You’re in this season for a reason…

For whatever reason, when we’re pinned down and told to stay put, we want to do the exact opposite. Throw our hands up to the sky, make a noise, kick against the system and fight with a revolutionary’s heart.

I am no exception. If I don’t happen to like a situation I find myself in, I try to push, squirm and work my way out of it, with varying degrees of success… And usually a lot of tears.

But it occurred to me one day, that maybe I shouldn’t be fighting, struggling, “grrrring” at the lot I’ve been handed. Maybe I shouldn’t be charging into battle with the rage of a thousand armies and the noise of a thousand drums.

Maybe I should just accept where I’m at. No, not just accept it… Embrace it. Say what?? That’s right, I said, embrace it.

Continue Reading…

I’m slowly realising that if you force something, it doesn’t often pan out the way you want it to.

In our instant-access, quick-fix world, we’re so accustomed to snapping our fingers and Voila! – mission accomplished. And when it comes to relationships, issues of the heart and dreams we hope to achieve, we expect the same. Snap! Snap-Snap. Click. Post. And it’s all done.

But real life, the in-the-trenches, messy, try-your-hardest-day-in-and-day-out kind of stuff, just isn’t like that is it? Things don’t just fall into place like the all-too-convenient ending of a Rom-Com. And when they don’t, we tend to force the issue… Or at least, I know I do. I want to get my hands in there and make it work.

But the image of a budding flower popped into my head today. It’s so delicate and so beautiful. If we applied our heavy-handedness and tried to pry its petals open before it was ready, we’d break it. And it occurred to me, some things just need time to breathe, to open, to grow, to be. And all the pushing and pulling and pleading in the world won’t fast-track that process… In fact, it may land up bringing it to a screeching halt for good.

So whatever your situation is today… A creative block, a stubborn trait, a tricky relationship, maybe it’s time to take your hands off it for a moment and let it breathe. It’s not about sitting back and being apathetic, but about being at peace in the waiting and maturing process. In time, you may find it gently opens to full bloom.

(Photograph by Norman Hanna – www.hannaphotography.co.za)

There is something beyond this Continue Reading…

I must be mad! I’m a happy wife and the mom of two little boys, a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old, and I’ve decided now’s the time to challenge myself. Now’s the time to throw a spanner in the works, when there’s, well, no time at all. In between nappy changes, packing lunches, hanging washing, coos and cuddles and building puzzles, in between grocery shopping, work, school runs, trips back and forth to doctors, crying and fussing and stumbling along the road to our new normal (all mixed with the ever-fun variable called “sleepless nights”), I’ve decided I’d like to start a blog…  And not just any blog, a blog that requires immediate and constant attention, like a hungry baby. Like I said, I must be mad! Continue Reading…