I have lived a life where I have felt constantly on the move. Weeks have flown by and before I know it years have passed. And among the midst of all of this, sometimes I have felt lost and out of control. I have felt that I have been swept up in the raging river and have not been able to pull myself out. Dreams have been lost and realities have been overpowering. It is times like these that a new perspective is necessary.

Sometimes when I feel really overwhelmed, I look skyward and remind myself that there is calm out there. The blue of the sky is so calm and constant. Sure, there are some rain clouds sometimes, and occasionally even storms. But these events are momentary and when their moments have passed, the sky is still out there. Still blue and constant.

Sometimes we just need to remind ourselves that we as individuals are constant. We have our moments of rush and stress, but we have the power to regain control. Our lives are only what we want them to be. Circumstances can be defeating, but we have the power to change circumstances, or at least make the best of them.

Let me share with you one of my greatest dreams. I’ve had a lot of wishful thinking over my life, but one of my greatest dreams in life has been to buy some land with green grass and build a sanctuary. A sanctuary:

• where people can escape and breathe a sigh of relief
• where suffering souls can cry and not be judged or tormented
• where happy people can laugh and embrace their families
• where birds can fly overhead, and butterflies can nestle on the colourful gardens.

I want to build a paradise reality for people to escape to.

I know this sounds idealistic, but I guess dreams can be dreams but they can also be realities. Sometimes we just need to make the conscious choice to regain control of our lives and take the right path to realise our dreams.

Thank you for reading my post

One of the questions that I have grappled with most over my life is what I should do to live a meaningful and fulfilling life?

• What are the ‘keys’ to living a life with more success than failure?
• What are the right and wrong things to do?
• What are the steps that I should take to live a meaningful life?

This question is so perplexing. Over my life I have solved many complex problems, but not this one.

Searching for answers

But what I failed to realise is that the answer to this complex question is just so simple.

That the answer is this:

there is no answer. 

We are all in this world together, trying to make the best of who we are. None of us holds the golden set of keys to living the ‘perfect life’, there is no secret to the living the perfect life.

There is no secret to life

Life is what you make of it, so hold your head up high and explore and find the life you want.

Embrace second chances.

Embrace moments of happiness.

Embrace fellow people and creatures on this earth who we share our existences with.

Thank you for reading my post

Reflecting on the last two months since I started blogging, I’ve found that the blogging community has been the most beautiful thing about blogging :) I was so nervous when I started blogging because I’m a very introverted person by nature, and this was the first time I was going viral!

So since April 2012, I’ve followed so many blogs that inspire me, interest me, and that make me laugh. I’ve followed

• story tellers;
• photography blogs;
• bloggers who have shared amazing life stories;
• artists;
• bloggers with just so much happiness and joy to share;
• bloggers with quirky talents and interests;
• people who I feel that I relate to;
• bloggers who have so much passion in promoting their interests/ causes.

Friendship is achieved by building bridges

 

And at the same time my blog has been followed by wonderful people around the world who have such amazing blogs of their own that I feel incredibly humbled that they have followed my blog!

Sometimes I write posts when I’m a bit muddled, and when I need a form of release or self discovery. And sometimes I write when I’m happy and have happiness to share. The amazing thing about the blogging community is that I have had bloggers from around the world who have never met me, but who I feel know me best;  who have subtly noticed my feelings, and have supported me. For that thank you very much my blogging friends.  

Thank you for understanding me

Finally, I called my blog “something higher” to let us all know that there are others out there that we cannot see and who we have never met that are thinking and looking over us. And I feel that the blogging community has provided that.

The theme for my blog has always been to “spare a thought for someone” and throughout this process my greatest achievement is knowing that it has come true.

• Bloggers have read my posts and spared a thought for those I have reflected on.
• And other bloggers have spared a thought for me.

How beautiful it is to wish someone well

Thank you so much blogging world. I will try to continue to blog as much as I can and I hope that you do too :)

Thank you for reading my post

Something higher

 

It has been really hard for me to blog the last few days, because I’ve felt really all over the place. I’ve felt highs and lows, happiness and sadness and sometimes there was no one emotion that could be put down on paper. So I simply didn’t blog. So today’s just a short post.

So what do you do when you get into these situations? What do you do when you feel you have no one to talk to? No opportunity to release your feelings?

This week I went outside for a walk to try to breathe in the fresh air, but it started pouring with rain so that didn’t go down so well.

So I turned to music and listened to the orchestral instruments. The instruments played beautiful melodies and wove stories that I could listen to and imagine. It made me realise that music has such power to touch the soul and heal like no other psychologist can do. It speaks unspoken meanings and feelings. It sides with you when everyone else does not. It feels your emotions and invites you to imagine possibilities of a better place.

When I reached my wits end I let music in, and it guided my soul to find a new pocket of peace.

Sometimes you just need that helping hand.

Thank you for reading my post

One of my fascinations in life has been sunsets and sunrises. I think that sunsets and a sunrises can teach you so much.

Sunrises are not only bright and beautiful but they are a sign that:

• there are new beginnings;
• there is always light after the darkness of the night;
• the light provides new opportunities to live a new day.

Sunrise over Melbourne – a new beginning

A symbol of light after darkness

Sunsets to me, are nature’s way of giving us:

• a sense of closure;
• a relief that the busy day has come to an end;
• a time for rest;
• a knowledge that there is always an end.

A time for rest

Knowledge that there is an end

I think most of all, sunsets and sunrises make me understand that nothing is permanent.

• When you are suffering, there will be relief at the end;
• When you are stressed, there will be a eventually a time of ease;
• When you are in darkness, there will be light at the end of the tunnel;
• When you learn something, there will be an opportunity with the rising of the sun, to learn more;
• When you love someone, you have the opportunity to express it again with each new sunrise.

Life is a cycle

See sunrises and sunsets as a cycle of beginnings and ends.

Know that the sunset marks the end to a bad day, and that the sunrise marks the opportunity to seek new beginnings.

Thank you for reading my post

In all my days as a volunteer, student, and member of Australian society, one of the key lessons that I have learnt from life is to always look behind the veil. I’m writing this post today because I feel it’s finally time that release my lifetime guilt of always putting on a fake smile when I’ve been hurting inside.

In my life so far I’ve found that:

• People are so well versed now adays with saying things other than what they mean;
• People are great at putting on a smiling face when inside they’re tearing themselves apart;
• On the converse, people are sometimes very bad at revealing how they feel.

The situation that appears immediately visible to our eyes is often one that is constructed, forced, and untrue.

Don’t put up a face

Are you okay? 

One of the key experiences that I had whilst working as a volunteer with homeless people is that people hide their true feelings. I worked for many months on the “call station” where I picked up all the calls from the homeless people seeking help.

I received a phone call one day from one man who was living on the streets. I asked what help he needed and he replied “I don’t need any help, I just wanted someone to talk to“. He called back week after week, until one day I found out that he had ended up in hospital having tried to take his life.

From this experience, I suddenly realised that people put on a brave face when they’re in times of need. People hide their feelings in fear of letting people in. People put on a smile so that they are not judged on their frown. So always look behind their veneer and ask,”are you okay?” when you suspect the smiling face may be hiding a more suffering soul behind it.

Look behind the veil

And as for me?

Well there are too many times in my life when I’ve put up a veneer only to be hurting inside. They are so countless you would be surprised to read all of them!

Spare a thought 

I’d like to spare a thought for those who are suffering in silence.

Let your suffering known to someone. Even if it is an anonymous call to an organisation. Even putting up a blog  post about how you feel might help you let it out. The important thing is the release of your suffering. 

Don’t put on a smile; a blue sky; a show of grace when you are suffering inside. There is so much help out there that there is a way out, it just takes courage to get there.

Take courage

Thank you for reading my post

When the autumn finally arrives  in Melbourne, the leaves on the trees turn orange and gradually drop from their branches. I have always felt a bit bad for the trees during winter, given that they are bare, cold, and weak until the Spring when the warmth regenerates their lives.

But as I was walking home, I came across this tree (which is my photo for today):

It looked so powerful and black upon the backdrop of the evening sky.

It seemed so firmly rooted and ready to take on the challenges of the winter.

It made me think how important it is that we remain true to ourselves. Being well grounded and firmly rooted in our positive beliefs about ourselves is so empowering. Being firmly rooted and believing in ourselves is the fundamental step that we must establish before we can take on any other challenges that the world throws up at us.

Photo tips

This is my first photo that I have posted up for my “photo corner” page. I am happy to get any tips on how to improve my photography skills as I am a complete blank canvas at the moment!

Thank you for reading my post

Yesterday, our family had a bit of a scare. Dad collapsed on the floor in the kitchen and slipped in and out of consciousness. He went all pale and unresponsive. I called an ambulance and said a quick prayer that they would come quickly. And quickly they came. After a while with the help of the ambulance, dad turned out okay and we put him to bed to rest.

The reassurance that everything is okay

A million thoughts 

During this incident a million things were running through my head.

I kept on thinking what a nice, genuine, and gentle soul dad was, and how it would be such a terrible loss to lose him.

I thought of all his patients that dad has nursed back to health over his 40 years as a doctor, and who had told me countless times what an angel dad was in keeping some of them alive.

I thought about all the funny things dad had said over the dinner table, and his “classic moments”.

But most of all I remembered all the beautiful memories we had together, and how I hadn’t thanked him for these things that had shaped my life.

Memories of a childhood with nature that dad introduced me to

Reality hurts

I realised over the last few years I was grouchy towards him, and I got easily annoyed at his side habits (like how he kept the hose running while he admired his self-built garden).

I remember loving his silly jokes when I was small but getting irritated at them twenty years later when dad repeated them for the up-teenth time.

Don’t wait to say thank you 

I know people say it time and time again: “don’t leave it too late to say I love you, or I’m sorry, or thank you”.

But people say it all the time, because its true. We must not take for-granted our families and friends just because we see them every day. When it comes time to take them from this earth, sometimes they are taken so quickly that we are not given any chance or warning to say our final words.

Life is beautiful but can be taken away without a word being spoken

Spare a thought 

I’d like to spare a thought for those today who have lost their parent(s), family members or friends. It can be so hard to lose someone close to you, and even worse if you didn’t get to say thank you, sorry or goodbye.

I think of those of you who are still grieving, and I join those of you who are celebrating the wonderful contribution that your loved ones made to this world.

I hope that you have many wonderful memories with them, and can still feel their guiding presence in your life.

Thank you for reading my post

Just a quick note of thanks for the two amazing bloggers who nominated me for the versatile bloggers award.

Thank you very much to pursuenatural and happiness is… for your nominations. I will be putting up my proper post in the next few days – haven’t forgotten!

Thanks again :)

I have always had this feeling that there is ‘something higher‘ out there  looking after me and checking I’m still doing okay. I find that

• after times of stress there are always times of relief;
• after tears there is always peace;
• after rain there is sun-shine.

For me, suffering is never ongoing and eternal.

I’ve been reflecting on this quite a lot recently, and how lucky I am to feel that there is something looking after me.  One day I went outside to look for signs of that ‘something higher’, and this is what I found in my very own backyard:

something higher

I stood there wondering whether this was my ‘something higher’. I closed my eyes and breathed and I slowly felt covered with warmth. When I opened my eyes again, the light had grown:

Light of peace and acknowledgement

I’m not sure whether this was a co-incidence. But even if it was, I felt so reassured and safe that my ‘something higher’ was out there looking after me.

Something higher 

Every day, the light of the earth makes me feel happy and safe.  These are some other pictures that I have taken, when in search for my something higher:

Light fading but promising to be back tomorrow

Reminder that there is light through the darkness

Warmth starts at home

Spare a thought 

I’d like to finish this post today by asking you to join me in sparing a thought for those who feel in the midst of darkness. Be assured that you’re not alone, and that people out there, like us, are thinking of you.

Sometimes it can be very hard when you have been faced with rejection from others and you have become isolated from others and yourself. Sometimes I admit that it can feel that no one out there cares for you.

But sometimes, its not other people out there looking after you. For me, I don’t have many friends or family that look after me, but I know that there’s still something higher that is checking now and then that I’m okay.

It took me a long time to open my eyes to the possibility. I hope that you will also open your eyes and discover that your something higher exists out there for you as well.

Thank you for reading my post