HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE !!!

I wll post some pictures of the knitted gifts I made soon.

Grandmother's Bowl

Simple

Maybe the reason we say something is "simply the best" is because simple is often the best route to take.   In baking or cooking, we like to try new recipes with new ingredients  , but we often know when we are not going to like something because it's now too different or complicated.   The flavours or ingredients that I like is often,found in  homemade (not always by me) fresh , simple, like bread,  soups.  I used to think that the foods I ate as a child were really different than other "Canadian" kids, they used mayonaise, I didn't even know what that was.   After all these years I realize it was  the simple ingredients that made it delicious.  


Even in knitting, I gravitate to simple lines, classic patterns, Even if it appears complicated or challenging  at the beginning there's a simple logic that unfolds and it totally makes sense.   

Simple does not mean boring.    Boring can mean that there is no excitement or challenge.  But they are both to be found in simple.     We use the term "simply the best"  "simply delicious"  "simple life" etc.    There is order in simple.  The truth is seen in simple.


Alice
xox

More Knitting

This was a quick knit , but apparently not a quick finish for me.   The vest flew by, but the cowl was the challenge.    So many mixed ideas after reading other people on Ravelry who had knit this.  The original pattern Ninebark Cowl/vest was done so that the cowl and vest were knit as one.  After reading what some of the other knitters had done, I decided to them separate.   Once again, I questioned the instructions, did my own revisions, or maybe it was more like, I just wanted to finish it.   The vest fits nice and snug, a little shorter than I normally would have worn it.   The yarn is great, love the colour.    Happy with this project.   Onto the next.

Alice

xox

In the Middle

The word balance has been running through my brain lately and I wanted to share my thoughts on it.

To the value of your love will be the equal of your pain
To value of your desire will be the equal of your motivation.
To the value that you care, will be the equal of your fight.
To the value of your gain will be the equal of your loss.

It's not good or bad, it's all in balance.  It's the law of physics, it's how the Universe works from that perspective... that's just my opinion.   In every positive is it's negative counterpart in equal  measure.  You can't get one without the other.  As long as we just move to the "positive" we pull it's opposite "negative" .  That's how the brain is wired, at it's basic level, to break things down, and not see the whole.   The life of balance is to be in the middle, not searching for the positve or avoiding the negative.   That is the challenge of being human, but that is where I believe we rise from being an ordinary human to being extraordinary.  Just a thought .

Alice
xox

Somewhere

Somewhere it's snowing...somewhere it's raining....somewhere it's windy....somewhere it's sunny or somewhere it's just cloudy.    But what is so cool is to realize that we are all underneath the same umbrella, but we experience different weather fluctuations depending where we live.   


I should have been a weather woman !  

Alice
xox

Remembering

I have for the last couple of weeks had someone on my mind from the hometown I grew up and went to school.   She had contacted me through facebook, I knew the name but I couldn't put the face together.   Even her photos, didn't register a recognition.   Just yesterday I was looking through her pictures once again, and there was one in particular with her smiling that just jumped me  back in time,    It was like looking at one of those 3D pictures, or the ones that have an old lady and a young lady both in the picture.  You keep staring at and just don't see it , and then you catch something and it just pops , and it's there, so obvious.  How did you miss it.  You get so excited.    That's what it was like with her picture, there she was as I rememberd.   But it was the smile,  the eyes that triggered it.   Also when you recognize them visually , you somehow remember their voice and other things about them.   Some people remember things by  auditory, their laughter, or the sound of their voice.   Or kinesthetic, how they felt around you  or their touch.  Or their perfume or cologne.   We have such great potential to touch someone in such simple ways that we don't even know our on power.   I realized that, one word, a  gesture, or look, can have on someone else to make a wonderful memory.   We can remember everything that's ever happened to us, but we need to find a way to trigger  those connections that were  wired into to our brain to form the memory.   We  never lose anything or anyone,  unless of course we choose not to remember.  
 Such fun !


Alice xox

Balance

Ok... for what ever reason, I seem to want to share these passages from Pema Chodron's books, it's what I see but don't know how to express into  words, since she says it so eloquently I am copying her works.   Sometimes it's just once sentence that gives clarity to something we are stuck on , or we find ourselves saying it to a friend or family.   
 So here it is:

Life is glorious, but life is also wretched. It is both. Appreciating the gloriousness inspires us, encourages us, cheers us up, gives us a bigger perspective, energizes us. We feel connected. But if that's all that's happening, we get arrogant and start to look down on others, and there is a sense of making ourselves a big deal and being really serious about it, wanting it to be like that forever. The gloriousness becomes tinged by craving and addiction. On the other hand, wretchedness--life's painful aspect--softens us up considerably. Knowing pain is a very important ingredient of being there for another person. When you are feeling a lot of grief, you can look right into somebody's eyes because you feel you haven't got anything to lose--you're just there. The wretchedness humbles us and softens us, but if we were only wretched, we would all just go down the tubes. We'd be so depressed, discouraged, and hopeless that we wouldn't have enough energy to eat an apple. Gloriousness and wretchedness need each other. One inspires us, the other softens us. They go together."
— Pema Chödrön (Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living

Alice xox

Being a Warrior

I came across this passage from Pema Chodron.  She is a Buddhist Nun, currently living in Nova Scotia, Canada.  She has written some incredible books, I hope you like this passage:

"Once there was a young warrior. Her teacher told her that she had to do battle with fear. She didn’t want to do that. It seemed too aggressive; it was scary; it seemed unfriendly. But the teacher said she had to do it and gave her the instructions for the battle. The day arrived. The student warrior stood on one side, and fear stood on the other. The warrior was feeling very small, and fear was looking big and wrathful. They both had their weapons. The young warrior roused herself and went toward fear, prostrated three times, and asked, "May I have permission to go into battle with you?" Fear said, "Thank you for showing me so much respect that you ask permission." Then the young warrior said, "How can I defeat you?" Fear replied, "My weapons are that I talk fast, and I get very close to your face. Then you get completely unnerved, and you do whatever I say. If you don’t do what I tell you, I have no power. You can listen to me, and you can have respect for me. You can even be convinced by me. But if you don’t do what I say, I have no power." In that way, the student warrior learned how to defeat fear. "
— Pema Chödrön

Alice xox

I'm Back ...

Sorry, Blog world for taking so long in posting.  It seems I try so hard to come up with something to post or to write about and put so much pressure on myself that I end up not wanting to do it.  I will now begin to lighten up.


This morning while laying in bed I was getting a message for myself that I need to stop taking myself so seriously , as Eckhart Tolle is great at saying "Stop taking your mind so seriously" boy, can I relate to that one.   I don't laugh much anymore at myself or at things.   So serious, what's up with that ?  If you ever listen to a talk by Eckhart Tolle, when he speaks about the human condition, there's is so much humour and laughter from him, and I see it at times too.   I don't think life has  to be so heavy.  My poor mind has been given such huge tasks and responsibilities that I don't think it's capable of doing, it needs a break from trying to solve all its problems and everyone else,   figuring things out .  It's tired out.


So I open up my emails this morning and find my daily meditation from "notes from the universe" and this is what is says :


   "You can look at life like this, Alice: If you're not now surrounded by laughing friends, taking amazing   journeys, and constantly choosing between lots of fun things to do, it's just because you haven't gotten to that part yet. "

Whooohoooo,
    The Universe


Pretty cool eh ?

Thanks for coming back to visit  I will do my best to post more often.

Alice - xox

 

Oneness

When you appreciate yourself, then you appreciate your body, when you appreciate your body, then you appreciate what you eat, when you appreciate what you eat, then you appreciate the farmer, when you appreciate the farmer, then you appreciate  the earth when you appreciate the earth, then you appreciate Life, when you appreciate Life, then you appreciate yourself......and  the circle begins again.

Wherever you go, there you are

“It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.” ~ Dale Carnegie

Exhale....




  Forget to Focus on :


1.  Comparing.
     Competing


2.  Judging (beng judged)
     Labeling (being labeled)


3.  Trying to understand
     Trying to find out WHY


Keep on SMILING


Drop the shoulders and exhale

 - by  Mary Burmeister
     Jin Shin Jyutsu

Let's talk knitting.....







  




It's funny....I have not posted  anything on  knitting.   It's been an interesting process,  creating  a  blog,  trusting yourself and not getting  caught up on how others  will think about it.  

Now for some knitting.. the  tank top has turned out  to be my favourite piece of garment I've ever made. It would be awesome  to knit  in a variety of  colours, and wear  it  all year round.  The yarn is  cotton with a small percentage of elastic, so fits like a glove., so very sexy and pretty too. -  the sides have a lacy mesh pattern.   Tank Top pattern
    
The market bag  was completed  a couple of months ago, but didn't take any pictures .   Love the colour, a cinnamon brown, the mesh pattern is so pretty.   I use   it for grocery shopping and get lots of compliments, a strong and very purposeful bag.    Total thumbs up on this  as well.   Market Bag pattern

 

Peace and Silence

Before you start to meditate, ask yourself a question:

Is it true that peace and silence are not here and now?    

With our intention to move towards quietness

    the first step we take is away from it

      because we assume it's not here already.

                       Adyashanti

                       

Kittie Love

This is one of my cats, Pixie.   She is allowing me to give her a Reiki healing treatment.   She is so open and relaxed   Notice how her paws curl  under.  Precious.  Ahhh...kittie heaven.

Second Start

Well, I think the initial  start was the easiest part of this blog    It's like being  thrown in the water, there's the  initial shock but then it quickly dissipates and your're left with  "Now what ? " I guess I'm in the "Now what" stage of the game.  Just keep moving..

First Start

I spoke today to a very wise friend, who said   "If you wait for the right feeling to start a blog, and you don't have it yet, what do you do in between that time ? "  Well, this is the in between time, so I started.