On Marriage

ON MARRIAGE

Marriage, now and ever is a sacred union
Of two souls bonded for communion
It binds man and woman as conjugal spouse
And on it, human society has its base

It should be an immaculate projection
Of the pair’s mutual trust and affection
Self giving love showers the grace
To solve all problems that eventually surface

Know, it is not always smooth sailing
As the storms of life oft sweep rocking
But if watered with tears and sacrifice
It yields a bumper crop of invaluable price

Marriage stoops to mere ceremony
When man and wife are not in harmony
When bonds break, it gives sheer agony
And even runs into bitter acrimony

When self is extinguished in matrimony
Sure, it becomes a beautiful symphony
So place it above mere romanticism
And never look upon it as an anachronism

by Valsa George

5 steps to a positive mind

When life hands you lemons

I changed my thoughts which changed my life.

It’s easy to forget that we first transform our lives internally with our esteem, mindset, habits etc before proceeding externally. This crucial shift of perspective will :

• help identify the limiting beliefs you’re holding onto
• combat negative internal chatter
• heal you
• move you towards greater empowerment
• create new neural pathways (mindset and thought process)
• unlock your potential
• help you feel good as you take action

One of the many ways I have transformed my life, was by undertaking the following exercise. Here are the 5 simple steps :

1. Identify the negative chatter. Consider any limited thinking and belief systems you’ve now outgrown. Write them all down ensuring that you are addressing each area of your life including health, spirituality, finances etc. Some limited thinking examples to get you started : “I am never going…to earn enough / be healthy / get married / win this account / be beautiful enough / be liked / be thin enough / be worthy of love etc.
2. Write the truth. Once you’ve identified the limiting beliefs (aka the lies you’ve been affirming to yourself), take a pen of another colour and write the truth underneath each limiting belief (write the truth even if you do not believe in it at the time of writing). Examples : I am beautiful / I am enough / I am abundant / I am worthy of love.
3. Keep perspective. Read the lie and the truth every day. As both are at opposing ends of the spectrum, it’ll create a dissonance within the brain which challenges the negative chatter.
4. Build those new neural pathways. On the 7th day, erase all the lies (literally, draw a line through them) so that you are left with the truth. Re-read the truth, daily until you have learnt and internalised this new truth as your reality.
5. Stay focused. When the chatter invariably returns, re-direct your focus from the lie to the truth. Continue this exercise for 30 to 60 days and tell me how you feel. If you make this exercise an ongoing aspect of your positive habits – you’ll notice how thoughts become more harmonious rather than at opposing ends of the scale.

Further insight to follow next week. In the meantime, I’d love to hear of your practices and tips for combating negative or limited thinking.

 

Continue changing your thoughts and changing your life!

If…

If you can keep your head when all about you

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

 

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

RUDYARD KIPLING

{Musings}

In my opinion, the day has not been well spent unless I’ve intentionally sought beauty or practiced gratitude. As this habit became more autonomic in nature, my thoughts changed and so did my life.

via Instagram

Home made late lunch

Recipe consists of gnocchi, felafel, nectarines, cous cous, olives, avocado, mixed vegetables, onion, cucumber plus a garnish of chilli pepper.

via Instagram

Would you like one?

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Abstract art from Hillary Butler. I adore the colour palette and detail of the brush strokes.

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English Country Living

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Never Seek to Tell thy Love

Never seek to tell thy love

Love that never told can be

For the gentle wind does move

Silently invisibly

I told my love I told my love

I told her all my heart

Trembling cold in ghastly fears

Ah she doth depart

Soon as she was gone from me

A traveller came by

Silently invisibly

O was no deny

 

WILLIAM BLAKE

Is there a man-made item that possesses comparable beauty and elegance to a #flower?

via Instagram