Day 215/366 days Towards Self-Mastery.
I'm lucky enough to spend my days with a most exquisite cat. And to be honest, I wonder if I'm as grateful as I could be for her ever present harmony.
In catch up mode this morning, being a few days behind on my blog, I found myself resting between posts, curled up in my bed watching the winter sunrise, with that serene kitty tucked neatly in the folds of my legs. Just for a moment I observed that scene, the image, the comfort, the security and the stability of that moment with gratitude.
Sarah suggests that it is the smallest moments that are often the greatest teachers. This morning I concur.
My days are filled with moments of joy and serenity that I have longed for and now enjoy.
Days of angst, of the hard lessons learned, of sorting through and figuring out life I'm pretty much done with. Life's lessons are everywhere if we care to stop and look and learn.
They are in the morning chorus, the activities of birds in the damp of the foggy dawn. The careful selection of the right branches and the right location to build and nest and incubate their eggs, awaiting their spring chickies.
There's wisdom in the spiders who build their perfectly designed webs where the birds cannot navigate to pluck them out for breakfast.
Their's knowledge in the family of magpies who visit each morning to greet me and keep me company for breakfast, no longer demanding morsels from my breakfast table.
Their's character in the tall standing trees who birth and grow, breathe and rest, gather sustenance and procreate without moving a single centimetre from the place of their birth.
Today I'll be on the lookout for more of life's amazing and abundant lessons. Lessons that can be learned gently, that warm my spirit and inform my heart.
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.