Friendship

For some reason Christmastime makes me stop, pause and reflect with gratitude the people who help to make my Life so fortunate, so diverse, so unpredictable, spontaneous, creative and wonderful. I am so lucky to have such inspirational, beautiful and varied friendships. The other night on the tele they showed different species of animals that have formed inexplicably close bonds that even over-ride instinct - the crow and the kitten in the US; the lioness and the baby gazelle, the elephant and the dog - maybe we can all learn from them about overcoming judgements and prejudices?

I was so inspired to read recently that a woman recently decided not to celebrate her birthday in the usual way - instead she spent the day in gratitude and rang or wrote or spoke directly to everyone that she believed had made a difference to, or touched her life in some special way..

I love this poem by Ron Carnell:

Treasures

It's so hard to find the perfect breeze,
One blowing none too hard nor soft,
Carrying a scent of wild flowers,
And moving clouds about aloft.

It's so hard to find the perfect sky,
One blue and deep and bright,
Carrying a sense of openness
With geese and wrens in flight.

It's so hard to find the perfect night,
One warm, quiet and unflawed,
Carrying a mood of solitude,
And a closeness to our God.

Yet no perfection's so hard to find
As that which you extend
And none I'll ever treasure more,
Than to simply be your friend.

Jump for Joy

It’s the start of the working week after a long weekend, yippee! Australia is known as being the Land of Long Weekends – but we should embrace the working week ahead too. This joyful original painting by my artist sis Anne McLeay reminds me of one of my fave ads on TV at the mo is the ‘Un-worry’ series, cooking on the Barbie 5 nights a week instead of two… and all those other suggestions someone once sent around in an email eons ago, like using your best chinaware and crystal glasses every day not just on special occasions.. wearing your best silk lingerie and French perfume under your business attire to that meeting.. maybe that way we’ll embrace Monday’s and Tuesday’s like Saturday’s and Sunday’s, anyway here’s that email, an oldie but a goodie worth repeating:

"Never save something for a special occasion. Every day in your life is a special occasion.

Now I read more and clean less.

I sit on the porch without worrying about anything.

I spend more time with my family, and less at work.

I understood that life should be a source of experience to be lived up to, not survived through. I no longer keep anything. I use crystal glasses every day... I'll wear new clothes to go to the supermarket, if I feel like it…

I don't save my special perfume for special occasions; I use it whenever I want to. The words "Someday..." and "One Day..." are fading away from my dictionary. If it's worth seeing, listening or doing, I want to see, listen or do it now.

Now, I try not to delay, postpone or keep anything that could bring laughter and joy into our lives… And, on each morning, I say to myself that this could be a special day…

Each day, each hour, each minute, is special.