You know, sometimes life is hard. Your goals, hopes, desires and dreams may seem impossible.
Sometimes it may feel like it's time to give up on them.
And then I remember this great quote from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland:
Alice: "This is impossible."
Mad Hatter: "Only if you believe it is."
Alice: (after some thought...) "Sometimes, I believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
She then goes on to name six impossible things she believes, ending with the impossible task immediately before her. Then she goes and does it, achieving the impossible.
As this quote came into my mind last night I decided to create my own list of six impossible things, consisting of the many daunting and impossible tasks before me. It really does work! I feel that I can now do impossible things - because I believe them. This movie always helps me find my "muchness" when I've lost it.
I had an epiphany about life this week. I call it “waiting vs creating.” I realised I do a lot of waiting in life, especially for entertainment or mental stimulation. What do I mean? Well another good word could be “checking.” Check facebook. Check my emal. Check my blog. Check the ABC news website at work between calls. Check it again in case there’s something new as I’m already bored again.
But the other day I decided to try something new at work. A few days earlier I had decided I wanted to write a song with some thoughts and advice to a friend. So at work I started writing the lyrics between answering calls. And you know what? It was awesome! Not just my song (but really, the lyrics are pretty awesome), but my mind felt renewed, refreshed, entertained and invigorated.
SO with my spare time at home, instead of waiting until dinner or until it's time to go out to whatever event, I could perhaps edit some photography. Paint a picture. Learn a song on guitar. Do a charcoal drawing. Do some sewing. Write a letter to someone serving a mission, or to my visiting teaching sisters. Write some poetry or a song. Do some more of my cross-stitch. Plan my future and set some new goals. Look up a new recipe. Call a friend. Things to do with creating something that is not already there. Things I really want to do “when I have time.”
So I’m now trying to limit the amount of “checking” or “waiting” when I could do something else. Something creative. Something new.
On the subject of creating, here’s a clip I love based on the words of Elder Dieter F. Uchdorf of the quorum of the twelve apostles. Hope you enjoy and think of ways that you can create.
This was a book that I had not chosen to read per say, but literally had thrust into my hands several months ago (thanks Elle hehe). And I'm glad it was, because it was a very good read. I really liked the writing style of the author (who I've just realised was a man...for some reason as I was reading it I assumed it was a woman? Anyway...ahem), it is written in third person, but as the main character is a young boy the writing style fits the mentality of a young mind. I like the way the author describes things in a way a child would understand, instead of simply stating it in words like an adult would. For example, when Bruno was angry, it didn't say "Bruno was really angry," but instead said something along the lines of "Bruno felt his arms go really stiff by his sides and his mouth formed the shape of an 'O'." Things were described how he saw them. If he didn't understand a word that was being said then that's all we were told as readers, left to fill in the full picture with our perceptive adult minds. I found it to be a really easy and pleasant read written in this style.
Even though the book portrays some difficult themes and truths about the way Jews were mistreated in Nazi Germany, I wasn't finding the story too unpleasant, until near the end. I somehow had an idea of how the story might end, yet it started to happen I still gasped and went "nooooooo!!!" and found the last part of the book really sad and difficult to read. But I'm really glad I read the book and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Some weeks ago I had a couple of light-bulb moments. Firstly, I’ve discovered I love the beach. Not swimming at the beach. Just being at the beach. Secondly, I love the YSA (Young Single Adult) program of the church. It was Saturday, 12th November, and as part of the YSA Overnighter, we had an activity at 7 Mile Beach in the morning.
Although the turn-out was somewhat small, I had a great time. Not because I did anything amazing there. Basically I went and stood in the water with Erin where we buried our feet in the wet sand while we talked and stood there feeling that cool beach breeze. After a while we decided to throw a ball around, but this was quite a new experience for me because it was a rugby ball, and I realized – I had no idea how to throw that thing! I’m used to netball, basketball, tennis, cricket…all ROUND balls. Pretty simple. But this thing did not have the same aerodynamics! So I had Erin give me a lesson or two. Turns out I’ve been missing my life’s calling! I should have been playing rugby my whole life haha. Well it was fun anyway. We tried doing some “legendary” catches with a bit of success (and probably more not-success).
Next everyone came together for a game of cricket. Now perhaps I should mention that most people there I probably wouldn’t call my “besties”, yet coming together for this game of cricket I felt we were united as friends. That is the beauty of the YSA program. Yes, we may be very different and have varying tastes and backgrounds and recreational preferences. We may not have picked each other out of a crowd to be our friends. Yet if we choose to have an inviting and welcoming attitude towards each other, we can be united and have a LOT of fun together! Being able to have fun with a group of people just because we’re all in YSA is a great thing, I think.
As I left around midday for my next adventure for the day (where I met Johnno), I realized that it had been one of the best Saturday mornings I’d had in a long time. And that’s when it all clicked.
I've decided to start a new segment of my blog: it's called Book Club. I've read a few good books lately that I want to write about, and hope this encourages me to keep reading good books and also to consider the themes within them or thoughts I have had from reading them. Sure, I could join a real book club, but this way I only have to read books I want to ;)
As followers of my blog, you are invited to be part of my Book Club! If you have read the book I am writing about, or even if you haven't, feel free to comment on the post and share your thoughts as well (please do, this would make me so happy!).
That was me attempting to write 2012 with sparklers in the first hour of this year. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Time to set some goals (like going to bed with a tidy apartment each night), change over the calendar and diary (I went for a floral themed calendar this year with some beautiful photography), and enjoy the public holiday (going to the beach - woohoo!).
As I heard in talks/lessons at church today, the New Year is a time for looking forward and not looking back. The apostle Jeffrey R. Holland said a few years back: "As a new year starts and we try to benefit from a proper view of what has gone before, I plead with you not to dwell on days now gone, nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been. The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead, we remember thatfaith is always pointed toward the future.Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that willyetbe efficacious in our lives." Good advice to not live in the past. The future - the glorious, clear future - is ahead of us! I really like the comment someone made: Every day is the first day of the rest of your life.
One of my favourite songs is "Unwritten," sung by Natasha Bedingfield. It includes the lyrics "I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand - ending unplanned." It's so true that each new day is yet to be lived, it is up to us to write the story of our own lives on the new blank page each day. I actually remember it best from a scene in Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, where the girl is running on the beach. I think I like that imagery because she is exerting her energy and doing something proactive, and that's exactly what we need to do - take action! Life is about making choices, so get out there and make the best ones!
Hello Boxing Day sales, and helloooooo new tripod!
I've been looking for a tripod for a while, but haven't been sure about what features I needed and what price I was willing to pay. But when I went shopping today I found this one at a good price, it's the height that I want it (which is my eye level!) and is easy to use and adjustable. It even came with a carry bag! Excitement. I decided it needed a name and have thus dubbed it Tripodious Maximus. Welcome aboard to the Maz Photography team!
Why do I need a tripod you ask? I guess the main reason is night shots - when you need to take a photo without the flash and with a longer exposure and you need the camera to be perfectly still. There have been many times when I have spotted the perfect photo opportunity, only to have been unable to capture it properly. So I'm looking forward to lots of good times with the tripod. Keep an eye on my photography blog to see the developments.
I was pretty excited about finding this Christmas tree for $2.50 at Spotlight :D I just wanted something small, but I had to have a Christmas tree!
Although Christmas did come pretty quickly as always (sorry for all who missed out on a Christmas card!), I did manage to feel the Christmas spirit quite a lot this year through a very simple means: music! I have two concerts on DVD which I listened to (and sometimes watched) over and over, as well as the soundtrack for one of those concerts. They're both Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square with guest performers Sissel, and Brian Mitchell Stokes and Edward K. Herrman respectively.
I think it was a good, solid two weeks leading up to Christmas that I pretty much listened to Christmas music only and it really helped me to focus on the joy of the season and the spirit of rejoicing in the Saviour's birth.
Another thing that helped me to focus on the true meaning of Christmas was some opportunities I had to give service. Nothing huge, just a few little opportunities that reminded me that the reason we give at Christmas time is to celebrate the birth of Jesus. I thought about why I was doing it, and if someone had asked I would have smiled and shrugged and said "Because the Saviour was born!" and that really was it. God's gift to us of His Son inspires the giving spirit in us.
You can read about some of my family Christmas traditions in my post on Jess's blog, which we were true to once again this year.
And here's the traditional prawn cocktail I was talking about with my aunt's AMAZING home-made dressing :D Even better than I remember.
Hoping you all had a joyful and meaningful Christmas this year :)
At my work recently for our yearbook we were each asked to come up with a personal "recipe" for ourselves, for which at first I had no idea what to write. But weeks later, inspiration finally struck me. They didn't end up including them in the yearbook, but here is mine for your reading pleasure...
Ingredients:
3 cups of nice
a pinch of feisty
1/2 cup of procrastination
a handful of optimism
a dash of perfectionism
3 teaspoons of creativity
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together carefully, ensuring all measurements are exact, and leave in the sun until warm.
It seems I have this strange ability to get better at my talents by not practising for a long time! Take piano for example. I would practise and practise and make only minimal progress and improvement, but after a few months of not playing a song I would sit down at the piano and suddenly play it better than ever! So it also seems with juggling. It was many months ago that I started teaching myself to juggle, close to a year ago even. It took a lot of practise to get anywhere, but slowly, slowly the number of consecutive catches increased. I think my absolute highest record may have been 18. Well here I am a long time later without even touching the juggling balls. I get back from the beach one afternoon, and with three tennis balls in my hands I think to myself "I wonder..." And voila! I can suddenly juggle! I didn't count how many I caught as I wasn't expecting such success, I couldn't believe that I just kept going! But my rough estimate is about 30. Just like that! Weird.
