Snow-go

After two and a half weeks of snow and ice, it's finally beginning to melt! I usually love the snow, but to be honest, I'm glad it's finally beginning to go - I was starting to feel a bit trapped by it - scared to go out by car, but even more scared to go out on foot, as I'm not a good ice-skater at the best of times, and as I've already fractured my coccyx previously (falling down stairs -  a long time ago!), I certainly didn't want to risk fracturing anything else... It must be even more frightening for the elderly & vulnerable though...

Anyway, now that the conditions outside aren't so much of a distraction, I can start to focus on other things again. One thing that's struck me today (when I avert my thoughts from the shambles that is the government, along with the fact that my daughter's chances of going to uni now are practically zilch...) is the fact that we're already more than a week into December, but I'm not feeling at all festive - which is quite out of character for me.

Thinking back to previous years, previous blogs, I remember one December I did a daily festive haiku blog throughout December. Well I'm not going to inflict that on you again, but I think I might do the occasional sporadic seasonal haiku and photo - to try to get me in the festive mood, if nothing else...

So here goes - a couple of haikus for today (some of you might have seen these before, as they've been recycled from my previous blogs, etc, but maybe not the photos):

As sunshine returns

I'm soothed by the drip, drip, drip

Of the melting snow



Squirts of de-icer;

Frost melting before my eyes

As I drive away





je ne regrette rien...

Today has been a lazy kind of day, so I thought I'd do a quick blog so that I've accomplished something ... but I have no regrets about being a bit lazy - sometimes it's good to just step back for a while...

Anway, here are some more haikus I wrote a while ago:

Listening to the clock

Time's slowly slipping away

But where does it go?

~~~

I loved you so much

Even when it turned to hate

But now it's too late.

~~~

Your hand on my face

In a brief stolen moment -

A tender embrace...

~~~

ah, life is so bittersweet, isn't it... ho-hum...

Anyway, getting back to the theme of regrets, I just want to say - make the most of every moment - if there's something you want to do, or say, then do it or say it!

But if you don't, then don't go beating yourself up over it. Life is too short to have regrets.

If you didn't do or say something when you had the chance, maybe you didn't want it enough - if you had wanted it enough, you surely would have done it or said it.

Regardless, we can learn from the experience, and make a point of making the most of future opportunities.

For me, part of the learning process is to write about it - usually in my journal - and to spend a little time reflecting on it - and then I (try to!) let go and move on...

Finally, here's a little video (not by me!)

zen-like patience and a few haikus

I sat for ages on my garden seat this morning, notebook in hand, ready to write down a flow of inspirational words of inner wisdom ... It isn’t often that I consciously make time to do this; more often than not it’s a case of a few snatched moments here and there, where I hurriedly scribble down the odd flash of inspiration that suddenly strikes me at unexpected moments ...

I sat and waited ... and waited ... and waited ... but my mind was blank – no words were springing to mind. This was a bit disappointing, as I’d really wanted to let the words flow out of my heart and soul, so I felt a bit miffed that I just couldn’t connect with my reserves of inner guidance...

After a while, I smiled at myself. It dawned on me that this sort of thing can’t be forced... the beauty of my inner voice is that it speaks to me when it is ready, rather than because I’ve scheduled a specific time to connect with it ... Usually the words come to me when I least expect to hear them, so that fact that I’d tried to arrange a ‘meeting’ on my terms meant that it was never going to be very productive.

My inner voice can’t be forced to talk when I decide I want to hear it – it doesn’t work like that. It decides to speak when I don’t really expect it to – although the more I listen, the more I get ‘tuned in’ to when it’s likely to make itself heard – whether it’s while I’m washing dishes at the kitchen sink, sorting out the washing, or standing in a queue at the supermarket. That’s why I’ve started carrying a pen and paper with me wherever I go...

So, instead of connecting with my innermost thoughts and feelings, I sat zen-like and patient and emptied my mind and simply absorbed what was going on around me... After a while, I started writing, but rather than it being about what my inner voice was telling me, it was about what I was observing around me, in nature... in the form of zen-like haikus... I love haikus – they capture the moment so succinctly. I hope that one day I will have a book of my haikus published, but in the meantime, here are some I‘ve written today, and earlier in the week...

Daffodils nodding
A dancing yellow river
Swaying in the wind

An apricot glow
Reaches out across the sky
A new day begins

Ripples on the pond
Sparkle just for a moment
In the morning sun

Crying in alarm
The blackbird warns of danger
And then all is calm

A visiting crow
Waddles down the garden path
he's making me laugh

Your inner voice, your instinct, knows everything. If you listen to what you know instinctively, it will always lead you down the right path.
Henry Winkler

Have you taken some time out this week to sit peacefully and empty your mind, and / or connect with your inner voice?