I did when I got up was 
go in the kitchen and look on the bench hoping to find a note there from him…..Words of Affirmation are a high on my list of ♥LOVE languages and I so appreciate ♥LOVE notes….. Alas NO note! Oh well,…….thought I……….a little let down……So I go about my morning rituals and after a while finally go into my office to be greeted by the beautiful vase of flowers and note…….How special!…..and LOVE-ing♥
Now part of me was absolutely delighted!….. especially as he had taken the time to pick them from our garden here at Warm Fuzzy Hill that early morning….and I did feel very “known” as he knew that turning on my computer is something I do fairly early in the day and would be a place where I would be sure to find them!!
Did I just immerse myself in the JOY of being that ♥LOVE-d and that “known”?
Oh NO! My Judge/nit-picker part of me took one look at the note and noticed his scrawly writing and that he had just used a post-it note and started thinking how he could have at least found something a bit prettier to write on…or used a nice coloured pen…or written in a more legible way!!!!……
Yes I did! And A BIG S-q-u-i-r-m I am doing now sharing this with you…..but I must if I am to be in integrity and to be living an authentic life. This is how my head has worked…this is the lens/filter that I was trained to look through when I was growing up….and this is what I am changing….to be ALWAYS connecting to others through my heart centre, to be a ♥LOVE-finder and not a Fault-finder. To eliminate even thinking such thoughts as well as not saying them!
So what I am doing is training and re-wiring my brain to look for the good, for the positive, to see through the eyes of my heart and to turn off that big switch that leads me to seeing what is wrong…..
What I am finding by focusing on looking at things that I value and appreciate as a daily practice is that my ability to stay focused on the positive is growing……and eventually the positive is what I will see…..I am also noticing I am feeling happier and that I am kinder.
Flowers and things out in Nature work well for me as a practice to focus on…….For you, other things may work better……like dogs or cats or horses or mountains or trees or whatever it is that you ♥LOVE and that opens and softens your heart….
So for me the fuller meaning of this quote is that the beauty and positivity is always there in many forms all around us….we just need to be taught how and to practice using ‘the eyes’ that see it…..So probably a better version of this quote is:
“There are always flowers for those who are able to see them.”
because I do really, really want to see the flowers, to see things through the eyes of my heart…..♥
Am I making sense?
And I also want to state that this is not ‘flower-power, airy-fairy hippie’ talk or some new age fad …..this is neuro-scientifically based information if you want to have a happy, healthy, and successful life. Creating ZERO NEGATIVITY ZONE ♥LOVE-ing in your life is crucial for all your relationships as well as for your health….I’ve written about this in other posts…….see ♥ DAILY LOVE TIP – Thursday November 17, 2011…..focusing on our strengths & successes
Statistics show people who score high on optimism scales rate highest in terms of general health and well-being and healing and survival from serious illness as well as living longer……
[source 1=”<strong>Happy” 2=”For” 3=”No” 4=”Reason</strong>” 5=”by” 6=”Marci” 7=”Shimoff” language=”–”][/source]
To those of you doing the 30 Day Being-♥LOVE Campaign give yourself a big ♥hug of appreciation for all the ♥LOVE-ing that you are doing for this last week. Thinking of you……and sending arms-full of support and admiration…..
Feeling grateful for All the beauty and abundance that is in my life……. especially dear Shelton♥… Joyfully, Susie♥
