I’ve been worrying, the last couple of days, about our budget. I hate money worries, they make me feel all stressed and wound up inside. So I went looking for some stress relief – a little wisdom. And my favourite wisdom-giver of the moment (especially to do with money and energy) is Abraham-Hicks. Check out their website here, you can watch videos, read excerpts from their books, or get a breakdown of their philosophy.
I downloaded three short videos to watch, and one of them gave me what I like to call a ‘brain explosion’ – a sudden realisation of something that should be really obvious.
She’s talking about how we all know what it is we want, and often spend our days complaining about what we want and how we don’t have it. I think, in general, I’m pretty good at not complaining, but I caught myself last night saying to Mark how I don’t know how we got to this point – of needing to be careful of our budget – and I don’t think it’s fair because we’ve been giving it our 100%, and I don’t want to go back to having to consciously stop myself worrying about money, like we were doing in the month before our trip when we didn’t know if it would be possible. Sounds a tad like complaining, don’t you think?
You know what he said? ‘It doesn’t matter how we got here.’
At the time I didn’t really pay attention to what he was saying (I’m really good at continuing a one-way discussion when I’m on a roll), but essentially this is what Esther was saying this morning: You have to stop beating the drum of how you got here and how things used to be and how much you want them to be different, or you can’t receive what you’ve been asking for. By constantly looking over your shoulder and dwelling in the past, or worrying about the future, you never give the Universe (or God, or whatever you’d like to call it), a spare second to break through and give you what you’re asking for.
The solution? Instead of worrying about what it is you want, focus on the future in a hopeful, positive way. Look forward to the life you’ve asked for coming your way. In many ways, this is exactly what our Round the World trip is about – we looked forward to it for months and months. But it’s easy to slip back into old habits, and I think that’s what’s happened when it comes to money. I feel like if I don’t worry about it then the situation won’t right itself. But in truth, as long as we’re doing all we can to earn as we travel, worrying makes absolutely no sense. And it certainly doesn’t make a difference!
So from now on I’m focusing on the future that I want. Care to join me?
Take a look at some of my favourite blogs, the ones I still read even though I’m in foreign countries and have sketchy internet connection…
* Naturally Nina – http://www.naturallynina.com/
This has grown into my favourite blog of the moment… Nina writes honest, heartfelt and inspiring blog posts about life, love and everything else. And her blog is beautifully designed.
* A Cup of Jo – http://www.joannagoddard.blogspot.com/
I hate that I love this blog so much (because so many other thousands do), but what can I say? Joanna is a master blogger – probably one of the best out there. Despite her many followers, the blog feels personal and heartfelt, and she always has hundreds of fabulous links all over the web: seriously, you could save hours just by looking at the treasures she’s unearthed for you.
* Color Me Katie – http://www.colormekatie.blogspot.com/
This New York photographer is zany and playful, and posts beautifully photographed, wildly colourful short blogs about her life and loves. A delightful break to any day.
Now, what do all these blogs have that make them intensely readable? Short, snappy blog posts that are highly visual and that engage the reader.
Now take a glance over at Sweet Life, the blog I’ve been regularly updating as we travel around the world: www.justtheplanet.com/sweet-life
High-quality, well-written blog posts, even if I do say so myself (this was what I was told to write when I first started a blog). Original content and all that jazz, but not a whole lot of images and I just don’t know how to write those snappy blog posts that make people feel they have to comment. And so it hit me: I’m not really a blogger. I’m a writer, yes, and I’ve been loving writing travel pieces and trying to paint word pictures about the places we’ve been visiting. But at heart, this is the kind of writing that comes naturally to me – far too many words, and something you’d read in a book or a magazine. Not ideal for blogging.
Now how am I supposed to fix that? Tell me, please!
PS – I joined NaNoWriMo and took up the challenge of writing a 50 000 word novel in one month. But it’s 17 days in and I’ve only had one day when I’ve been able to get my hands on the computer not for work but for play. Eek.
So we’ve been by the sea for nearly a week, and I have to say I love it. Absolutely love it! Forget cities, forget towns, I love love love being by the sea. I always knew this, of course, but now I’m 100% sure.
We arrived in the sleepy seaside town of Ban Krut last week – exhausted, sweaty, a little strung out. Sick of being on the move. 5 nights later we emerged (like butterflies out of a cocoon!) rested, relaxed, happy and calm. We’ve spent the last six days getting enough sleep, swimming in the sea, waking up early to watch the sunrise, eating delicious food, reading a lot and spending real quality time with each other. Most days we had a vague itinerary when we woke up (rent a motorbike and explore the surrounds, walk the length of the beach, do some photographic or writing work), but nothing too strenuous. We left plenty of time for afternoon naps and long picnic lunches and spontaneous swims…
It was a delight! Which was why I was so surprised to wake up on Monday feeling down. Nothing specific, nothing related to traveling or being away from home (I went through the checklist and none of the possible problems rang true). Just a bit… off. Now, my initial impulse was to say, “How could you possibly be feeling down? Look around you! You’re in a beach paradise!” but I decided not to fight against it (what’s the point when you’re already not feeling great?) and spend the morning lying in our little air-conditioned bungalow, watching movies on TV. I gave in to feeling down.
And wouldn’t you know it, a couple of hours later I got up for lunch and felt much better. I think maybe I just needed some nothing-time. Weirdly enough, I remember having a conversation about this exact thing with a friend who asked how we’d avoid burn-out. I said, “If we need to take a day out watching TV we will – no problem!” When it came down to it, though, I actually felt a little guilty… Isn’t that silly?
Of course, not having to move around so much has also made it a lot easier to keep an eye on my diabetes, and get back into tighter control. When you’re hopping between trains and buses and walking unknown distances it’s not a good idea to be too tightly in control, but when you’re in one place it’s easier to make sure my blood glucose readings are closer to what they should be. This also means, though, that I’ve had more lows this week than at any other time during the trip. I hate lows! I’m sure all diabetics do…
So we had a blissful (for the most part) six days in Ban Krut, and then got an opportunity at the last minute to spend a night on Koh Talu Island, less than an hour away – a private island with a low-key resort and a truly inspiring coral regeneration project. I’ll be writing about it soon, I’ll keep you posted. We had such a wonderful time there – snorkeling, swimming, and finding out all about the project (see Mark in snorkeling mode here!)
And now we’re about to catch our train back to Bangkok (no running to catch it this time, thank you very much – we’re going to be very early!) Tomorrow night I head off to Vienna for the Novo Nordisk International Diabetes Media Prize Conference (keep your fingers crossed for me!) and on Friday morning Mark will fulfil a long-held dream and go to Singapore to watch the F1 Grand Prix live (the ticket is a little early-birthday-gift from me).
So it’s an exciting couple of days ahead! I’ll keep you updated when I can…
(This blog was first published on Sweet Life, our Traveling with Diabetes blog).
In the midst of packing up and final meetings and starting to make plans for Bangkok, I stumbled across this fascinating website: The Uniform Project.
One woman in New York has decided to wear a uniform (a little black dress) every day for 365 days, to raise funds for children’s uniforms in India. It might sound skanky, but she actually has seven identical versions of the dress, and she accessorises them so incredibly each day that it looks like a different dress every single time. Extraordinary!
In the mood for something a little light-hearted this Thursday?
Check out this hilarious and wonderful website – http://www.thewonderofwhiffling.com/
It’s the website of a new book all about extraordinary words and phrases in the English language, and I think it’s simply delightful.
The workplace seems to conjure up so many images of which some are easier to grasp than others:
seagull manager – a manager who flies in, makes a lot of noise, shits all over everything, and then leaves
swallow the frog – to tackle the hardest task possible
push the peanut – to progress an arduous and delicate task forward
What’s interesting about the Mystery Company that I’m so in love with is that I’ve actually been in love with them for quite some time…
Since about March this year, in fact.
The love affair started when I needed to buy a ticket to NYC for my US book release, and the best fare I could find anywhere was R10 000 return (ouch), until I logged onto Mystery Company’s website and found the same trip for R7000 return – including taxes! That’s one of the things I love about Mystery Company – they don’t pretend to be cheap and then whack on huge taxes at the end, they’re all inclusive.
Another thing I love is that their website is really, really easy to use, and easy to check different details on – want to fly another day? No problem. Want to try a different city? Sure thing.
But the thing I love most about Mystery Company is that they’re human. They have all the convenience of an online company, but you can dial a number and speak to a real live human being without any trouble. And I think that’s pretty special in these days of automated answers.
All in all, you can see why I fell in love with Mystery Company, can’t you?
And then we sent through a proposal to them, to see if they’d be interested in sponsoring our flights for our just-around-the-corner Travelling the World with Diabetes journey, and they were interested! And are sponsoring us! Because we’re on the same page. They understand that sponsoring a cause they believe in will help them out down the line.
And that’s really why I love Mystery Company. Because it’s not too often you find people who are on the same page as you, people who speak your language. I am so excited to be working with them for the next 9 months!
PS: Want to know who Mystery Company is? Check out their fascinating, travel-and-life-related blog at http://blog.travelstart.co.za/ and their website at http://www.travelstart.co.za/
Next month they’re celebrating their 10th birthday with some crazy competitions – I’ll keep you in the loop!
I suppose it’s because we’re mere weeks away from throwing in the domestic towel and turning into nomads for nine months as we travel the world… But I’ve found myself in the kitchen a lot, lately.
And loving it!
Last week I made my First Ever Stew. Delicious! Beef stew with mushrooms and a rich gravy and little melt-in-your-mouth chunks of potato… Yum! I promptly turned the stew into my First Ever Pie (pictured below) which was, even if I do say so myself, the Best Pie Ever. Seriously… Light and crisp on the outside, full and delicious on the inside.
(Yes, those are hearts. Eat your heart out… Ha!)
That’s not all, though! Next I discovered Gooey School Treacle Sponge – a delicious winter pudding that tastes a lot like Malva Pudding, but is far far easier to make… and that needs to be served with lashings of custard. The recipe told me. I got it from a fantastic little book called 101 Quick Fix Dishes, published by BBC Books, and I love that all the ingredients you need for it you’ll probably already have.
I’m on a mission at the moment to empty my pantry, so any dish that doesn’t require a quick run to the shops is a winner in my books!
Here’s the pudding (I made it for a dinner this evening):
And here’s the recipe, just in case you’re inspired to treat yourself! (Do it, I promise you won’t be disappointed…)
Gooey school treacle sponge
Ingredients:
6 overloaded, oozing tablespoons of golden syrup
100g butter, plus extra for the dish
100g sugar
2 eggs
Half a teaspoon of vanilla essence
100g self-raising flour
Custard, to serve
Butter a 1-litre baking dish, and dollop the syrup in the bottom.
Put the butter and sugar in a food processor (I used my Kenwood) and blitz until pale.
Beat in the eggs one by one, then the vanilla.
Add the flour and pulse until just mixed.
Scrape into the dish, on top of the syrup.
Bake at 180C for 30 minutes, until risen and golden.
Serve with lashings of custard.
YUMMY!!!
… And more than a little applicable to what we’ve been talking about this week!
“It is very difficult to understand what anybody else’s experience is. There aren’t enough words to really understand what anybody else is living. Physical beings want things to be the same. They want people to think the same. You work rather hard at sameness, but you will never win that battle, because from Nonphysical, diversity is known to be the most beneficial part of the game.”
Today I’m feeling much better… calmer and happier and altogether less troubled. Thanks for all the good advice!
I suppose it proves that emotions really are energy in motion, and that if you allow yourself to feel them, they’ll simply pass through you…
Today, though, I have a treat for you! Sofia Barao’s wonderful blog (check it out here) is doing a series of interviews with creative people, called Creative One’s, where she asks the same questions about special ‘ones’. Today she interviewed me… go and check it out (if you’re interested)! And then spend some time browsing through her beautiful website… I’m going to.
