Purpose

I went to a friend's place yesterday and saw the most incredibly beautiful collection of trees that I have seen for years. I didn't take a photo though which is a bit unusual for me, but it was a place so full of grace and spirit that it felt like I was in a cathedral. I was! Mother Nature's cathedral that man has yet to improve upon. I was too overwhelmed and moved to even think about my camera. Maybe I will be lucky enough to see it another day.

A magnificent magnolia from a tree that I saw yesterday.



Whilst I was talking to my friend we came to the subject of 'life's purpose'. She gave me an answer that all the self help books that I have read have failed to do. She said 'your purpose is to be a joyful and positive energy on this planet.' Wow! That is so true. To strive to live a life that is lived with joy and the ability to be positive and to find that positivity in all aspects of your life is our sole purpose. I love that answer.

The other thing that I have discovered
today is that many people feel the need to be perfect but become very happy when they learn to embrace their imperfections. I wonder why we have this need to be 'perfect'? I suspect it comes back down to the media images we see all the time of people who we may perceive to be perfect on the outside but that is not what gets us through each day. To feel happy with what we are on the outside and the inside is what really matters. Sadly it is a lack of feeling good on the inside that makes people bully or put people down. I have recently seen a very good example of a young girl who seems to have all that she wanted, but is still being nasty to someone whom she obviously still sees as a threat. That can only be because she isn't recognising her own positives both externally and internally. I don't think that those feelings can be given but have to be learnt. This can often take many years and much pain. I speak from experience and it is a good reason to value my age. It brings so much more than grey hair and everything heading south!
It gives me a greater chance of achieving my purpose in life and that has to be a good thing.

Blogging and the Seasons.

I love reading all the various blogs. It makes me happy to read all the people out there who have the same thoughts as me and the same desire to express them to those who want to listen, or should that be read? In one the writer has asked about Christmas and how do people celebrate or otherwise. The comments are interesting. I celebrate with very simple things like walking in the Australian bush early in the morning with my daughter and dogs. We even saw 'Rudolph' one morning who thought he was safe from being seen because of the early hour.
 This year for the first time it will be just one dog which will be very sad but the other one will be with us in spirit. She loved her walks. I feel sad just thinking about our little family being one short.                                                 



Walking the tracks in earlier days.



But then we go to our friends' place for Christmas lunch and their dog loves it and makes sure he gets plenty of good food by asking very nicely for it as you can see in this photo!

Those two small things have become our little family Christmas traditions. My daughter and I treasure them and I hope we can continue them for many years to come. We are lucky to have such wonderful friends. We are grateful for such wonderful friends. Even when one of our dogs has gone, or if we should be away for that day, we will always have that feeling of fun and sharing in our hearts and that is what matters most.

I do know that Christmas can be a very lonely and depressing time of year for many people who don't have a good relationship perhaps with family or due to family splits which means that the usual way of enjoying Christmas is no more. I think the other thing is  that people feel incredibly pressured into spending huge amounts of money. This is a really difficult one and it took me a very long time to come to terms with my feelings of guilt, shame and unworthiness and realise that those feelings were ridiculous. If I didn't have lots of money and refused to go into debt for the sake of one day then I had to understand that a small gift, a hand made gift or no gift, when given with love and real thought was as worthy if not more so and that I did NOT have to buy into the commercial 'sell'.

One has to be very organised though to be able to give handmade and I have not been that this year. I am also a really big fan of giving people gifts 'just because I can' so to speak. In the Disney movie version of Alice In Wonderland the  Mad Hatter sings a song called a Very Happy Unbirthday to You. That appeals to me. I am going to start giving people UnChristmas presents. Or maybe I can give people Summer Equinox presents to celebrate the passing of the seasons. I am not big on Christianity  so that might be more in keeping with my views of reasons to celebrate.

All I really wish for everyone, known and unknown, is that they have a safe and happy time with those they love and that the New Year is a time of hope and expectancy of good times. For those who are dealing with loss and sadness, try and allow the depth of the grief to be replaced with the happiness of memories of Christmas days gone by.