It seems like an age has passed since my birthday and I feel
I am embracing 42 with positivity and fresh insights.
My blog ‘confession’ drew more love and support than I could
ever have imagined and I feel very blessed to have wonderful people in my life –
thank you to all of you!
I didn’t tell you that I had treated myself to a massage on
my birthday. I had in my head a relaxing and pampered hour and a half, ha! The
lovely lady that supplied my treat found what she could only describe as some
of the hardest knots in my shoulders that she’d come across for a long time!
She kindly asked if she could ‘work them out’ - ‘go for it’ I replied, still on
a drift of scented oil and candles. OMG – it hurt. Quite a lot. And the next
day. And the day after that too. But it was a lesson to me that I am clearly
keeping quite a lot of tension in that area. I feel so much better now and I
have been making a concerted effort to do some yoga stretches every day and to
relax my shoulders every time I feel them hunching (which seems to be every 5
minutes)
I have also been reading a lot about mindfulness and
thinking that this is definitely something which I need in my life. I have done
a little meditation in the past and it now feels like the right time to revisit
and try it again. I have been faithfully trying out some of the exercises in
this book but I am finding some harder than others. Trying hard to explore
feelings like anger from a mindful viewpoint having just been cut up by a
thoughtless driver is tough – and meditating on the bed late in the evening
just leads to sleep! But each experience is a learning opportunity and I am
embracing it as best I can.
I have continued to go to the gym but decided last Sunday to
have a run in the proper outdoors. It was chilly and wet but I am so glad I
made the effort. Highlight of the run was seeing a beautiful kingfisher
flashing past me along the stream. I haven’t seen one of these for a couple of
years and this was a really special moment which made the mud and rain
worthwhile and meaningful.
Photography has taken a bit of a backseat with everything
else but I am determined to get inspired again. In the meantime I have asked if
I could share this fabulous photograph of a kingfisher taken by a very talented
friend of mine called Simon Ellis. Please do check out more of his work here
and here and tell him I sent you!
