Share an image of a wall that reveals something about a place, people, or you.
The mural of Quebecers has brought to life this wall in Old Quebec City. It is the most amazing mural I have ever seen. Painted in 3D by several artists in 1999—it includes all significant events, architecture and people in the city’s colourful 400 year history.
We each have many types of love relationships — parents, children, spouses, friends. And they’re not always with people; you may love an animal, or a place. Is there a single idea or definition that runs through all the varieties of “love”?
Love is the feeling that connects us to others. It gives us reasons to do things. It supports us in difficult times and makes memories complete. Adding love and caring to any situation makes it shared. My other ideas on love can be found in this acrostic poem.
Love is letting other people or things into your life and caring about them—at times putting their needs above your own.
Obvious in your face—it makes you smile and warms you from the inside.
Valuable—without love and letting others get close—you are alone.
Every feeling the other person feels you share—if they are happy or sad—you feel their joy or sadness.
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/i-want-to-know-what-love-is/
There are 26 letters in the English language, and we need every single one of them. Want proof? Choose a letter and write a blog post without using it. (Feeling really brave? Make it a vowel!)
Today I have written my first concrete poem. It was a challenge to get started but worked in the end. I think the title of the poem speaks for itself. Without the letter the title of this blog is Inspriring Ax—to easy to be wrongly used and interpreted.
One day there was a
letter of the alphabet that
could not be spoken. She was
special. Living in the centre.
Lots of words were
never able to be
re cog nised
with out
her. After
all adult
lady of the
group doesn’t
sound okay.
Today I celebrate my 300th follower. Back in January, during Blogging 101 I set goals for this blog, which included having 300 followers by my 12 month anniversary in May. As I reached this mile stone today, I am 2 months early—Yeah! Time to celebrate. Last month I was given more reason to celebrate as I received two blogging awards to accept from Silver Lining Mama http://silverliningmama.com/ The awards were the Versatile Blogger Award and the Premio Dardos Award. I am humbled, grateful and would like to thank her. If you get time stop by her blog as it’s worth a visit.
The rules are:
Seven facts about me:
My nominations are:
Here is the description and rules for this award:
My nominations are:
All of my nominees are worthy of their awards and I enjoy their blogs regularly. Thank you for adding dimension to my blogging journey.
If you were asked to spend a year living in a different location, where would you choose and why?
Back in the late 1980’s I had had enough of life in Australia. I wanted a change. The answer—I booked a flight to London and planned to work in mental health in England for at least 12 months. I needed something new in my life and I was going to get it. No staying in a rut for me. Then it happened. One night when I least expected it—I met my now husband and everything changed. After careful consideration I cancelled my trip and decided we would do it together some day—his job wasn’t as easy to come and go from as mine. Nursing is versatile.
This year we are coming up to our 25th wedding anniversary and are starting to dream of retirement. Besides living in St John’s, Newfoundland see Pacific to Atlantic post here, my husband and I would still like to live in the villages and more remote parts of England, Scotland and Wales. The types of places where everyone knows everyone and life involves the town—similar to the television shows of Heartbeat and Hamish Macbeth. This would greatly contrast with our life in Sydney Australia and teach us a lot about our ancestors ways of life.
https://youtu.be/v9zWX43pFdI
Sometimes dreams do need to be put on hold. However, I believe it is never to late to get back to them. This goal may be a long way off but you’re never to old to try something new, enjoy different experiences and change your life.
Think of a time you let something slide, only for it to eat away at you later. Tell us how you’d fix it today.
Working in mental health I see daily the impact of letting something slide and not dealing with it. The reason are many, varied and often come from a place of wanting the hurt to stop. When feelings aren’t dealt with in a healthy way—even the really difficult ones—they will become a bigger and more powerful problem.
For me—I pick my battles. I make a quick assessment in my mind how I think the issue is going to impact on me. If I can’t get the issue out of my head, I make a mental plan to discuss it with the other person involved at the next convenient time. I make a time with them and tell them how I felt about the situation that developed. They are my feelings—no one can argue with them. I explain what I heard from what they said, usually ending of with the statement “I don’t think that is how you meant it to come across.” I find that this gives the other person an opportunity to re-frame the situation from their point of view and we can usually find the middle ground.
If the situation came and they stated that they did mean to come across how I interpreted it—I would ask why and work on moving forward from there. Communicating is the quickest way to end problems as it allows us to get to the core of the issue. Without addressing the conflict or concern we can jump to many conclusions but they may not be right ones and often only complicate the situation. From my perspective addressing issues when they arise helps develop trust as the other person realises that I want to work with them and we can form a united front. They don’t have to worry about upsetting me as they realise I will let them know if I am upset so we can fix the problem.
There are some battles that I decide when making my mental plan aren’t worth spending oxygen on. Yes, they upset me briefly for petty reasons so I decided to deal with it myself and move on using distraction techniques—doing something I enjoy to get my mind off it. At home I find a simple “stop” to the other person is enough to change the behaviour. I am also happy to debrief a situation with my colleagues and gain support when necessary. Prioritise yourself and seek professional help if necessary. Nothing is too big to be addressed. You just do it like you would eat an elephant—”bite by bite.”
Tell us about something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail (and tell us why you haven’t tried it yet).
My next medium term goal is to spend six months living in St John’s Newfoundland—Canada’s 10th province. I plan spend my days writing my second and traveling to explore the surrounding unique parts of Canada. My husband and I visited the city for 8 glorious days last November. During my stay I decided I would love to live there and become more intimate the city, its people and its British history. As an Australian who never studied history, I knew nothing about this side of British history and found it fascinating.
St John’s is a welcoming city and whilst there we participated in their screeching-in ceremony so I am already an honorary Newfoundlander—see post here. I would love to live through the changes in scenery and dramatic weather and how life adapts to what nature provides. I would also like to understand the differences between living on the Atlantic rather than Pacific Ocean.
Interestingly, last weekend I began exploring my dream and realised it is doable. A month’s rent in St John’s is equal to a weeks in Sydney—approximately $800. I can stay for 182 days without a visa and this can be extended during my stay if I wish. However, before any of this becomes a reality I must publish my first book. This will allow me to be in a situation to either be able to leave work or take 6 months leave and focus on my writing in a foreign country. At present I am unsure of the type of book I want to write when I am living in St John’s—I’m thinking novel but time will tell. As much as I would like it to be—this dream cannot be rushed—but one day I will make it happen in time to see the floating icebergs.
The Narrows – the entrance to St John’s Harbour
Time for another multi-photo challenge! Wow us with punchy pops of orange.
Orange isn’t a colour usually found in my photos however, most of these were taken on our recent trip to Canada. Surprising how much colour could be found intermingled with the sky’s grey. The cake and biscuits were made by my niece Laura for our family ‘Sunshine’ themed Christmas.
What makes a teacher great?
For my purpose in this post I am describing a teacher as anyone imparting learning to others as well as formally trained teacher. Teaching is a skill we can all use. It is about imparting knowledge we hold to another person. We all know things that others can learn but what is the difference between someone who does this well compared to someone who just tells you the information.
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/we-can-be-taught-2/
Are you good at what you do? What would you like to be better at?
I am good at what I do because I work hard at it. I am always looking for new ways to improve myself—both at work and in my personal life. My theory is when you stop growing—you stop living. So what is next you ask? As I hope to publish my book by the end of this year—2015 is about improving my networking skills—self-promotion. I have learnt that networking no longer means talking to everyone in the room—this makes it easier. Please enjoy my networking plan in a poem.
New experience to gather knowledge
Express interest in the other person
Time to bond with others
Working the room—who are you drawn to
Opportunity to ask questions
Relax and smile
Know your purpose and don’t be distracted
Include your elevator pitch
Note areas for later follow-up
Greet all with enthusiasm
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/i-have-confidence-in-me/