Enjoying The Highlights

Day by day, week by week, month by month - time keeps moving - I can't believe it is September 2010.  I love that it is Spring, I love the warmer weather and yet I can't believe that I am already hearing conversations about Christmas.  And as I leave work today, I say "Goodbye and have a good night", knowing tomorrow will roll around so quickly and we will all be back doing it all over again.  AND I want to avoid living my life as if it is 'Groundhog Day', as if I am repeating the same day over and over again.    

My Goal is to live in the NOW and enjoy every moment and be very much Conscious of Enjoying The Highlights of each day.  Enjoying The Highlights for me is about being very Present, to be delighted and surprised by the beauty in the world - the wonder and beauty in my world.

Friday night I was very Excited when My Man saw an Owl out the front of our Unit block.  We had just come home from Cronulla and it was dark and yet My Man caught sight of the Owl.  I love Birds and I have never seen an Owl just out and about free to be, free to fly.  I love Owls and the representation of Wisdom - perhaps there is a message from the Universe for me.

I was also Enjoying The Highlights of my Sunday.  I was delighted when I saw a beautiful Kookaburra sitting on the fence next to our garden.  We were running behind time to get to my Parent's Home and yet I quickly ran upstairs to get my camera to take a few shots of my Friend the Kookaburra.  I just love Kookaburras - I love hearing the laugh of the Kookaburra and I just love seeing them when I am out Walking.  Even this morning I was delighted to see two Kookaburras up close on my morning walk.

Yesterday was Fathers' Day and it was great to see my Dad.  It would be easy for me to get caught up in my mind thinking about my Dad seeming so much older and more fragile.  In the past I would have been in overdrive in terms of worry - and now I am Grateful to just enjoy time together.  My Dad was quiet and was just sitting watching football - definitely more quiet than normal - and I especially enjoyed just for a few minutes sitting with him and holding his hand.  I love my Dad.  I also love spending time with my Mum - she is an amazing woman - upbeat and positive and so loving to us all.

I was also Enjoying The Highlights of spending time with my beautiful Nieces.  They fill my Heart with Joy.  I loved when my 4 year old Niece, Olivia was pretending to be the teacher and my 7 year old Niece, Ashley was the teacher's assistant.  I loved being involved in my Nieces creativity, them in their role playing and imagination. I just love my Nieces.  I also love that my Nieces love My Man - I love that they always want him to be involved in their games and give him a hug.  I love their hugs.

Today I had a slight case of Monday-itis and yet I know that going out Walking in the mornings is a great way to start my day.  I love being outdoors.  When I am out Walking I am Conscious of staying out of my thinking, out of my mind, and I just wanting to be Enjoying The Highlights.  I love noticing the beautiful flowers, hearing the Birds singing, wandering among the Trees.  I love being in Nature.  I feel that I am in my 'Child of Nature' Archetype - "This Goddess Archetype feels most at home in the outside bonding and communicating with the forces of nature."  On one of the websites about Archetypes I read "Your health and well-being is affected if you are unable to spend time outside working with animals, plants and other nature spirits. Your idea of hell is likely to be working in a busy office in the centre of town." - this can be true for me.  I have a beautiful image of a Nature Goddess that I love - this is the essence of this Part of me.

I have been reading 'The Four-Fold Way' by Angeles Arrien, a brilliant book and it resonates for me, when I read, "Native peoples recognise that the most empowering and healing tool we have available to us is our connection to nature and the wilderness."  It is definitely true for me that "Nature, beauty and healing environments support my Health and Well-being".

When I am out in the morning, feeling the breeze and also the warmth of the sunshine and just being outdoors, I wish that I could be a Wanderer all day.  The Wanderer is another one of my Archetypes that I am beginning to enjoy now that I have space in my day and space in my life.  I read the definition of the Explorer/Seeker/Wanderer who "leaves the known to discover and explore the unknown. This inner rugged individual braves loneliness and isolation to seek out new paths. Often oppositional, this iconoclastic archetype helps us discover our uniqueness, our perspectives, and our callings."  In my Wanderer Archetype there is space and quiet and I am led by my Intuition.  I like these images that speak to me about the essence of the Wanderer in me - being in the Field of Sunflowers and then finding the Uniqueness and Greatness of the Sunflower in a Field of Lavender.

I love that I am learning about all of the Parts and Archetypes within me - these are my Strengths and Resources that serve me on my own Journey.  While Enjoying The Highlights for me, can sometimes be a strategy to cope with Mondayitis by focusing on the positives of my day, I am also able to get a sense of when I am living by my Values and what has Heart and Meaning for me.  I can then enlist the help of my Archetypes, the Parts within me, to bring more of these Highlights into my life - more time with Family and more time in Nature, more time doing my lifework of Coaching.  It is key for me to be in Love with my Life and be Grateful for the Gifts of each day, such as the beautiful white butterfly I enjoyed seeing on my break at work - it was just for a few seconds, and yet I felt the stirring of my Soul.  Thank you God.