Queues

A friend of mine just posted on face book that he is "waiting in a queue". Not for the modern man or woman an abnormal act. We wait in queues at the supermarket when wanting to purchase cheese or meat, then again at the check out counter, when we want to pay or at the traffic lights when driving or at the theatre, when waiting to show your ticket, to be let in. The list of queuing options is never ending. What makes the comment of interest is my friend wrote only several weeks ago, that he was waiting in a queue on the Highway 5 in Germany for what he termed the very last time! Once he moved to the United States and began his "new life" queues would be old stories to be rehashed when the grandchildren visited as he enjoyed his twilight years. Or at least that was the impression he gave.  Think again my friend! 

Queues are something we humans have unconsciously developed in my opinion to create "quite thinking time".

Without this needed space to pause, we would find that often our most inspiring moments or creative ideas just never came about. It is when we stand behind the flustered mother at the cheese counter feeling over whelmed by the choices she has to make between mild or matured Cheddar, that we inwardly say we will not be so indecisive in our choices. We know exactly which cheese our hubby likes or our daughter rejects - "or is it the other way around?"

The pause at the traffic light allows us to practice calm breathing and focused loving thoughts. But if the car behind us keeps creeping forward, ignoring totally the fact that the car in front of me is standing stock still making any movement on my part impossible we must react. Getting out of the queue.

Queues are the modern day coffee breaks. Time out from a day filled to the brim with appointments, hobbies, and obligations from our families, work environment, spouses, friends and our own egos. They allow us to reflect if the decision(s) we are undertaking are productive If the direction we are headed in is beneficial. Or if perhaps we really should go to bed an hour earlier each evening instead of trying to see if the world has changed by watching the midnight news.

Queues give us breathing space to take check on the pace at which we are grabbing at life. Maybe they are just showing us we are holding on too tight!

Your Korus 

I am

I am ...

what my mother made me

from the "feelings" she planted in me.

I am ...

what my father made me

from the "feelings"  he handed down to me.

I  am ...

what I made out of myself

from the "feelings" I have chosen

to let grow in me.

My past, my present and my higher self 

that guides me.

It is with these "feelings"

I embrace the world,

painting upon the canvas it gives,

for my realities

to come about.

Allowing me, 

to be

that which

I am...

Your Korus

Stepping into quietness

One is able to step into quietness in the same manner as one-steps into a church. You need only to have intention as well as an unswerving determination to make a conjunction. 

Have you heard the saying that quietness is a shy doe! She will not just walk right up to you and spellbind you with her stare. You need to create the atmosphere in which she can take a stand by you and feel secure in your presence. Knowing that your inner quietness will allow her to guide your awareness into another dimension.

Your Korus

tasted my waste; don´t like taste!

Have you given any thought to the fact that you have formed and put into place the pathway you now walk upon? Your past actions and reactions have you now standing in the shoes you wear today.

One of my past patterns I wish to put a permanent change to involve the main overall theme of food. It requires three steps, that are woven together hence the need to be put all into place at once. Each one is important to the whole concept "we are what we eat, in mind, body and spirit".

Firstly I should mention that I purchase organic, regionally grown food. I eat seasonal foods when they are in season. I am an avid believer of the slow food philosophy. My food consciousness as a restaurant owner is always being “upgraded” through a natural desire to take care of our environment, the animals and plants we share this planet with and us as a species. So that said, here are my three steps.

The first step: finally only to purchase food that I know I like.  I have done the experimentation with twenty flavours of mustard or the new tofu varieties of burgers for years. Too often the glamour item ended up growing hairs in the fridge, as we all choose around it, instead of for it, during the next mealtime. I know what I like. So I will only buy that item.

The second step is to buy small because it will still be more than big enough. I notice when shopping that I often feel I should have one or two more of this or that. Or perhaps go for the larger packet. More than not the extra purchase has only ended up being redirected later, into a concoction that no one enjoys. If I have a little less I would appreciate the item more as well as looking forward to eating it again soon.

The third step is cook only for two. This is a challenge, as now with our household reducing in size (as the children go off to study) my eyes and mind have to make the adjustment. When we were four, I cooked for ten. The feeling that perhaps a friend could be brought home or there wouldn’t be enough for the hunger one felt (a boarding school phobia which I’ll whisper about another time) had me often adding extra slices and dices to the pot. Now I am getting the portions right for four but we are only two - yikes! Though I must add while Pokie, our Border collie, doesn’t like the leftover chilly Chinese wok toss, he is not impartial to whole meal pasta! So if I aim for one to start with perhaps it will come together as a double portion.

Why these steps in the first place you ask yourself? You think just eat the left over’s or toss them away when there are no takers. In my answer lies the whole purpose of why. I want to get rid of the disposable idea that I have a scarcity before it creates the unnecessary reality of more.

This is so important I will say it again: I feel, think that I have a scarcity, so I will purchase more than I need even if it means wasting over half of what I have brought! This is ending now. I want to knowingly purchase less food. I want to eat less food. I want to throw no food away. I want to feed my body quality products that the environment, plant and animal life and fellow human beings, do not need to suffer for (i.e. as in the form of water wastage, land abuse, genetically manipulating plants or animals or chemical pollution).

I have tasted the waste from my stupidity and I do not like it’s flavour! The cooking spoon I intend to swing about now should allow ripples of change to flow out in various directions creating less waste along the food chain. Even if it only starts upon our two plates when we eat it, it will be the beginning of a new pathway.

Your Korus

life transforms itself

I find it very interesting to watch how my life transforms itself, when I make the consciousness decision to be aware of what I say, do and undertake. 

An important section of my further personal development began two and half years ago, with saying goodbye to my grandfather, who at 95 years of age was going rapidly health wise, down hill. I had flown alone to Australia, for a period of five weeks, so that I could be absolutely “present”. Nearing the end of my visit I sat one evening on the cliffs of Danger Point at Tweed Heads overlooking the sea, as the tail of a cyclone touched the tip of the coastline. The turbulence over the water reflected what I had been through emotionally in the past weeks. Embracing the skyline was a half rainbow whose colours vibrated as they reached down from the sky to water.  I had cleared my mind and was melding with my environment when two dolphins sprang from the waves, heading up the coastline into calmer waters. I was fascinated. I watched them spring several times before losing eye contact.  For me the whole scene held a magical quality that I felt inwardly resonate with me. I was being shown it is all right to go forward now. I could realize my past. 

When I returned home I made the decision to “reduce” in all areas of my life. This action required me firstly to evaluate where was the “cut” dramatically needed now or not so necessary. One very important lesson I had learned in the past five weeks was not to be pushed into something, in which I felt, was not the path I wanted to take. So I began as most do with sorting the wardrobe and shoe closet. Giving to friends or the Red Cross clothes bin. Then came the children’s books, videos, puzzles and games which the kindergarten loved receiving. I had sown a lot of carnival costumes over the years for my children and these the school gladly accepted with the idea to rent them out, so that a source of money for the various festive times could be generated. Each month more items found new homes and I felt lighter and more able to concentrate on what I wanted to get done. 

Now it is time for a next level to be cleared. Over the past two days I have found a book I finished, a magazine I read and a film that I watched overlapped several times in both reference to people or actions. The book was “29 gift’s” by Cami Walker and has a very important statement of recognizing “God consciousness + giving = gratitude”. Being aware of why we give and doing it from a place of love (the heart) makes you experience a whole new level of awareness. The magazine article by Eva Ierman was on living a minimalist life style and knowing why you are undertaking this path.  Realizing a why of  “being” is giving you more time to live. The film “Am Anfang war das Licht - Licht ernähren” (In the beginning there was light - living off light) gave you a chance to look at an unconventional topic from both a scientific, psychological and holistic stand then make your own judgment on why one would undertake this. 

The fact that my intuitive side recognizes the resemblance, before my brain does is also fascinating.  I was being guided. The parallel in all three items was showing that it is now time for a clearance of what is not needed within me. Thought processes, routines and actions that are not uplifting, unhealthy or hurting habits are now to be released. To step forward upon my next level of personal transformation requires a personal commitment to myself. It opens up new possibilities and routes that I would not have thought of taking. It allows me to love the world and how I stand in it, with a passion.

I would say my next level of clearance will allow room perhaps for achieving a higher level of acceptance for everything as a whole without boundaries. This statement holds an exciting amount of potential. I have started. I’ll keep you informed.

Your Korus

At the end of the week

At the end of a week

one often thinks upon

what was

what could have been and

what is still to come on the weekend.

So what do you wait for?

Your daily run

Someone to take you out on the town or

to go for a drive i

n the countryside?

Do you need to beg for attention

or have you friends and family,

to enjoy your free time with?

Whatever rolls around for you

from Friday night onwards;

please let it not be the only 

highlight of your life.

Each day of the week should be 

treasured, nourished and loved.

Friday is only

one in seven days

to be seen

as a chance,

to live your life,

how you want it to be.

Your Korus 

Waiting on Friday

Do you wait always for Friday to arrive or do you grab each day by the horns? At the end of a week one often thinks upon what was; what could have been and what is still to come in the form of the weekend. So what do you think of on Mondays?  Are you off making lists of all you wish to do over the next six days?  Or are you clearing off your desk of last week’s remains for the new weeks work to build up on.  Whether you term yourself a "top of the week starter" or a "weekend beauty" to me what matters the most is that you embrace today to live in the now.  

It is great to be a list person if you’re learnt to tick the items off.  Hats off to you if your a journal guy or girl whom can plan, paste and post-it, so that all falls into place.  Or if you’re a go with the flow type, whom waits to see in which direction your feet feel like walking.  All are great, if you know how to play the upper hand in getting the most out of your daily living. It doesn’t require a dramatic life-shaking event for you to begin to open your eyes and see that this moment is the best you’ll have in the present situation.  It requires just a slight shift of your view at what you are looking upon.

What you yourself see now, that is your present reality.   It is your valuation of what is, which is real and nothing else matters.  If you want to see the flowers when walking to work, hear the laughter on a babies lips when it’s blowing bubbles, feel the Sunshine's warmth seep deep into your tired shoulders while waiting at the bus stop, you will.  If you prefer to look into the shadowy side, that to is what you will experience.  Live in the moment you stand in now with awareness. 

Life - Love it, embrace it, and cherish it. For it is only yours for a short while! 

Your Korus