By Sometimes the simple things in life are the most memorable
The power in my neighbourhood has been cut for approximately 3 hours now. As I wait for it to come back on, I notice how utterly lost I am without an everyday necessity that I am never utterly grateful to have. As silence fills my study room, I wonder how long the battery on my iPad will last; I figure I don’t care and decide this moment is a unique gift from the universe I need to take and use. Yes, I may be backed up with work that I haven’t done and can’t cook dinner until later (if at all); it’s forced me to stop and think. But, when I stop and think, and the noise of stress and frantic deadlines stop, I have the space and clarity to write. I love to write, yet I need this environment of stillness around me to allow the words to flow onto the keyboard through my fingers. That’s what makes my heart sing and something that I never get to do enough. This post is essential because it flows from my heart straight to you. It’s delving deep into the things you should not live without. Maybe I’ve missed something important to you — although most trigger something that may have meaning and presence for you. If you sit down now in the space of peace, you will be amazed that your list will turn into pockets of gratitude that you forgot to give thanks for.
Number one: A best friend
I haven’t been fortunate to find long-lasting love and a sibling I can grow old with during my lifetime. But, to me, that doesn’t matter as much when you have a best friend like mine. We’ve been friends since eight years old, and although we’ve followed different paths and become our own person, there is something that holds us together like glue. We will grow old together and leave this earth knowing what true friendship is. Special friends allow you the space to grow and nurture differences and similarities. We both hold the same values and have a sixth sense connection with one another.
Number Two: An animal that’s loyal to you
This is surprisingly my cat Henry. We’ve always loved each other, and I would holler at him for crying for food all the time. But, unfortunately, he developed an enormous appetite for many years & became somewhat fat. Henry showed me his heart when my mum was dying. Two days before her death, he could sense I was distraught, and I saw him running to greet me from the other end of our street. I was crying as I walked, and he could see and sense my heartbreak. When we came closer together, he called for me to pick him up. He looked into my eyes and then put his head on my shoulder. It was such a wonderful loving moment I will never forget. He was the first and only little being that showed me love and compassion at a time I needed it most. I will forever be indebted to him and the purity and innocence of animals; their ability to be there when everyone disappears is beyond this world. They are truly wondrous creatures.
Number Three: Being close to nature
For me, being close to nature is spending time in a park, walking near old trees or even bushwalking. I don’t have the luxury of always visiting nature-filled parks, but I do love my garden with its small patch of grass, a variety of beautiful flowers and plants, as well as gorgeous green shrubs. Sitting outside looking at how beautiful, healthy and fresh our little space is brings serenity and peace. It’s my little moment of pure blissful calm.
Number Four: Water
I’m probably going to sound strange by saying this, but water for me is refreshing my body, soul and cells, cleansing me from the inside. I’m not a massive fan of being close to water externally, but I am pretty obsessed about drinking the stuff. So I always have a giant bottle of water with me. When I’m run down, tired or feel I need an energetic boost — I can count on a lovingly pure glass of freshwater to turn that all around. I cannot live without an abundance of purified water. It’s one of my pleasures and necessities in life and something I’ve taught my family to appreciate as well.
Number Five: Moonlight walks
Moonlight walks help me ground myself, as it’s just me, the moon and darkness on a clear, crisp winter morning. For many months, I would walk in the moonlight in a meditative state, filling my mind with positive suggestions and motivational triggering. This is a ritual for me, as I train my mind daily, especially in the mornings. We are more open to new suggestions during that time, and I make sure they are optimistic. This helped me a lot when my mum was terminally ill. The emotions overwhelmed me daily — and I was very stressed and worried. However, the moonlight walks seemed to calm me down and let me experience the clarity I needed. It also gave me the strength to deal with the challenges. This was when I decided to start writing my thoughts and emotions and begin expressing myself through words. At this very moment, I decided to turn the negative situation I was in into a positive one and start writing. So that’s why I’m here writing this to you today.
Number Six: My morning brew of coffee
I’ve come to love a new local coffee shop. I miss it like crazy when I have to go to the office. During lockdown and working from home, I wanted to support small businesses. I got to know the owner and staff very well. They are such loving and beautiful people. During a tough time, I happen to meet a friend at that very coffee shop. I broke down and cried to her about my mum dying. It was so tough to cope with this sadness whilst being isolated due to the pandemic. I never had the physical support and comfort from my beautiful friends. Although I was not short of loving gestures everywhere in my darkest moments, it all got too much for me. After my conversation with this friend, the gorgeous girls at the coffee shop filled a cup with treats for me. It was so beautiful that it made me cry even more. Unfortunately, I dropped most of them on the way to my mum’s place (my tears blinded me)— but it filled my heart with graciousness. I do love that coffee shop not only for the beautiful brew I get every day but the loving and kind friends that I made in the process.
Number Seven: Music
Music energises & motivates me into action — both in the gym and whilst I’m working. As a result, I get creative and spiritual insights I don’t usually get in silence. It has to be beats — I love the magnetic, electronic energy it generates, with the limited vocals. Vocals disrupt my concentration of thought. Beats enhance my focus on any challenging task. You can always find me sitting or standing at my desk with the electronic music beating out of my air pods.
Number Eight: Your favourite family member
I know many people don’t have great relationships with their mum, and I treasured mine. That wasn’t always so because, like any child, I took advantage of the time we had and didn’t appreciate her as well as I could have. I believe you only realise this when they aren’t in your life anymore. Mum has been gone for almost three months now. However, I can still picture her in my mind and see her pottering around in my home. It was hard going to church for the first time after lockdown restrictions were lifted. I looked to the seat she had occupied for 19 years. Someone else sits in that set, and the memory of her is now just a fragment in the wind. For me, it only ignited memories of her smiling face looking back at me, and the tears overflowed. She was special to me — probably more so than to all of my siblings. I guess some of us are fortunate enough to have unwavering bonds with family members — mine was with my mum. Even though she’s no longer with me, her memories are still always floating in and out -through my soul. I do hope that one day the pain will lessen, and maybe my heart might stop bleeding. But until then, I will put one foot in front of the other and try to smile.
Number Nine: Time alone
This is like dessert on a platter with added extra condiments for me. Space and silence fill me with the greatest surgest of inspiration and drive to do something. I have to write, create, exercise or even brainstorm what I want. Treasuring this time alone wasn’t always a key to my happiness — it was the complete opposite. Being alone made me feel just that — lonely. I would think of sad memories which happened eons ago. That story would repeat over and over again until I would have an emotional outburst. Those days are long gone now. After you have children and grow up into teenagers, you can appreciate just how magnificent this so-called “alone time” is because there are years and years when you didn’t have that. Now, it’s appreciated as much as sleep. My best ideas came up during that so-called alone time. Getting down to the nitty-gritty of what you want, what is valuable and holds the most meaning to you is something we all must evaluate several times a month. We grow, evolve and constantly develop from the things we experience, the books we read and as we age. Whatever small pockets of time you do have, spend it alone.
Number Ten: Healthy, fresh wholefoods
There was no chance in the world I wasn’t going to mention food on here. Food is the necessity of life. It nourishes, protects and heals our bodies. Eat the wrong food, and you will cause health and longevity challenges along the way. There is no guarantee eating healthy will lead to a better old age. Our bodies are not all built the same — but the same outcome happens for us all. We eventually die, and the choice is to die with dignity or in distress. What I mean by that statement is to die knowing you’ve done all you can, loved yourself enough to eat the right foods and exercise. But, if you are the opposite of that — eat junk food, are sedentary, drink a lot of alcohol and probably use drugs — you can bet that something will eventually start manifesting internally. The long term choice is yours, but the feeling you get from eating healthy and fresh whole foods is no comparison after a drinking bender. But that’s just one person’s biased opinion only. Why not sit down in silence yourself, come up with 10 of your essentials for life and start to delve deeper into why they are so important to you. I hope this triggers something within you. Thank you for your eyes and time. If you would like to read more articles like this or start writing your own, please sign up via my link here. I’d love to see you on the other side.Sign up here for your medium subscription