Tag Archives: Gratitude

Our ‘dash’

Posted on by vegsoupforthesoul

This was a Word Doc drafted in November last year! Not much use there is it? Time for a tidy up and airing… Right, copy/paste was the easy bit! What does slow me down, even grind me to a halt, however, is all the necessary permissions you have to acquire for any pics/vids/links/quotes etc you want to use…

So to ‘OUR DASH’… What’s this about then?

We’re all familiar with ‘Born XXXX’ and ‘Died XXXX’ but do we ever reflect about the line that separates these two dates? The ‘dash’?

Linda Ellis wrote a poem of this title and says that what matters most is, not ‘when’ we arrive in this world or ‘when’ we leave this body of ours but what we do with the bit in between, our ‘dash’…

So this simple symbol takes on a whole new meaning! It’s a subject that could be expounded at great length but I’d like to explore the ‘dash’ literally. How is it that the happiest people on our planet tend to live more simple lives without ‘dashing’ around or getting caught up in the so-called ‘Rat Race’? Life is meant to be enjoyed, savoured slowly, like a delicious meal and even that activity should mean focusing on each mouthful, ideally not distracted by conversation. It shouldn’t have to be bolted between assignments or munched ‘on the hoof’!

A festive starter from Chris Newberry!

It’s at this precise juncture… as I type these words… that something strange happens. More anon! We also have to nurture an attitude of thankfulness and gratitude and, by so doing, attract more of the same.

To quote Robert Brault… and this is his, not that of Kurt Vonnegut:

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”

Too many folk nowadays spend their lives rushing headlong from one frantic event/thing they ‘have to do’ to another, from the time they’re blasted awake each morning to when they crash out late into the evening…

And it was at the point mentioned above, that the hour plus of, as yet unfamiliar, Estas Tonne music that I’m playing in the background… er no, not just while I’ve been typing this… hit upon a lyrical section. Pssst… He’s an awesome guitarist btw. Okay, okay, the timing was not absolutely spot on but this piece had already been planned out in my mind, so The Universe knew what was coming next and obliged with these opening words from Estas’ song:

“We’re living our lives so fast. We don’t have a moment to stop… There is so much beauty around yet we don’t have time for it.”

A bit further on, he sings:

“We’re rushing. We’re rushing to die.”

Impressive, huh? Now THAT’S what I call synchronicity!! There’s no way I could ever have envisioned such a scenario, where 99% instrumental music would ‘tune in’ to my writing with words that would mirror what I was about to write. Now maybe if I’d have typed just a little faster…??!

To return… Am reminded of a beautiful poem by R.S. Thomas called ‘The Bright Field’…

 

‘I have seen the sun break through

to illuminate a small field

for a while, and gone my way

and forgotten it. But that was the pearl

of great price, the one field that had

the treasure in it. I realise now

that I must give all that I have

to possess it. Life is not hurrying

 

on to a receding future, nor hankering after

an imagined past.’

003

Salters Lane, Winchester

 

I have Facebook friends who have either been diagnosed with cancer or who have relatives with the dis-ease and who, with determination, positive attitude and much loving, supportive advice from others (and I might add, avoiding the ‘chemo’ and radiotherapy routes as well as the W.C.B… The White Coat Brigade) are beginning to turn things around. It takes your life being threatened in this way to appreciate the simplest things but why wait till then? We can have this NOW. Now, NOW!

Again I’m going to quote from a poem, a poignant one titled ‘Chemotherapy’ penned by Julia Darling… not that I advocate this form of treatment as it totally buggers up your immune system… and I mean totally…

 

‘…I never thought life could get this small,

that I would care so much about a cup,

the taste of tea, the texture of a shawl,

and whether or not I should get up.

I’m not unhappy. I have learnt to drift

and sip. The smallest things are gifts.’

 

Some wonderful lines here…

There’s a theme running through these meanderings of mine: Of not waiting till life grabs us by the scruff to appreciate even just the gift of another 24 hours. Do you really know whether you’ll be cleaning your teeth for the last time today? I sometimes… should be often(!)… run through a list of things to be grateful for, saying them out loud. I can start with my sight, my hearing, my health, food on a table, warmth and shelter (even though I live in a rented room), the love between my children and I, my friends… dozens and dozens of things…

Yes, there is much to grumble about and some truly sinister world ‘goingonery’ but I try to keep life in perspective and not focus too much on the negative or I just attract more of the same.

Stay in tune, folks! Byeee….

 

 

COPYRIGHT FOR IMAGES/POETRY:

The quote by Robert Brault is freely available.

The 2 photos are courtesy of myself, Cassandra Scott.

Extract from ‘Chemotherapy’ by Julia Darling taken from the anthology ‘Being Alive’ published by Bloodaxe Books.  This excerpt falls within the ‘free press’ allowance.

Love… and bananas!

Posted on by vegsoupforthesoul

This year I’m cancelling Christmas.  The last one got in the way of writing blogs, having to move, etc.  ‘Uh? That was months ago’ I hear you all saying but I really need to exercise my writing muscle here, rather than on Facebook, fun though it is… WORLD view rather than between a few ‘friends’.  This blog is not actually the one I have in mind… That’s next, hopefully this year!  This one’s a quickie, i.e. less than 500 words, if I can stick to some sort of point… and I haven’t even got to the banana yet!

So what are you thinking then?!

So what are you thinking then?!

It came to me when I sat down for my evening meal the other day.  Before I eat or drink anything, I pause to say “Thank you. I love you” or “I love you. Thank you”.  This got a mention in my ‘Water Crystals’ blog… but you’ll know that guys, won’t you?  So, am I addressing myself or my alter ego sat opposite?  No, I’m talking to the plate in front of me, duh!  It has to be said though, that I don’t always remember to do this… My saner moments?  Nooo.  The fact I’ve only been doing this a few months is no excuse but then I remember half way through my first mouthful.  By saying/whispering these words with honesty and reverence, not only am I blessing my food and grateful for my food, but visualise it nourishing my body and ultimately flooding my cells with love… And we renew millions of cells each day.

Anyway, to get to the ‘It came to me’ bit… Exciting, huh?… I began reflecting on the wider implications of my thanks.  Thanks to the guys who ploughed the land, who sowed the crops… No death on my dinner plate.

Well yes, we could get into technicalities here: The murder of carrots etc, but let’s just stick with sentient beings.

To continue…

Rat by name but not by nature!

Rat by name but not by nature!

So thanks to the guys who harvested the crop, who picked the fruit/nuts/whatever, who transported it all to the warehouse/shops; thanks to the shopkeepers who served me, even thanks to that (annoying) self-service machine in the supermarket that tells me to put my money in when I’ve already done so and gives me a load of shrapnel in change instead of a single coin.  Grrr… Well someone invented it, designed it.  Thanks to you too!  The thing is though, if there’s a hitch in this long chain of dependency, the food doesn’t end up on our plate which reminds me of how very connected we all are, not just on FB.  Last but not least, there’s the weather that determines the fate/flourishing of our crops so widening the circle, I imply thanks to The Universe as well.  And let’s not forget the bees either!  Without them we’re screwed…  At this juncture I recall that cumulative tale/nursery rhyme about ‘The malt that lay in the house that Jack built’ so in the same vein, trying to be clever and not succeeding…

“Thanks to the guys who drill for the oil, that runs the tractor, that delivers the food

that lies on the plate before me”. 

Feel free to post an improvement under ‘comments’… Any comment would be nice!  Next blog will be more intellectual and longer… Yawns all round!

And the banana?  Well, that was a ploy to catch your attention… beginning to think I’m going bananas… (“You already are” my kids’ll say)… Sooo, shall post a photo of a simple dessert I do which is nourishing… decadent if you add the (soya) ice cream but helps if you’re not so keen on tahini.  For this you will need 1 or 2 bananas, peeled and placed in a bowl.  Drizzle over 2 generous tablespoons of stoneground tahini, then sprinkle 2 tablespoons of ground almonds.  Finally add a couple of scoops of vanilla soya ice cream, et voila.  Enjoy… and don’t forget to thank the guys who climbed the trees, who powered the ship…. Boring.

Seriously though, living your life in gratitude is one key to health and longevity.

Now got to wait a couple of days for my bananas to ripen, to make the dessert, to take the pic, before I can press ‘publish’!

So this is what happened to the 'nana...

So this is what happened to the ‘nana…

So how did I do?  Checking word count… Drat, well over the 500.  N’er mind, eh.  Woman of few words, that’s me. InfuturemaybeIshouldwritelikethis!

 

COPYRIGHT FOR IMAGES:

Copyright for all photos belongs to myself, Cassandra Scott.

The ‘To-do’ List

Posted on by vegsoupforthesoul

In my mobile menu there’s a section under ‘Organiser’ called the ‘To-do list’ which I use, amongst other things, to remind me to water some trees of mine planted at the College… not had to do that too often this year.  I set reminders to make certain phone calls, to renew library books, to pack my passport if flying up to visit the kids (an internal UK flight.  For overseas I’d remember.  Anyone wanna try me?)… Sounds grand but (plug for ‘Flybe’ here) flights are often cheaper than ‘training’ it, even if you don’t book in advance.  I have reminders to ‘check-in’ online the day before I fly, reminders to rendezvous for coffee, to leave for appointments… not the Doctor kind, remember.  I don’t do the W.C. Brigade (White Coat)… because, folks, I get so engrossed in this lot, I completely lose track of time!  Even set reminders to text my ex to remind him not to forget to dig out our son’s passport whenever he flies down to me!  God, it gets complicated.  Often too, I have to reset these reminders since, being reminded of something in the morning is no guarantee I’ll remember it by the afternoon!  So my phone’s replaced my memory!  Just need to train it to remember names and faces… and especially where those faces were before they moved to the place where I now can’t place them… Happens all the time… Drawback to living in such an intimate city.

Am meandering and rambling as per…

My ‘To-do list’, however, is primarily for birthday reminders.  How ‘The Kidz’ manage to forget mine I never know.  I mean they’re all so competant with today’s technology, they should just programme it into the ‘whatever’ section of their multi-tasking phones.

My reliable old brick has ONE advantage over their iPhones, though…

It can be dropped!  All I’ll ever lose when my batterey flies oot, is the date and time.  Soooo… if Mum can do it, they can.  Maybe it’s because I’m one of those annoyingly organised people!  Yeah, there is Facebook but being eternally young an’ all, I don’t advertise my birthdate, so no reminders from that quarter.  It would actually be simpler to shunt on my birthday.  Am considering it… Have to admit though, that this year was a first.  They all remembered… though I did hear about a last minute panic getting cards in the post, chasing my address.

Of course, memory never was my strong point, whether it was remembering patients’ names in a 36 bed ward… (associating someone with a certain location, a nightmare when he/she was mobile enough to be up for meals)… or remembering dates for History… the only one that stuck was… yep… 1066.  Needless to say I failed that subject.  I do have a way to remember the alphabet part of postcodes, though.  Places I’ve lived, for instance, include Jam Doughnut (JD), Beautiful House (BH) and Juicy Fruit (JF)… This is a clean blog site!  What I do for birthday reminders, however…. yes, that is where we were… is to type in a date that’s two days preceeding a given birthday.  This is because in the very (of course) unlikely event that I forget, I’ll still have enough time to get the birthday card in the post.  Not necessarily the gift.  Bigger/awkward items do take longer than a couple of days… and Second Class is not next day delivery, kids!  I could also remind my youngest that ‘post persons’ don’t work on Sundays either!  Bless him.  But 10/10 for effort, son.  Should a birthday fall on a Sunday, using my system, I can get a card bought/posted on the Friday and it should, ‘Snail Mail’ willing, be on their breakfast table (whoops, that was eons ago)…, their lunch table… (nope, that’s unlikely too, as postmen/women are delivering well into the afternoon these days.  Not their fault of course, it’s the system and no, I’m not even going there).  Let’s just say it would be delivered by the time the average teenager surfaces!

My lot have possibly… and I have to give them the benefit of the doubt here… keyed in my actual birthday so when their phone bleeps or squeaks, it’s too late to post anything.  Then I get the texts… ‘Oh Mum, sorry, I forgot and by the way, what’s your address?’  Well the city ain’t changed even if I have moved a couple of times in the last 18 months but when I had the same address for over 3 years, it was still the same scenario.  Maybe the reason’s because they rely on their memory which probably got drunk the night before.  Hey kids, a question: D’you forget your friends birthdays as well?  They know I’m only kidding… and may actually respond to this blog to remind me they remembered this year.  Well, there’s a first time for everything and I have been around a while!

So here I am with my birthday list and of course as soon as the date has passed an exclamation mark pops up till I reset it for the following year.  By doing so, I’m poignantly reminded of my assumption that this person will still be around in twelve months time.

We take this for granted, don’t we, this gift of life?

It’s always with a flutter in my heart then, that I press ‘Edit’.  And it’s not just a consideration for the older persons on my list… You kids had better outlive me!  I love you all so very much.  So when the exclamation mark vanishes from the screen for another year, I thank The Universe for my family and friends but acknowledge a time when that birthday card will be futile; the day I’ll need the courage to press ‘Delete’.

 

 

COPYRIGHT FOR IMAGES:

All 3 photographs courtesy of Moi (i.e. Cassandra Scott)… Not the best but easier than tracking down people for permission to download their stuff!