COVER ARTIST: Clive Walters
TITLE: Strings
MEDIUM: Acrylic Painting
CONTACT: totemagic@yahoo.com.au
Feature Article
A feeling of being thankful for a gift or a favour is the definition from the Collins Dictionary. I believe it goes much deeper in that it is an attitude; a way of thinking and being in our lives. My attitude was one of negativity and taking until I decided that my lifeas I knew it had to change. So after much soul searching and looking deeply at my beliefs and behaviours I opted to make changes. This self reflection about the beliefs I had and where they came from, led me to see that my life was being run and ruined by what I had learned, which were others beliefs.
I commenced journaling daily, five things I was grateful for. It was one of the first things I did every morning. In doing so the cloud of despair and heaviness began to lift. My husband and daughter also started to journal. I had simply left my journal on the kitchen bench and at breakfast time they began to read it and add their entries. Pretty soon we were adding ten entries daily that we were grateful for. Such a simple change in our thinking made massive changes in all of our lives, individually and as a family. We started to grow.
That’s what gratitude does. It is a seed that you choose to plant in your mind that flows on into your life and the lives of those around you. We also began to do our individual entries and to share them out loud to each other. Hearing this enabled us to know we were loved, appreciated and a part of something so much bigger and better than just negative thoughts. I can only speak for myself and want to let you know that it really did change my life from one of taking, to one of wanting to give: contributing positively to myself, our family, and in turn our world.
The bene? ts are in? nite and we had so many people ask what we were doing, because we looked and were, so much happier in ourselves, and as a family. I then started to feel good about myself and who I was being and becoming.
My entries started off with the simple things – like I was grateful to have woken up today, that I was loved, I had a beautiful family, I had food to eat and clothes to wear. They soon expanded to not just the written ones but also in my daily activities. I used to loathe ironing and decided to be grateful that I had clothes to iron so I changed it from ironing to ‘loving’ the wrinkles out of our clothes. Washing-up became ‘I was grateful that we had food to eat and people I cared about to share it with’. It just snowballed and was no longer a chore but a JOY to do.
These days the first thing I say out loud when I wake up is, I am so grateful that I woke up today and that I have the opportunity to learn, to laugh, to live, and above all, to love and be loved in perfect balance. After all, without waking up I can do nothing.
People take so much for granted, as I still do sometimes. Being aware that we are so blessed with so much to be grateful for gives us a whole new perspective in, and about LIVING life.
I have worked with abused and neglected children for the past few years. One of the comments I often get is, “Oh that must be so horrible.” I reply, “I am grateful that I have the opportunity to show them a more positive way of seeing and being in the world. They are getting fed, cared for and shown opportunities they would not have if they remained in the situation they came from.” One of the first things I teach the children is to ‘Give me Five’ in a different way to the hand slap. I ask them to help me know five things every day that they are grateful for. Sure they have difficulty at first as they have not been taught to think this way before. I give them my five to start with, and yes they often repeat what I say in the beginning and that is OK. Once we have formed an attachment, they come out with some of the most amazing thoughts of gratitude, that teach me more than I could ever hope to teach them.
So seeing the gratitude in every situation could be the catalyst to change your life from an existence in the quagmire of dark despair to LIVING an extraordinary life.
My five today are:
- Connect Magazine so I have a forum to share what I have learned and works for me
- I have a computer to do the above
- I have an attitude of giving
- Being a WOMAN
- Know LIFE is what you think about it, and at any given moment I can change my thoughts.
Namaste, Louise Maree. Published Self-help Author, Professional
Counsellor, Spiritual Guide. Ph: 0408 285 269
Regular Article
Thank you! How often do you say these words?
Many clients book a Feng Shui consultation with me to attract mainly Love and Money. When I enter their garden and home, they are obviously revealing loads of information and vibrations about their mindset. Broken items, worn out carpets or lounge seats, cluttered kitchen benches, eclectic frames hanging on various levels on the walls, are all keys of an unbalanced life.
On the other hand, displaying happy memories in your clean and well maintained interior, you are repeating the joy they gave you. Decorate with inspiring pictures and paintings, they subtly manifest more inspiring moments into your life. Make your bed
every morning before leaving your bedroom and clear your kitchen benches for an organised life. These are simple rituals of self-respect.
Often people seem to ‘want more’ and don’t appreciate what they already own. They take for granted: the roof above their head, the vehicle they drive, food on their plate, and drink in their fridge. Many focus too much on wanting to fill the gap of needing something else, something better. Is that missing item going to make them happier? Probably not! Once they own it, ‘wanting more’ turns into an addiction.
Emptiness is beautiful. A ‘Zen’ interior will display only one or two special precious items in each room. This decor reveals your inner beauty and simplicity. Keeping your home tastefully decorated with only a few quality items will help you create an easy and abundant life, focusing on the essential and avoiding unnecessary distraction. Look at your home with respect and thank it for being your reflection; care for it daily and you will feel so much better yourself too.
Material possessions are only important for the joy they give you.
Be aligned with your material possessions while appreciating them regularly. Wash your car by hand showing in that way your gratitude of it carrying you every day to where you choose to go. A clear windscreen and windows will allow you to see new and clear life pathways. Your car symbolises your vehicle in life, caring for it will bring you even further.
I admire happy, long term relationships. Some couples have understood the essential keys of maintaining good contacts and communicating on the same level of understanding. They express their love in various ways: gifts, words of reassurance, physical touch, quality time, acts of service, are the most usual ways of expressing your love to each other.
Inside your home, remember the good memories: displaying around your home a gift or souvenir of a lovely trip away, a
picture of the two of you looking tenderly in each other’s eyes or a fresh bunch of flowers.
Your enthusiasm of caring, giving and receiving generates joy and happiness. The more you FEEL in gratitude, the more you emanate the vibrations of Love and Abundance.
Story
A few years ago Tony attended some of my lectures. He kept my Feng Shui recommendations in mind and after he had moved into his new Melbourne home, was a little bit concerned about the layout of the top floor, and called me for Feng Shui guidance. “Roseline, I have sector 4 (Wealth) missing in my son’s bedroom, what can I do about this? It is located on the first floor; there is not really a wall space because a window is occupying that corner. What can I do?”
Like Tony, many people can become worried about the Feng Shui layout of their homes with what they hear, read and understand about the topic. Feng Shui starts with commonsense Once you decide to rent a place or buy a home, when the contract is finalised, you will immediately reap the vibrations of the ‘new you’ So, Tony, what happened since you moved into this house?
“We are earning a lot more money, but we are spending it more too.” My words of reassurance in his case were: “Tony, you just told me what you needed to hear: money comes in easily to your family, you have no debts. This is a very good omen. It remains
your choice of how, when and how much you spend of it. Everything in life is a choice and it is your decision only, you cannot blame your spending on Feng Shui.”
Focus on the positive points rather than feeding your lack and fear of what you would not have.
Be in gratitude for the good things that your home has offered to you since you moved in and your daily life can only get better!
Roseline DELEU, Feng Shui Master and best
selling Author. Mobile: 0412 717 454.
Email: roseline@fengshuisteps.com or www.
fengshuisteps.com I now have 2 Youtube Video
Channels: FengShuiSteps and RoselineDeleu