Pressing Life's Pause Button

Pressing Life's Pause Button - 

before it gets pressed for you!

Life has a way of getting you to stop, despite not wanting to, and what you do with it is entirely up to you.  You can take the wisdom that whispers ever so silently in your ear to slow down, take stock and recalculate, or you can choose to ignore it entirely and as you stir that morning you find that you are in excruciating pain, and those parts that use to move smoothly are holding you to ransom.

I think my whispers began when I broke my little toe.  A very small appendage you might think but it still has oh so many nerve endings that throbbed in unison as if they were all doing the 'Candy/electric slide' turn right about there, as I climbed over a small makeshift barrier to stop the dog from entering the spare room - the very one that you can see peaking at the top of the picture below!

The whisper told me get organised, I chose to carry on with my very own routine that now included a dog called Cole and I would just get on with things.  My little toe caught in the makeshift barrier without me seeing the secret rendezvous for one and before i knew it the job had been done.  One broken toe throbbed, swelled and I soldiered on as you do.  The question asked so many times - are you sure its broken?  I did 'that look' with my eyes saying through gritted teeth that I was the broken toe expert thank you very much!

Ignoring the signs

To add insult to injury our new puppy decided that my toe was the launch pad to every thing fun, he would sit, stand, jump gnaw at the poor toe that did no wrong.  For some reason I still chose not to listen and ran about as normal.

A friend visited from the UK and I spoke to them about that feeling of wanting to pause things but felt like I was on a roller coaster to try and get the things that I wanted to get done organised.  Now with the UK visit looming I tried to sort out as many things as possible, realizing that the main important things are the ones to focus on, and then I came away on the flight.

April always brings about the Ultimate Blog challenge which I am a part of and you have to create a blog post every day on a specific or a range of topics, so why not add another thing to the list of things to do.  I chose to share about things to do on a budget in the UK, I was on a budget so it would be a great way to be able to share some of my findings, especially going to all the cool Art Galleries and events that I had found, but I was about to get a wake up call.

Braving the cold weather

I heard the whispers again but assumed it was the cold weather, the breeze hitting my hat and skimming my ears, but no, I wrapped up warm but it mattered not what I had on I was still chilled to the bone as if I had been in the deep freeze waiting to thaw out.  I would get these looks as I went about my day - these people really didn't know that despite being in Barbados I still got cold so I ignored the looks as I tried to get on with things.

It began to dawn on me that as much as I wanted to do my body was telling me something else, I started to get a sore throat, and then started to sneeze, and I put it down to mum who had a cold, but it would be something that I could shake.  What is with noses running like rivers, I would be sitting there talking to my friend and before you know it the banks burst and holding my head back at a particular angle had to fight to get the tissues out of my bag while it tumbled it's way to my top lip - is it just me?.

How many times do you need to be told

I continued to brave the cold the following day with a list of things that I wanted to do before I was hit.

Why is it that we ignore the warning signs trying to pretend that we can put on our super hero costume and dodge all the signs cause they are not really for me.

The Pause Button was pressed without me being able to and all I was able to do is wrap up, drink my herbal remedies and sleep.  

Honey, Lemon and Ginger the essentials - the garlic is around the corner

The sun shone through the windows tempting me to venture out and I must admit that I went to feel the rays against my sink reminded me of the conversation about putting things on pause so that I could catch my breath and I have been resting, reading, catching up and nurturing my body, I have to remind myself of on a regular basis to ensure that I had more balance in my life, which is not something we should scoff at, but take it seriously before you are forced to take the time.  

I have taken a pause - As I type this I have my feet up wrapped in a blanket. Take a moment to think about the following questions and the changes that you need to make. 

• What is it that you need to do and NOW that you have been putting off?
• What do you need more of in your life?
• What pain have you been putting up with that you need to have checked out.

While you are at it, check out some of the Resources and Discounts that you could be making use of. 

Are you neglecting yourself? Where is the Love? 10 tips to get back on track

Are you neglecting yourself?

How many times have you neglected yourself in the past month, have you stopped treating yourself with kindness?

I have been there, it creeps up on you, and you have to make some decisions about how to get yourself out of the heaviness. 

When I have lots of different things going on it can be easy to forget about self-care and nurturing, and when caring for my mother who is living with dementia I found that turning to creativity, my art journal and a few other tips help me put things into perspective.  This last few months for me have been a challenge, some good and some bad.

Mixed media art Journal

The journal page says 

"The gentle breeze, the birdsong, the still small voice reminded her to step out of the self imposed barriers......she was enough"  

You are enough, have value, are absolutely brilliant and more!  We often put up those comparison charts, the "Not good enough Chart", "Self sabotage Chart " and "the 'Throw away' negative comments made by other people that hurt" chart and we put the breaks on our moving forward.  Which one have you used on yourself?

We forget ourselves don't we? and before you know it you have this ache....When I am out of balance and without routine or any scheduled 'Me Time',then things that I would normally brush off get on top of me. I find that comments that people say play like a theme tune in my mind, I try to put out fires and it is almost like a bottle that gets full to the brim and then overflows (well that's how it sometimes feels).

The Neglect Effect

Neglect effect can showcase itself in different ways:

- lack of exercise, 

- not allowing yourself to have a break, 

- taking too much of a break, 

- not eating right, 

- not spending quality time with loved ones, 

- sabotaging your work, 

- comparing yourself to others, 

- feeling stuck

-  self doubt, 

TV series binge, 

-followed by the cake and ice cream you wouldn't normally eat, 

- self loathing that follows and then beating yourself up for the work you didn't get done while you were watching back-to-back series of something you really weren't at all interested in before.

I am sure that you can think of other ways - the list goes on.  The knock-on effect is that it impacts on our commitments and relationships.

Admit you have a problem

The First step is admitting that you have a problem and that the pain of staying how you are is worse than the pain that comes from change!

My name is Amanda, a Mixed media Artist, and I have been neglecting myself.  For one reason or the next I allowed things to slide, became overwhelmed at the amount of work that I needed to get done around my art, commitments, my blog and to top it all I am in the process of moving again!

New Temporary Studio space

The move itself had stresses of its own, but then I started to stress about where I would put every thing, this is the new temporary studio space which is half the size of my current studio.

Current Studio space

This is my current studio space. minus the strapping young man (I will do a post-move studio tour on my YouTube channel in the next couple of weeks), just where would I put every thing, stay on top of things I needed to get done and I found myself becoming inactive while continuing to internally stress-out, secretly hoping somehow someone else would sought everything out.  

At the end of the day you have to realize your worth and value and what really matters and make the move, make a decision and take action, shine your light and be good to yourself.  

Here are also some quick and easy solutions for you to try and to get back on track, there are obviously loads more, but these helped for me and I hope you find them useful if you need them.

Here are 10 Tips to tackle the self-neglect and give yourself more love

1. Admit you have a problem - realizing that this neglect will be a problem if you allow it to continue you have to put in the right ingredients to ensure that you can turn things around. 
2. You have a choice - If you do nothing you are still making a choice, you can choose to start making the most of the situation, what are the ways you can see the good things that you have going. 
3. Take small regular actions - What small actions can you make that will eventually create the big change.  
4. Acknowledge your achievements - keeping an achievements book is a way of looking back at how far you have come, and celebrating those achievements, and the impact that you may have made on another persons life.
5. Eat right - Make sure that you are getting the right nutrition from your foods, and take supplements were necessary.  I firmly believe that food has an impact on our health and well-being, and it might be some small changes that you have to make.  Check out my Smoothie Recipes
6. Clear up your mess - Tidy up, and declutter, start with a clean room - sometimes being around mess will hamper your productivity.
7. Get Fit - When was the last time you got some exercise? Go for a walk - get out in nature, this helps refresh your ideas, and keeps you fit.
8. Creative Challenge - I usually kick off with a creative challenge, that helps me focus on what I really want to have in my life, and creativity impacts on our health and well-being as well.
9. Share/Give -  Think of the needs of someone else, what could you do to help their situation? why not see how you can give of your time or other resource to be a blessing to others.
10. Love yourself - show some self love, think about the things that you enjoy, going for a walk, beach, swim, visit a gallery, work in a journal, learn a new skill, read a book, achieve a life long goal

Bonus 

Feed your mind - listen to encouraging and positive messages feed your mind and get a shift in perspective.

Gratitude's - what are you grateful for in your life that you have been taking for granted?

OK, now what are you waiting for, you don't have to wait until your feeling off to put some things in place, but start something today!

Stay blessed and be a blessing

She went into the city - I'm Backkkkk!

She came to the city - Mixed media Art - Realityarts

Wow, it has been a while since I have posted, I can't quite believe that time has flown so quickly.  I seem to have so many things on the last two months that I got lost in it all and before you knew it we are at the end of September. 

I do enjoy sharing my posts and things I get up to and will be getting my groove back on and showing you some 'how to' videos using different materials and creating out of recycled materials.  I will share in my next post what I got up to and photos and over the next few weeks share my updated blog schedule to keep you inspired and encouraged and taking a chance - stepping out in faith as you embrace your creative self.  I have more teaching and workshops to share, and more!

This is a painting and video process that I did back in August, and it shows 'Lady Peace' entering the city.  We need peace right now around the world and it takes all of us to bring that to a reality.  We have to call out injustices in all walks of life, in all communities, business, society, it cannot be tolerated.

She came to the city - Mixed media art

We each have within us a unique spark, a gift and treasure that is to share with others around the world.  Don't be hating on others, deal with what you have, don't compare yourself to another, you don't know what they went through to get to where they are - but you have an incredible gift, you just need to know how to use it.

She came to the city to spread peace, love, grace, mercy and hope.  Stay blessed and be a blessing!

Mixed Media Art Painting - Transformation - Dala

Transformation Series  

Welcome to the series, it is great to have you back again this week to see what else I have in store for you.  This week we meet another character, with her own story and we meet her in what looks like a snapshot of her life..

'Dala sat in her garden surrounded by red flowers and blue skies, and at that moment she felt at peace gazing at the flowers she breathed deeply trying to soak in everything that her senses could pick up.  The delicate aromas, the breeze that made the hairs on her skin dance, and the warmth of the sun that made her feel part of something so much bigger'

A week doesn't go by where I create a painting on what looks like a scrap of paint spattered paper, card or fabric.  I guess it is part of the challenge for myself to be flexible and work with what I have.

It is important to spend how ever long you have creating, whether you pick up a paint brush, or just sort through some supplies, it is a good idea to make a regular practice that feeds the creative soul.

Finding that quiet space that you can get lost in the creative process, and not worry about what something will look like, or as you are creating what unfolding before you.

I play with textures, colors, and when it feels right I stop, or I take the painting in a different direction.  If you check out some of the videos on my youtube, you will see that some start out one way and then totally change.  Feeling comfortable and not getting too precious over the painting helps the flow.  There have been times that I looked back at a video and thought I loved the painting before I totally changed it, but that is all part of the growing process.

She sat in her garden surrounded by red flowers and blue skies

I hope you enjoyed watching the video, check out my others when you get a chance.  Stay blessed and be a blessing!

Gratitude's and Celebration Journal - Week 81 - Home

I am having to reassess my view of home.  Having been in my current one for the past 20 years we are in the process of moving and it has brought up a lot of emotions for me.  I have also been making changes to my mums home and the impact of that has also stirred up different emotions that I will share another time. 

They say one of the biggest stress factors to our lives is marriage, death, divorce and moving home.  Having to pack up my own home and my mothers has meant that I have at times had to go on automatic pilot to get through.  

I am not the first or last person to move home, I guess it's the feeling of familiarity that I will miss, as well as family and friends being so close - sometimes taken for granted that they will always be there.

Home is where the heart is....

and a new home calls..

Along with adventures anew we make ready, things packed waiting to be shipped, a thousand thoughts running through our minds, each of us with a different perspective.

I am grateful and celebrate the home that I am leaving and look forward to settling in and making the new home an environment that is full of Joy, Peace, Love and Creative outpouring....

I am on a creative journey in my journal and hope you come along and join me. Why not start your own journal, keep it as simple or complex as you wish, but do something!

Gratitude and Celebration Journal

UBC - Day 7 - Encourage - Tips for Carers

Welcome to day 7 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge, 

Tips for Carers

It can be very easy at times to loose your cool, you get frustrated and then annoyed at something that you need them to do that they are not doing, or appear to be sabotaging.  I must admit at times I have got angry at mum thinking that she is doing something on purpose, and I think that these things stem from fear, when you think about the thing that they were quite alright doing, suddenly the next day they don't have a clue how to do it.

I remember the day mum couldn't work out how to get out of her bed room.  This was in the early days and I had gone round there and my key wouldn't open the door as she had put the chain on the door.  I rang the bell and couldn't understand why she hadn't come to the door yet, I knew she was in, I kept calling through the door but didn't hear anything, so I started looking through the bedrooms thinking something must have happened.  

I was shocked when saw her through her bedroom window trying to find the door which was directly in front of her, there wasn't anything wrong with her vision but she just couldn't work it out, she kept feeling the walls and muttering to herself.  I was scared, for her and what it meant for me, as there would have to be things implemented to cope with this new change.  I called to her through the window and directed her to the door, and then when she got to it she came straight to the front door and opened it for me.

Over the years, I had to keep reminding myself that if we focused on what she could do for herself and encourage her along the way this took the anxiety out of the situation that was changing.  I am not saying that I don't get frustrated at times, but I have to  put it in perspective and celebrate all thing things that she can still do, and today being able to feed herself is something to celebrate.

For now, think about all the things that they can do and celebrate no matter how small.  The encouragement that you can give will mean so much to them, and help you put things into perspective as well!

Check out some of my A-Z posts on my journey as a carer, click on the links below

You can also click on the 'Celebrating life' image to be taken to the rest of the posts about my A-Z experience as a carer.

UBC - Day 6 - Tips for Carers - Family and Friends

Caring for a loved one can be such an isolating experience with dementia unlike say a broken leg, the leg gets better people can see that the leg is broken and so there are certain expectations about things that you are unable to do.  With dementia there isn't necessarily any outward sign, as it gets worse and ravages the memory and leaves its after effects on its unwilling participants

As the carer I have found that your relationships with family and friends can suffer, as you try and navigate your way around the changes to your routines and additional things that you need to do in order to manage the caring role, you can end up drifting from your social life, too tired to call friends when you've been up all night trying to get your loved one back in bed cause they think it is day time.  

This is the same for those with dementia, people don't know what to say, they feel awkward with the silences and stop calling or passing by.  Where possible if you can have a few people that you can call on and will call you every now and again even if it is just to say hi, it is important that you keep the connections going, and for your loved one hearing a familiar voice of someone they know can help both of you.  

You could ask friends and family to make a voice recording of things they have been doing that week and play it back.  It is a way that they can feel included in things that are going on around them. There is lots of technology that you can use to facilitate this and it is also good for those people whose family live abroad.

For now, get together with family members and a few friends and ask them to be part of a schedule where they call once a week to see how things are going, or even come round and give you a much needed break!

UBC - Day 5 Independence - Tips for Carers

Welcome to day 5 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge - Independence - Tips for Carers

In 2001 we had a family holiday to Florida with my mum, sister and my husbands side of the family, and mum was in the early stages of dementia, living on her own and pretty much independent.  When we decided to go to one of the theme parks with mum I suggested that we get a wheel chair as there was quite a bit of walking, mum point blankly refused to even consider using it.  While I saw it as a means of convenience and getting around quickly, mum saw it as taking away her independence, and she remarked to a family friend that she needed to hold on to her independence for as long as possible as when there is no one around she is going going to have to take care of her self.  On hearing this I saw how much I needed to at times step back and let her take her own time to do things. 

The world was not going to end if she took an extra 15 minutes to do something and I had to work around her time whenever possible.  I found that while and in the midst of her loosing her independence it actually gave her a sense of being independent, and so impacted on her health and well-being and how she felt.  You have to help the ones that you are caring for feel as if they are holding on to a part of themselves especially, in an environment where nothing is the same and constantly changes as the memory decreases.

For today, give yourself that extra bit of time to get through the days activities, in doing so you create less stress and impact greatly on your overall heath and well-being.

UBC - Day 4 - Remember their story - Tips for Carers

Remember their story........

  

  

Welcome to Day 4 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. 

In the early days of mums dementia we would find that she would repeat herself a lot of the time.  We didn’t know or expect to be where we are now and the decline over the years rapidly increased.  Mum would talk a lot about my father who had pass many years previously and she would recount the story of them meeting and how she had her eye on him.  She told us that when he saw her he called to her – she played hard to get for a while and then the rest resulted in 3 children and many years of happy marriage.  I didn’t understand how important those stories would be to me as time when on and these are the same stories that I repeat back to her hoping to spark a memory or bring a smile to her face.

The decline in memory even with medication is inevitable but one of the things that I have found helped greatly was putting together a book filled with photographs and a little bit of information.  It is just an A5 book and I printing out some of the pictures, if you want to create something bigger you can.. 

I also created this folder with information that anyone who is with mum can go through with her and get her to talk about some of the images and interact This means that even if you don’t know her you can engage her and help her to recapture her story, sometimes she just listens and sometimes you get a smile from her as she has taken the information in. 

This is also a good exercise to do with the younger generation; if you have photographs of when you were younger get them out and start talking about those times.  There is so much about our stories that are lost and don’t get handed down and end up in a box as old photographs.  I encourage you to spend some time capturing the stories and keeping the memories alive, you can never underestimate the power of those times spent sharing.

For today, take one photo at a time, and remember and record the memories.  Do leave a comment and tell me what you do with the photographs that you have in your collection....Blessings!

Word for the Week - Isaiah 26:3

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. 

Isaiah 26:3

To be in perfect peace, that place of stillness where you know everything is where it should be, it is all working together, and you just have to be who you were called to be without any fanfare or pretense as you focus on his love.....

Have a blessed week and know that you can be in his perfect peace

Gifts are waiting to be birthed...Gratitude's and Celebrations Journal - Week 50

You have so many gifts waiting to be birthed

I know that I have said this before, but you are a big deal, I don’t see why I shouldn’t  let you know today if your reading this or whenever you find the time, but it needs to be said again and again! 

From before you were born you were thought of as unique and special, and with every hair on your head being accounted for you are a pretty big deal.  It doesn’t matter what you have been through, your experiences, your trials, your tribulations, or the pain that you have been through or are currently going through, your story, thoughts, experiences, views and life matters more than you will ever know.

Gifts waiting to be birthed

And just as on the day you were born there was anticipation,  joy and perhaps a tear or two, your arrival into this world is a blessing and everything that you do is connected to others souls around the world, each one with a purpose and a plan for their lives.

You are filled with immeasurable gifts that are waiting to be birthed.  It does not matter how old you are and how many years, months or days you have left, there is something that can be birthed today.    Think about the dreams you have, the hopes you have, the changes that you want to make, the steps you would like to take and do something today.  One thing that will bring you a step further to uncovering those gifts that have been laying dormant, that only you can bring.  Take a breath, are you ready, now go......

Don't be afraid....

I celebrate and am grateful today for each gift that is laying within me that I have yet to uncover, and as I take a step of faith I come closer to uncovering more joy, more grace, peace and love.

Celebrate your Gifts - Mixed Media Art by Amanda Trought

Read about the Gratitude's and Celebration Journal HERE