Bridget McNulty

Wise words:

// December 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Inspiration, Life (and the living of it)

I found this quote by Caroline Myss, an extremely wise lady and medical intuitive (crazy, hey?) and I thought you might like it…

“So how do we do it?
We just do it.

I think the best counsel I can give anybody is this:

Live one day at a time,

Keep your attention in the present time,

Have no expectations,

Make no judgements,

And give up the need to know why things happen as they do.

Give it up!
It’s lethal and it’s costing you your cell tissue.”

To find out more about Caroline Myss, or listen to some of her excellent CDs, visit http://www.myss.com/

A sudden brainwave:

// December 4th, 2009 // No Comments » // Blogs, Inspiration, Life (and the living of it)

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?

The Uniform Project.

// August 27th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Blogs, Inspiration

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!

Check it out: http://www.theuniformproject.com/
Doesn’t it make you want to dress crazier?

(And for more frequent blog posts, be sure to head over to Sweet Life – my travelling blog).

Beautifully said…

// July 31st, 2009 // No Comments » // Inspiration, Life (and the living of it)

… 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.”

Find more inspiration here.

When was the last time…

// July 20th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Cape Town, Decisions, Inspiration, Life (and the living of it)

… You took time out to nourish your spirit? Spirit, soul, inner being, choose your hippy name of choice. When’s the last time you paid it some attention?

I think of myself as a generally even-tempered person. I am, most days, pretty happy and cheerful, and I don’t (often) get irritated by little things. But on Saturday evening I noticed that everything was irritating me. The smallest things felt like they were getting under my skin, and itching like sand under a swimming costume.

I started ticking off all my usual reasons for irritation – hunger (no), tiredness (no), not enough alone-time (no, not exactly). And then I realised that what I was really craving was not necessarily alone time, but spirit time….

I’m slowly becoming rather good at nourishing my body. I sleep enough, I don’t work too hard, I eat well – the physical side of me is pretty much thriving. But I’ve been neglecting the spiritual side lately. I’ve fooled myself into thinking that if I take time out to read, that’s taking time out for my soul. But it’s not!

So I woke up early(ish) on Sunday morning, and took myself off to the spare room, where everything was quiet and still. I made myself a cup of tea, lit a candle, and read through my philosophy notes (from the practical philosophy classes I’ve been taking over the last couple of months). It was still, and peaceful, and I could feel my inner self filling up, like a watering can under a faucet. It opened up a part of me that has been sleeping for the past couple of weeks, too concerned with planning the outside world to take some much-needed time and space for the inside world.

After about an hour, I felt heaps better. Calmer, more inspired, happier. Not frazzled or irritable. More in tune with the world. What about you? When was the last time you took some time out to nourish your spirit?

“We can make our mind so like still water that beings gather about us to see their own images, and so for a moment live a clearer, perhaps even fiercer, life because of our quiet.” W.B. YEATS.

What do you want from life-right-now?

// July 16th, 2009 // 6 Comments » // Decisions, Inspiration, Life (and the living of it), travelling

It’s an interesting question, isn’t it?

I was thinking about it last night, oddly enough, when I saw a picture of a hand-drawn robin. You know, the bird? And it reminded me of a fairy tale that my parents read to me when I was a little girl, which made me realise that for one of the first times in my life, I’m not nostalgic for childhood… I’ve been nostalgic for childhood for most of my life – I remember it as a pretty wonderful time, and that feeling of being looked-after is pretty hard to beat (clearly, I’m one of the few people in the world who had a happy childhood!)

So when I realised that the red-breasted robin wasn’t making me want the past, I thought about what I wanted from the future.
My own child? Lordy no, not for a few years yet.
My own home? Surprisingly, no. I’ve loved loved loved being here in my beautiful flat for the last year, but I’m itchy to get moving (unusual for someone so in love with nesting).
A straight career path? Umm… no thanks.
A wedding? Not right now, thanks for asking.

So if I don’t want any of the above (the ordinary answers for a 27-year-old, I think) what do I want?

I want to travel. I want the uncertainty, the excitement, the thrill of discovering new things every day. I want to explore and discover and not know exactly where I’m going next. I want to be nomadic for a while.

Which is pretty good timing, I suppose, seeing as I’m about the embark on a Round-the-World trip, but I’ve never felt like this before, so it’s all quite unusual. Or maybe I have felt like this, I just never took the time to ask myself if I was looking for something out of the straight and narrow.

So that’s the question I’m asking you:
What do YOU want from life-right-now?

PS: If you, like me, are insatiably curious and like knowing a little bit more about what’s around the bend, check out the interview I did on Sweet Life (our Round-the-World blog) with a woman who’s travelled all over the world… with her diabetic husband!

A quiet, restful spot…

// July 14th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Blogs, Decisions, Inspiration, Life (and the living of it)

I’m feeling a tad overwhelmed, I must be honest, with all the many many many things we need to get done before we leave IN 7 WEEKS!! 7 weeks. Crikey Moses.

My mind is an ever-scrolling list of Things to Do.

So when I feel like this I like to take a deep breath, in and out, and find a quiet, restful spot to dwell in for a few moments.

Here is my latest – The Way of the Happy Woman: http://www.thewayofthehappywoman.com/

It’s the blog of a yoga teacher and lovely soul trying her best to navigate life and be a happy woman. So much of it resonates with me… Her constant search for the right balance in life, the need for rest when life gets too exciting, the necessity of taking time out to nourish your soul.

I spend ten minutes on her blog and I feel like I’ve caught my breath. If that’s not a gift, I don’t know what is!

The little joys in life:

// July 13th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Cape Town, Inspiration, Life (and the living of it)

I had a weekend full of the little joys in life…

I met up with old friends,

Stayed in bed late and got served breakfast in bed by my man (and a REAL breakfast in bed, too! Freshly squeezed orange juice, yoghurt and fruit, toast and tea),

Spent hours reading,

Watched a romantic comedy with two of my girlfriends,

Had wintry snuggle time on the couch,

Baked crumpets,

Drank tea and shared stories with a dear friend,

Cleared out my cupboards,

And had a delicious dinner (by candlelight) with my brother and sister-in-law.

It was an ordinary weekend, I suppose – nothing major happened – but it was so full of sparkling moments that I’m entering my week feeling all filled up. And that is a pretty extraordinary feeling, don’t you think?

PS – Don’t you love clearing out your cupboards? I’m only keeping things that I really love, and getting rid of everything else (in anticipation for our trip) and I feel lighter and free-er already!

Food for thought…

// July 10th, 2009 // No Comments » // Inspiration, Life (and the living of it)

I got this in an email this morning, and thought it was really rather thought-provoking!

“It is those who have a deep and real inner life who are best able to deal with the irritating details of outer life.” Evelyn Underhill.

What do you think?
Scarily true, perhaps?

It’s only on days when I feel strung out and as if life is all on the surface that those surface details really get to me… What about you?

10 things we learnt from the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009:

// June 29th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Inspiration, Life (and the living of it), Philosophy

I know, I know! Me, writing about sport? Impossible!
Except… The Confederations Cup was played in South Africa, which got me interested in it, and there were some big surprises, which got me even more interested, and then South Africa made it into the final four, which got me hooked!

Here, then, life lessons learnt from soccer:

1. Nothing is ever certain until the final whistle blows.

2. You might think you know where the game is headed, but that can all change in the 90th minute.

3. Underdogs can become finalists.

4. You can’t only defend; you can’t only attack.

5. South African fans are the most colourful, the most enthusiastic and, yes, the loudest.

6. No matter what country you’re from, when the camera focuses on you, you will jump up and down like a crazy thing.

7. Bafana Bafana know how to play soccer.

8. Our players might be small, but they’re tough. (Not like some other players, who fall over if you look at them funny.)

9. Soccer really is the beautiful game.

10. South Africa is ready for the World Cup in 2010. Not quite 100% ready, but it won’t be the disaster many predicted. It might just be one of the most exciting months of our lives.

(Want to read what other people have to say about this? Read the same post on ThoughtLeader – and check out the comments!)