Turning the grand age of 70 at this Stay-At-Home / Stay-Safe time & jigsaw wisdom

♥LOVE NOTE  – Monday 20th April, 2020

Dear beautiful People far and wide♡

I started a post a week after my 70th birthday on April 2nd and it’s now already a couple of weeks later. I’m working hard at getting back into the habit of writing again. Or more to the point, I’ve been putting in lots of effort NOT writing. It sure is challenging creating the habit again.

This is especially the case as ♡Shelton and I own up at this Stay-At-Home / Stay-Safe time as being binge-watching Netflix addicts  fanatics buffs enthusiasts devotees……

Now what is a word that describes that pastime that makes it sound like it’s a good thing to do?

We made the blunder of starting The Grand Hotel a couple of days ago with 5 episodes on the first evening…. Well, who would be able to stop after just one episode of this mix of intrigue, plot twists, mystery, secrets, lies, great characters, cross-class romance, family dynamics, murders and a Poirot-type murder inspector, a powerful matriarch and much more? 

When I tell you it is known as the “The Spanish Downton Abbey” I guess you will understand how compelling it is to have to watch episode after episode….Or not.

Remember one of the things I mentioned in my last post is that I’m exploring who/what is the new Me?
My new identity.
Post Fire. [P.F.]
Post 70.

Well one thing I’ve decided for sure is I am a Netflix addict  fanatic  buff  enthusiast  devotee especially in the genre of history dramas.

And I am also a writer. I told myself today is the day to write as it is now 4 weeks since the last post. I did have secret intentions of writing weekly but I’ll just have to work towards that! It looks like weekly was being overly ambitious. Something to aspire to though I am thinking.

Today is DAY 42 for us of physical isolation because of the Covid virus – 6 long weeks. We are now labelled as members of “the vulnerable elderly” so my birthday indulging, celebrating plans have been postponed till next year.

I do have so much to be grateful for though! I am touched by the many people who have shown up ‘online’ in some form or another, from so many parts of the world and from many parts of my life, to celebrate me for my 70th birthday.  How deeply connected we all are. Thank You. Thank You.

“The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers, and cities, but to know someone who thinks and feels with us, and who though distant is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden”
~ ♡Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit”
~ ♡Kahlil Gibran

At the end of the day I was feeling so full from Facebook and voice messages, talking on the phone and Facetime and spending  time with my family through a new App called Houseparty my sister set up for my family as we are all physically isolating.

My goodness, I think if this is how intense it is for my 70th, how amazing it is going to be for my 100th!! 😊 And I was most amused to receive a card from our local politician with birthday good wishes…

And messages are still trickling in. Each one I read feels cheering and gladdening….Yes, gladdening is a word!! I looked it up. The meaning is:

making someone feel good, to give pleasure, bring joy to, delight, ♡hearten…

And you have indeed done that to me!

I haven’t been able to respond to all of people’s good wishes and comments yet so please take these writings as a beginning of me responding to you. I have stepped back from all the online connections to savour them first, as well as spend time with just me doing some of the things that I looked forward to as birthday gifts to myself like:
– having a sauna.
– sleeping in late and lazing about reading.
– staying up late watching those history drama/movie/series on Netlflix.
– making yummie healthy food.
– going out in the garden and visiting with and picking a beautiful bunch of stunningly splendid roses.
– talking to my lemon tree and pumpkin plants telling them I am looking forward to harvesting and savouring their not-yet-ready delights.
–  singing, out loud of course, while picking a variety of tasty culinary herbs or home-grown superfoods is how I consider them….parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme ♪♫•*¨•.¸¸.•.such delicious goodness which I use as the base for most of my meals. Singing and humming along ♫♪….

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?♫♪….
parsley, sage, rosemary and thymmmmme……•**•♫♪♪
And yes, I am a long time fan of ♡Simon and ♡Garfunkel…55 years to be exact!

– and doing some dreaming about going on some new Adventures and thinking about treats for when we are not in isolation anymore.

AND add to all that – Oh No!

Oh Yes, they did….We started a J i g s a w Puzzle!! 😊

Now jigsaws are wonderful. Yet I’m sure many of you know that there’s a big problem/challenge in the way they are so time filling and seducing….like the feeling that every time one walks by there is a little ‘voice’ luring one in even though you’ve promised yourself you will get on with all those other tasks that ‘need’ doing.

Anyone else know what I mean?

And before you know it, you find yourself sitting at the table on the hunt for that alluring missing piece(s)….I’ve decided jigsaws are like the Sirens in Greek mythology who lured unwitting sailors with their enchanting music and singing voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Maybe these days they have embedded something like a computer microchip that works at a subconscious level to hypnotize innocent players to the table.

I was even ‘responsible’ in that I started using a timer with 15 minute blocks of time. Well that didn’t work. I found 3 hours of 15 minute time slots still equals 3 hours!!

But I am happy to report that I did redeem myself as we got nearer to almost finishing the puzzle by including listening at the same time to hour long interviews with my new best teacher, the wonderful Dr ♡Joe Dispenza.

That’s a tip to give yourself if you want a good reason to sit for hour after hour, day after day being an addict  fanatic  buff  enthusiast devotee j i g s a w puzzle builder.

I’m wondering now what they call someone who does jigsaw puzzles. I’ll just ask Mr Google that question. The answer is they are/I am A Dissectologist! 😊

Now I want to share with you a lovely story about jigsaw puzzles that comes from “Kitchen Table Wisdom, Stories That Heal” by ♡Rachel Naomi Remen that I read many, many years ago that I have never forgotten.

As a young girl of three or four she could remember looking at all the jigsaw pieces spread out on the table and seeing

“…some that were brightly colored and some dark and shadowy. The dark ones seemed like spiders or bugs, ugly and a little frightening…”

These made her feel uncomfortable so when no-one was around she hid them under one of the sofa cushions.

Her father always hid the box top with the picture on it to make it more of a challenge yet the puzzle was taking a very long time to finish. Her frustrated mother finally counted the pieces and discovered that more than a hundred pieces were missing. She asked the little girl if she had seen them and she showed her where she had hidden them. Her mother retrieved them and as she completed the puzzle she remembers watching her do this.

“…As piece after dark piece was put into place, and the picture emerged, I was astounded. I had not known there would be a picture. It was quite beautiful, a peaceful scene on a deserted beach. Without the pieces I had hidden, it had made no sense.”

I am telling you about the jigsaw story for a few reasons, the central one being to share some teachings that work for me in keeping my life in balance especially at times that are stressful and challenging.

At those times we mostly focus on the dark, scary, ugly, frightening, sometimes terrifying pieces.

It can even feel like we can’t even remember what the whole beautiful picture of how our life can look. And to be safe we often do what this young child did. We hide the scary, ugly pieces so we can’t see them and don’t look at them. We get rid of them, or we think we do.

So our challenge is how to keep looking when we are faced with those dark and shadowy pieces.

How to not get caught up in the ugly scary bits and how to look at things from a place of being curious, looking in a different way, from a different perspective.

A crucial part of resilience is being able to shift our perception.

Being able to look for and see and put our focus on the bigger picture whether that is in our life, or our relationships, or our partner, or anyone who feels like they are driving us crazy. And this is an important part of Dr ♡Joe’s work of breaking the habit of being yourself.

OK, our task then, is to get serious about paying attention to how we perceive things.

Journaling it. Taking notes. About life. About this pandemic. About relationships and our partners. Especially the stories we tell ourselves about those close to us. And about conflicts we are in, especially stuff that is repeating. About our beliefs and values. About our practices and actions. About our automatic ways of doing things. Becoming aware of our own reality/perspective/opinions.

Uncovering the lens/filter/bias we perceive the world/reality through.

I am going to leave it there because that’s lots to think about…

I hope you are enjoying this beautiful day wherever you are in our wonderful world. Please Stay safe, Stay at Home and use this time as a gift.

Let’s welcome all the pieces and watch as the full picture emerges. Maybe that’s the message to myself for this new year and whole new decade. 

Allways ♡LOVE & much Blessings ♥

            ‘In such ugly times, the only true protest is beauty.” ~ ♡Phil Ochs

PS: It would be great to know who’s out there reading if you would be willing to leave a short comment Hello. Not so short ones welcome too…. It’s been a long time since I’ve connected with many of  you♥