I have been following a wonderful blog for almost the better part of a year now written by Rebecca Sweet. Rebecca's blog "Harmony in the Garden" is an incredible place to visit when you are wanting some inspiration, when you feel down and want to be uplifted, or just if you want to see what other people are doing in their gardens that might be new and exciting. Or just plain beautiful.
Today, Rebecca posted a give-away but first she talked about what she has been grateful for this year. Gratefulness is a wonderful practice to follow each day but Rebecca has even more to be thankful for of late because she was diagnosed with breast cancer and is undergoing treatment. She asked anyone who wanted to be entered in the give-away to post something that they were grateful for or that had made a great impact on them this year. I wrote about how finding her blog has really inspired me and not just because she posts the most incredible photos of gardens (she writes for Sunset magazine) but because of her story and her lust for life. She truly is an inspiration and a reason to never give up no matter what life throws in your way. She makes me happy; she reminds me to live for the moment and to enjoy even the small details for in the small details we will most often find the big moments.
You've heard me talk about friends that I no longer see who were friends for over 40 years. There really is no explanation for the silence (now going on 6 years) but one thing I can say is that it has helped me look at myself more deeply and to be in touch with what makes me tick. "When one is out of touch with oneself, one cannot touch others." Ann Morrow Lindbergh Bill and I were talking about moving out of state and one of his concerns is that we would be far away from our children and grandchildren and that "we wouldn't know anyone." My reply to him was "I have met more people in the last three years since we moved from our home of 37 years than I have in the entire time of living there." True...we seem to attract what we need in our lives. I have learned that in these last six years. It is like cleaning house: you get rid of the old clutter around you so that you can make room for new friends and opportunities. If I could ever speak to these women I would thank them for forcing me to look at myself deeply and to allow me to clear myself of their energy so that I could rebuild myself.
Reading a new book titled "Honor Yourself--The Inner Art of Giving and Receiving" by Patricia Spadaro she writes this: "When an ending comes, you may be tempted to greet it with regret, bitterness, or blame. Instead, face it with the certain knowledge that, for some reason, you need to turn off the road you are traveling on and take another route. Don't look back or hang your head as if you did something wrong or are being punished. Expect that your new adventure will, in its own time, reveal its reward and that this change is ultimately for your benefit. Make your new choices based on those truths and you will be honoring who you are and who you are to become." Page 127 My feelings exactly! She goes on to say that perhaps what bothers us most is that we are not in control of how and when those endings come.
My lost friend once said to me that "change is good". I had no idea she was talking about our friendship but thought she was talking to me about the possibility of selling our house and moving. Little did I know how true her statement would come to be. Change IS good. Really good. And reading Rebecca's blog today gave me that boost I needed at this time of the year when I become melancholic. The days are becoming shorter, the skies are grey for days on end, the flowers and trees have gone dormant but Rebecca gave me hope that Spring shall come. Do yourself and favor and check out her blog and her postings. I think you will become an avid reader and see what she sees each day. She doesn't give up. She keeps planning her garden. She has hope. And hope is so important.
"Insist on yourself: never imitate...
Do that which is assigned to you, and you
cannot hope too much or dare too much."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
