MY THREE DELIGHTS FROM APRIL

A few little joys from the month of April that remind me how good life really is.

MY APRIL DELIGHTS

As I mentioned at the beginning of January when I chose "Delight" as my Word of the Year, I thought I'd round off each month with three delights. April has been a lovely month with Easter holidays giving us time spent with our children and grandgirls. Today it's time to share a family delight, a bathroom delight, and a quote about finding delight in the everyday moments that come our way.

So, without further ado here are my three delights from April...

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WHAT DOES EASTER MEAN TO YOU?

Easter can be a time of family, fun, fabulous weather, food, and faith - such a special season of the year.

EASTER IS OVER FOR ANOTHER YEAR

I think this Easter was the best one I've had in recent memory. It was just full of all the things that make my heart happy - so much joy shared with those I love. I thought I'd do a little recap of it all as my small homage to The.Best.Easter.Ever....

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10 THOUGHTS FROM LES BROWN TO INSPIRE THE SECOND HALF OF LIFE

Some thoughts from Les Brown that apply to living well in Midlife

A FAMOUS LES BROWN QUOTE

I think all Midlifers have come across this quote from Les Brown at some point: 

You are never too old to set another goal, or to dream a new dream.


But there are so many other ideas of his that I'd never heard, and they make so much sense as I navigate this second half of life. I thought I'd share some of them here today, and hopefully a few might ring true for you too...
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LIFE CAN IMITATE ART ....OR IT CAN IMITATE A HOME RENOVATION

Life upheavals and challenges can feel similar to the chaos and disruption that come with a home renovation.

ART vs A BATHROOM RENO

I was thinking about life the other day and remembered the Oscar Wilde quote "Life imitates Art..." and that might be the case for some people, but my recent experience has led me to believe that Life actually imitates a bathroom renovation. 

We're currently in the middle of a complete gutting and remodelling of our upstairs bathroom; to say it's been a journey would be to gloss over all the chaos and disruption that comes with turning a 20 year old bathroom into a lovely new space. During the process I could see the correlation to the journey of life....
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MY THREE DELIGHTS FROM MARCH

MY THREE DELIGHTS FROM MARCH

MY MARCH DELIGHTS

As I mentioned at the beginning of January when I chose "Delight" as my Word of the Year, I thought I'd round off each month with three delights. March has been a lovely month here in Australia - cooling off a little from the incessant summer heat (hooray!), and today I'm sharing for March a personal delight, a furry delight, and a quote about savouring the small delights.

So, without further ado here are my three delights for March...

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WHAT DOES REST LOOK LIKE IN MIDLIFE? AND WHY DO WE NEED IT?

Why rest is so important in the second half of life - not just to avoid burnout, but to intentionally make time to savour life.

WHEN "REST" KEEPS APPEARING

I've noticed that the word "Rest" has been appearing in my Facebook feed a lot lately, and I'm finding myself drawn to thoughts and words that repeat in patterns - I feel like life is trying to tell me something. So when this quote arrived on my screen I decided I needed to curate a few of those restful reminders and share them...

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TAKING A LITTLE ROADTRIP TO ALBANY IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Enjoying few days of leisurely beach walks in Albany - in the great south of Western Australia.

TAKING A LITTLE BREAK DOWN SOUTH

The retired life for us is a very pleasant one. We live close to the ocean, close to a river, close to an estuary, close to places to hike, to swim, to stroll, to shop, and to generally enjoy. It makes us a little bit lazy when it comes to taking time to go on vacation - we don't need to take a break from anything.

That being said, it's still good for the soul to have a change of scenery, to step away from routines and doing the same things each week. So, we decided to take a little roadtrip down south to Albany. It's a lovely town and it's where we spent our first year of married life - 42 years ago. We've been back several times since, but it still calls to us every few years and last week we decided to answer the call and spend a few days away from home....
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RE-SHAPING ASAP (AS SOON AS POSSIBLE) INTO A NEW AND BETTER FIT

Are you still in the As Soon As Possible mindset? Or have you moved over into a slower, steadier, more spacious way of life?

SOMETHING OLD BECOMES SOMETHING NEW

We all know that ASAP normally stands for As Soon As Possible - but a little while ago I came across a new set of descriptors for the abreviation that I felt fitted my age and stage so much better. I no longer have to be running around getting everything done right now and right away, my life flows more calmly and these new ideas fit me so much better....
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ARE YOU MAKING THE MOST OF THE SUMMERS YOU HAVE LEFT TO ENJOY?

I've been asking myself what happened to the Summers that have gone, and what I can do with the Summers that I have left?

COUNTING MY SUMMERS...

I read a poem by my favourite poet, Ullie-Kaye, the other day that was titled "80 Summers" and it reminded me of an article I saw a little while ago while I was cruising around online.  It asked the question "How Many Summers Do I Have Left?" and it made me pause for a moment to count them - it doesn't feel like the number was anywhere near as high as I'd expected it to be.

So, I've been asking myself what happened to the summers that have gone, and what I can do with the summers that I have left?

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MY 3 DELIGHTS FROM FEBRUARY

My 3 delights from February

MY FEBRUARY DELIGHTS

As I mentioned at the beginning of January when I chose "Delight" as my Word of the Year, I thought I'd round off each month with three delights. They say that February is a bit of a "blah" month, but I find it to be a month full of good things if we look for them. Today I'm sharing for February a personal delight, a novel delight, and a thought about finding delight.

So, without further ado here are my three delights for February...

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6 DELIGHTFUL QUOTES TO REMIND US OF HOW BLESSED WE ARE

6 delightful quotes to remind us of how blessed we are
 

SIX DELIGHTFUL QUOTES

If you've been following my blog, or my blog's Facebook page, you'll know that I love quotes. I'm especially fond of quotes that are uplifting and that remind me to be grateful, kind, and caring - quotes that make me appreciate how blessed I am. Recently I discovered a lovely Facebook page that shares really pretty, really thoughtful quotes and today I wanted to share a few of them here as another way to remember to be delighted with life.

If you'd like to follow their Facebook page the link is HERE.
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MAKING ROOM FOR GOOD THINGS TO HAPPEN

Do you feel that "good things just happen to you"? We need to aim towards positivity to combat our natural negativity bias.

GOOD THINGS JUST HAPPEN TO ME

Apparently there's a mantra that's been shared on TikTok lately that says "Good things just happen to me" with people sharing how this has manifested in their lives when they chose to focus their thinking around the phrase.

Mantras always feel a little "woo woo" to me, but my husband (the very pragmatic former Family Counsellor) says that it actually has some basis in science because our brains can be re-wired by what we choose to give our attention to. All this got me thinking....
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TAKING OFF MY TOOLBELT AND HANGING UP MY LIFEBUOY

All my life I've been a fixer and a rescuer, but now it's time to step back and become a cheerleader instead.

BEING A FIXER AND A RESCUER

All my life I've been a fixer and a rescuer. It stems from being an oldest daughter and thinking that it was my responsibility to keep everything calm and on course. I'm very uncomfortable with discord and messiness, and I'll do all I can to calm the waters and to keep everyone else happy.

To be honest, it works well when life is fairly smooth, but when I encounter a very messy person or situation it can be exhausting running around trying to solve a problem that's often not mine to begin with. I've finally figured out that I need to change my approach...
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MY THREE DELIGHTS FROM JANUARY

Consciously seeking small delights each day, week, and month - and sharing three of my favourites.

MY THREE DELIGHTS FROM JANUARY

As I mentioned at the beginning of January when I chose Delight as my Word of the Year, I thought I'd round off each month with three delights. For January and my first post in the series, I thought I'd share a personal delight, a thought about delight, and a quote about delight. 

So, without further ado here are my three delights for January...
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FRIENDS, MENTORS, AND THOSE WE LOOK TO FOR ADVICE

Who do we go to for worthwhile advice? I choose people who model a genuine quality of life based on honourable values and positive choices.

WHO DO WE GO TO FOR ADVICE?

I read this snippet from an article by Adrian Barich in our newspaper recently:

Never take advice from people who aren't getting the results you'd want to experience.

I skimmed over it because Adrian is a former footballer and I was assuming he was talking about sporting results and achievement. But, he went on to say he listens to his friend's advice because: 
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FOCUSING ON THE FLOWERS AND NOT THE WEEDS

Finding the roses and wildflowers in amongst life's thorns and weeds.

LIFE BECOMES WHAT WE LOOK FOR

I mentioned in my Word of the Year post last week that looking for joyful moments is the key to creating delight in my life. What I've come to see is that our life (and the world in general) is full of flowers and weeds - literally and figuratively. To live with delight involves the Frequency Illusion where we choose what we focus our attention on, we look for the flowers and ignore the weeds - or deal with them when necessary.

Today I thought I'd look a little more deeply at the flowers and the weeds....

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FINDING DELIGHT IN THE YEAR AHEAD

I want to count my blessings, look for the positives, focus on the little glimmers of joy, and just take delight in the moments.

THE BEGINNING OF A NEW YEAR

Well, Christmas and New Year's Day have been and gone and it's time to settle into the year ahead. I feel like each year somehow is a little better than the last. I'm not sure if it's Midlife that gives me such contentment, or whether I've just found my groove and I'm genuinely happy with the life I have. Whatever it is, I'm grateful every single day for this age and stage.

That being said, it's the beginning of 2025 and time to choose a new Word of the Year. I've tried New Year's Resolutions, and Bucket Lists, or ignoring it all and just getting on with another year, but none of those really resonated with me until I came across the idea of choosing a Word that feels right and helps guide me through the year ahead.
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