Day 122/366 days Towards Self-Mastery
A new day is dawning, I awake to the last of the darkness as the light soon begins to illuminate the sky. Waiting, the birdsong begins, one, then another, then another until the Kookaburra heralds the wake up call. The new day is alive!
A clear blue sky with a southerly breeze that chills the air reminds me of how magnificent this day will be.
What better time to allow everyday epiphanies to dawn upon us than this time of isolation.
Yes there is chaos out there in the world, recorded in every post on social media of distrust and anger directed towards elitists and authorities and with good cause no doubt. And in our homes there is fear and worry and anxiety revealed in the private and intimate conversations on Zoom as we come to terms with what this situation means for each of us.
Allow quiet time and space for your personal revelations to emerge.
My son was just 4 years old when I became a single mother. With the realisation that I was not going to be financially supported in his care and upbringing, it was a time of personal epiphanies.
It was around the year 2000 with the worries of the GFC, Y2K, and climate change big on the global agenda.
What was important in my life right now? What would my priorities be going forward? How would I rearrange my life to be sustainable in any eventuality? How could I support my health so that I could manage parenting alone? Where did my support come from? What did I have to fall back on? These questions enabled me to turn my attention to what was real and alive for me.
Raising my son well and being the best mother I could be was my first priority.
Together we learned to make the most of every day. Sacrificing a good income to be available to him forced me to live more simply. Raising him in a city forced me to think outside the box to engage him in inexpensive explorations of the world around us.
We traded indoor playgrounds for walks in local bushlands and favourite picnic spots. Cinemas and gaming arcades were swapped out for long walks on the beach with ice cream, skate parks and moonlight meals seaside.
Shopping frugally taught me the value and charm that an outing to the farmers market could bring to our lives and became a weekly adventure.
Hours spent watching insects and butterflies connected us with the magic of the wild forest in our garden.
And a ferry and road trip to our favourite campsite for our annual autumn holiday to soak up the last of the summer sun brought more delights than I can list here.
Each adjustment brought multiple realisations of the joy and connection of simplifying my life. Each joy brought me back to the life that I missed without even realising that I had left it behind.
As we spend this time in isolation I hope that you too can realise the simple gifts that your life has to offer you.
366 days Towards Self-Mastery
When I considered my New Year's intentions for 2020 I had just one: To allow my heart to love what it loved...and let it lead me. (If not now, then when?)
I've spent months working on integrating my life. To live life more fully with my home life, my interests, my work, my responsibilities, all coming together, all connected. I want to give each the attention that they desire and need, and still have time and energy for the others. That means living and working from the heart.
As I was clearing out my bookshelf over the Christmas break I discovered Simple Abundance. I set it aside to explore it on New Year's Day as I lazed through another delicious day of nothingness. Sarah, the author, says this book is about living in grace. Living in grace I realised, is about Self-Mastery.
My thirst for understanding the human condition has driven me all my life, and hand-in-hand with self-mastery it has been a life-long goal. And seeing as I love to write, that living in grace is about self-mastery, and I love a bit of a challenge, then if I am truly going to let my heart lead, I really don't have any other choice. So scary as it feels, I'm starting out on a daily mission of leaning into the suggestions of this daybook and making a daily post to keep me accountable. If not now, then when?
I'm Josie. You can find out a little more about me here.
Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy: by Sarah Ban Breathnach.
This book is written for the Australian and NZ market because it refers to seasonal changes. It's available on Amazon here if you'd like to follow along.