The Importance of Idling

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Rosa

“So you see, imagination needs moodling – long, inefficient, happy idling,dawdling and puttering.”  — Brenda Ueland

To be creative, imaginative and playful people we need idling, dawdling,puttering time. We need, like children do, to spend time apparently inefficiently because this playful, thoughtful and idle time fuels our imagination and so fuels our creativity. Having happy idling, dawdling fun regenerates and refuels us physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. It gives us time to process thoughts and feelings. It opens up our hearts, minds, bodies and souls and so we soak in more ideas, the start of any creative process. Opening up is the true beginning of imagination and play. So in fact time spent puttering, dawdling, idling and moodling is in fact time spent very efficiently.

Till next time

Rosa and John

Posted in Connecting, Creating the Life You Desire, Creativity, Emotional and Mental Well Being, Imagination | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Golden Thread That Ties the Hearts of All the World

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Rosa

We recently found this quote:

“Friendship is the golden thread that ties the hearts of all the world.” -John Evelyn

It is apparently a misquote. What John Evelyn (an English Writer, Diarist and Gardner from the 17th century) apparently actually wrote was:

“The title that has consecrated this Alter is the Marriage of Souls, and the Golden thread that tyes the hearts of all the world; I tell you, Madam, Freindshipp is beyond all relations of flesh and blood, because it is less materiall.”

The meaning of the misquote and of the actually quote are the same. Evelyn is clearly saying that Friendship is the marriage of souls, something more than just a blood relationship and that this is the golden thread that ties the hearts of all the world. This is a beautiful quote which means a lot to us because it summaries one of the reasons we called our company This Golden Thread because we believe we are all connected, through a heartfelt connection, to all and everything. So finding this quote from the 17th century is amazing and it makes an important point. To truly feel this connection we have to use our hearts. We have to spend time learning to open up our hearts and listen with our hearts. The heart is where friendship starts as it is where true connection starts. Why? Because the foundation of friendship and of our connection to the all and everything is love.

Till next time

Rosa and John

Posted in Community, Connecting, Creating the Life You Desire, Family, Friendship, Introduction to This Golden Thread, Love | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Higher is Not Always Better

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Rosa

Last year we were living in Toronto in a basement apartment. I remember reading an analagy that compared a penthouse appartment to being sucessful in our life and a basement apparment to not being as sucessful or to the start of the journey to that success. Comments like this are rife in our society. We are trained to think in hierarchical terms and so that which is higher is better. It is true that an appartment with a wonderful view is an amazing thing but it is also true that a nice basment appartment also has its benefits.

Living in that basement appartment felt comforting, private and cosy. It felt like living in a burrow down partly in the ground. It felt grounded. Our society is very much focused on; climbing to the top of the ladder, being looked up to, reaching for the stars and these things are all good in their own way but there is also something to be said for being grounded in our earthly reality, for being connected to the world on which we live. We felt connected to the earth in that basement appartment. We felt that so many people in Toronto were living up high in one building while working up high in another with no really time with their feet on the ground.

This weeks blog is about the importance of time spent with our feet on the ground connected to the planet we live on and it is also about being open to new perspectives. Our society asks us to believe that the pent house appartment is better than the basement appartment. Rather than just accepting this perception lets see it for what it is a perception and lets see the good in reaching for the earth as well as for the stars.

Till next time

Rosa and John

Posted in Being Grounded, Connecting, Emotional and Mental Well Being, Hierarchy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Connecting to the Spring

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Rosa

“About the woodlands I will go, To see the cherry hung with snow” (A.E. Housman)

In the UK where I am from spring comes earlier than most places in Canada. Now the spring flowers in the UK will be in full bloom and the trees in leaf. Here in our east coast Canadian garden the trees are budding and we just uncovered Crocuses flowering. It feels like being in the story of The Secret Garden as being our new home it is a surprise to us what will grow and where. I feel like Mary in that story uncovering new life and realising that the garden is alive.

My mother gave me a copy a few weeks ago of the A.E Housman poem “Loveliest of Trees…” about the cherry tree in bloom in the spring. Housman’s message in this poem is to appreciate the spring and to spend time in it. Several of our blogs over the last few months have looked at how we connect to nature and this is yet another way. To spend time out in nature appreciating the season we are in is another way to connect to nature. Whether walking out in nature or gardening or seeing the flowers and new leaves in our towns and cities we are able to appreciate the magic of spring, of the new life after the
winter and this feeds the life force in us.

Till next time

Rosa and John

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Visualizing Your Plans

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Rosa

For the last few weeks we have been blogging about our experiences of renovating our new home, living in it while we are doing this and running our business from it. We have looked at ways we have coped with the stress of this; we have had to go with the flow, learn to take things lightly and take time off to relax. Another technique which has helped us is visualization. We are always visualizing the house as it will be when it is finished. This helps us to plan together for how we want it to be and so helps us to come up with the best design ideas for our needs and personalities. It also helps us to deal with any of the unforeseen problems we have come up against. Visualizing what is happening helps us to see how to solve the problem.

Visualization also helps us to deal with any stress we feel. We can see in our head how the house will be when it is finished. We live in each room with the image in our head of what it will look like when it is finished and we spend time discussing how it will feel and how great it will be. This image helps us to believe that we will get there, that it will get done. The feeling of how it will feel to live in it lets us know that it is all worth it.

Visualization helps us all to create our hopes and dreams and it helps us to solve the problems we come up against. It helps us to believe in what we are doing while creating energy and motivation to get the task done.

Till next time

Rosa and John

 

Posted in Believing, Creating the Life You Desire, Creativity, Dealing with Stress, Emotional and Mental Well Being | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Importance of Taking Time To Rest

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Rosa

When we first started renovating our new home we worked every day on the renovation or on our business and took no time off.  We wanted everything to get done quickly so that our life in our new home could start. But in the end this made us become utterly exhausted. We realized that allow our self at least a day off each week was important.

Taking time each week to rest and sometimes have nothing to do, nothing that needs to be achieved is important. Creating regular times of peace in our life creates time to recuperate. Without it we become exhausted, stressed and this can make us emotional and ill. Rest allows us time to process our thoughts and feelings and time to look after our body. It is essential for our mental, physical, spiritual and emotional wellbeing. In the end rest allows for better productivity as once we are rested we find it easier to things get done.

Till next time

Rosa and John

Posted in Being, Creating the Life You Desire, Dealing with Stress, Emotional and Mental Well Being, Healing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Taking Things Lightly

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Rosa

Last week we started to look at the ways that we have dealt with the stress of renovating our new home while running our business from it. Another way we have dealt with the stress is to take things lightly. We have done this literally. Rather than getting weighted down by the stress of what is happening we have chosen to be positive.

When things are difficult we choose as much as possible to be positive about what is happening. We do this by accepting the situation and that it is all ok. We have fun together and laugh a lot. We are playful about renovating together and about the situation we find ourselves in. But we also acknowledge that it is fine to sometimes be upset. It is natural to sometimes be stressed or upset in the situation we are in. We just express these emotions and let them go. This allows us to relieve any stress we feel and then we able to go back to seeing the positive. Any difficulties we face while renovating are not the final outcome they are just part of the journey so why not laugh along the way.

Till next time

Rosa and John

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Coping With Stress By Going With The Flow

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Rosa

As many of you may know we bought a house last September. We chose to renovate it ourselves since John has experience in this area. This renovation project has left us for most of this winter with a minimal kitchen and bathroom. Because of this preparing meals and having baths has been difficult. We have been doing this while working on our business inside the house. This has often been a stressful experience.

We have coped with this by going with the flow. We have achieved this in a number of ways. We have learnt to see this house as our home even though it is in the middle of a renovation project. We have lived in a simplistic manner. When we get stuck or the renovations get a little overwhelming we take a break; go for a walk or spend the evening by the fire. When we have time off we have had to learn how to rest and relax in the house in its unfinished state. We have had to learn to take one step at a time and not put too much pressure on ourselves. Doing this has meant that we are going with the flow of what is happening rather than struggling with what is happening and this has relieved our stress.    

Till next time

Rosa and John

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Fueling the World

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Rosa

Recently I found this quote while browsing the internet “The stone age didn’t end because they ran out of stones.” Unfortunately the author is unknown according to the website I found it on. The quote instantly made me think of our oil and gas fueled age. These are fuels which we known pollute when burnt as well as causing pollution and destruction when we take them out of the earth. Oil is a fuel which could be argued to have caused many conflicts around the world and when oil is turned into plastic it is often practically impossible to biodegrade. With the amount of technological knowhow that we now possess it is amazing that so much in our world is fueled and so much is created in such an inefficient and destructive way.

The quote stood out to me as strong way to point out that we do not need to stay stuck with oil and gas. Just because there is oil or gas left in the earth does not mean we have to use it. We can evolve our fuel source not because we ran out but because we choose to start using a conflict and pollution free source of fuel.

Till next time

Rosa and John

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Tuning into the Energy of Nature

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Rosa

Last week we wrote about how time in nature can be; healing, inspirational and energizing. It is healing mainly because it brings peace, calm and a slower tempo to our life. We can spend time in nature with our own thoughts whether; sitting, walking, swimming, kayaking or gardening.

One way we can tune into the peace we find when out in nature is to do a walking mediation. This means that we walk mainly in silence and not too fast and tune into our walking and the energy around us. We can listen to our footsteps; to the crunching of the snow, leaves, gravel etc. We can listen to the world around us; the birds, wind in the trees, the quietness that is usually in nature when away from cars and human sound. We can focus on our breath as we breathe in and out. By breathing in through our nose deeply and slowly and out through our mouth it relaxes our body and relieves stress. We can spend time with our own thoughts and feelings.

We can also spend time sitting in nature; listening to the sounds around us, the sounds of our breathe and doing the breathing exercise. Sitting in nature also gives us time with our own thoughts and we are able to write them down as we sit.

These exercises are ways to tune into the healing, energizing and inspirational energy of nature.

Till next time

Rosa and John

Posted in Connecting, Emotional and Mental Well Being, Healing, Meditation, Nature | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment