New Year, New Journey

Almost everyone does it at this time of year. I'm talking about making resolutions. Wikipedia tells us that A New Year's resolution is a commitment that a person makes to one or more personal goals, projects, or the reforming of a habit.  It also says that 88% of resolutions actually fail. I wonder if that's because we are all generally creatures of habit and if a resolution is particularly uncomfortable or challenging, we give up after about 3 weeks and then defer it to next season. 

You can resolve to do, or not do, lots of things but I think that unless your hand is forced or circumstances dictate you have no other choice but to take a different direction, you may never actually fulfill a resolution. Maybe good resolutions are borne from loss and a strength to follow a particular journey even when you don't know what's around the
next corner. It makes sense to resolve to be brave in the face of adversity, steadfast in the pursuit of life affirming relationships, wise in the care of people that you love and strong in the conviction that good things will be around the next corner. 

It's always good to start a new exercise program or lose 10 kilos, but unless your doctor tells you your life depends on it, the siren call of chocolate at night may be stronger than your resolve. 

This year, for the first time in many years I will be making more resolutions stemming from a change in life direction than for any other reason.  2012 has been a shocker on many levels, but a blessing in others. The shape of things to come does rely, in part, on my ability to maintain resolve. It also requires me to move forward whist releasing. Not an easy ask. 

As we approach the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, I pray a strong sense of resolution comes over those of you who have lost in order to gain something different, more or better. I'm right there with you. 

And for the rest of you who find yourself in a season of moderate renewal, I wish you all the very best in your weightloss journey, and hope that the chocolate remains in the cupboard for you. 

Happy New Year to you, wherever you find yourself.

Back to blogging

People who know me well would know that I have a minor in uni in Religion, so I do give quite a bit of thought to faith and things that make up faith for other people. The Christmas season seems a appropriate time to consider how, a little baby, born in a manger- the most humble of circumstances could be relevant in our world. What could this story,from so long ago, possibly provide us in a world of busy-ness, iThings and our struggle to not just survive, but be more than we are? The short answer, I think, centres around Hope. People 2000+ years ago were looking for hope. Hope that someone or something could make a significant difference in their lives. There is nothing different today. If you are a parent, you know how you felt the first time you saw your new baby. He or she was full of promise, brimming with all the hope and promise of a life yet to be lived. There is something marvellous about not knowing what this child will do...but knowing that he or she will change your life forever. Even though we know the story of the baby in the manger, His parents would have felt the same thing. The world as we know it could definitely use some hope. All of the brokenness that exists cannot be fixed or solved by determination alone. If we could have fixed everything by determination, we might have done alright by now. Still- people get sick, loved ones have struggles, families are broken and lives are shattered. What is it that keeps us all moving forward then? Hope. Hope that what we do can make a difference. Hope that wellness can be restored to the ill. Hope that there is opportunity around the corner. Hope that shattered lives can be made whole again. This is the hope, the promise of whole ness, of wellness and of reconciliation of something broken. 2012 has been a challenging year for many people, including myself. But at this time of year, it is worth considering hope and promise. Maybe the birth of a child in humble circumstances has changed something for all of us? Maybe it's worth thinking about. Even if you are not particularly religious, there is something about the hope and promise of new life, in the midst of brokenness, that moves us all forward. I wish you, wherever you are, new life and brilliant hope and promise during this season and every day of the year.

Hi! Thanks to everyone who has been following my adventures! I just wanted to let you know that I'll be taking time off soon from my day job and you can look forward to more interesting posts about life in Oz soon! Look for more in July! M

I think this will be a short blog, although, you never can tell. Here's what I'm thinking today... First, count your blessings and secondly, shit happens. I know, on the surface this doesn't make much sense, but let me try to clarify. I work for an organization that tries to do really good things for people and I was incredibly confronted today. Without going into heaps of detail, let me just say this about blessings.... 1.) If your tummy has always been full as a child- you are blessed. 2.) If you have had parents or people you could confide in and trust- you are blessed. 3.) If you have lived in a safe house- you are blessed. 4.) If you were able to go to school, you are blessed. 5.) If someone was influential in your life to allow you to stand up for yourself- you are blessed. 6.) If someone loved you enough to show you right from wrong- you are blessed. 7.) If someone encouraged you in your life, even when things seemed bleak- you are blessed. 8.) If you have a sense of hope for the future- you are blessed. 9.) If you've never been directly involved in a war as a soldier or a refugee, you are blessed. 10.)If you have been loved, you are blessed. Shit happens. Bad stuff, unplanned stuff, weird stuff, scary stuff, personal stuff, embarrassing stuff, crazy stuff... But you know what? It's just that. Stuff. If you have been: safe, Fed, Loved, Encouraged, Lived in peace, Guided, Educated and Supported... I believe that you have a heap of blessings that will help you get through whatever stuff you are going through. Really, we are all a lot more blessed than we imagine. That's what I'm thinking about tonight.

Refresh

Rain. You have all seen it. Depending on the part of the world you live in, you will see it more or less than others. I'm originally from Oregon. In Oregon, you definitely have rain and lots of it. There is a big, wet price to pay for perpetual green landscapes. My Australian husband spent almost 10 years in Oregon. Every morning, he'd look out the window and say, "Oh look, it's raining...again". You could count on rain of some sort at least 9 months of the year. Rain never bothered me really. I suppose I looked forward to the sun, but having never considered myself someone who would spend a great deal of time outdoors because of my work, it didn't really matter if it was sunny or rainy. And then I moved to Perth. Perth has what they call a Mediterranean climate. I suppose that means it's supposed to be fairly temperate here, at least on the Indian Ocean where I live. I can tell you though, at least 6 months out of the year it is dry, and probably three months of the year it is dry and bloody hot (as I've mentioned in a previous post).After all the hot, and all the dry, if you are lucky, you get RAIN. Tonight, it is raining, and it is cool-two things that don't happen together very often. When it rains here, you get some amazing scents. Rain brings out the smell of the eucalyptus trees. There are ones that smell like peppermint, and ones that smell like lemon and ones that smell like cough drops. I can smell the earthiness of the sandy soil, the freshness of the grass, and the cleansing of the bitumen on my street. All in all, with the rain, the cool and the light breeze,the world feels refreshed. Greens seem greener, birds are happier, air is cleaner, and everything seems new. Rain refreshes, it reinvigorates, it makes things new. I imagine this rain clearing out the hot, dry and dusty of everything, including me, and refreshing it all. What a wonderful feeling! Everything and everyone needs refreshing now and again. I hope that you too, wherever you are, can find some rain-literal or figurative. I hope you can find something that makes you feel refreshed. Maybe that's beautiful music, the soothing sounds of the rain, the wind blowing in your hair or a soft springtime breeze. Whatever it is, when you feel it, close your eyes and breathe it in. Let it do it's job to refresh you and make you new. Me? I'll be sitting here in my shorts and a jumper with my eyes closed right beside you on the other side of the world feeling....refreshed.

What would you do?

There is a quote that's been running around my head for the last few days. I wonder if you've heard it? It goes something like this... "What would you do if you knew you could not fail?" I know. It sounds like something you might find on a bumper sticker, or as a little caption in a calendar somewhere. It probably has featured on both of those items when you think about it. In any case, usually quotes don't stay with me. The last quote that stuck into my head was probably something related to a song like, "Dont worry, be Happy". You're welcome. Now you'll have that song stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Back to the quote- if you have kids, especially ones that have not hit the season of teenage angst, you can see the philosophy of this quote played out every day. For example, if I knew I would not fail, I would climb to the highest point in the tree in the park and JUMP! I would get on the computer and make a movie. I would ride my skateboard down the biggest hill I could find and I will go faster than the car coming behind me. I will be famous. I will be President (or Prime Minister).... You get the idea. At some point, and I'm not sure when, we become cautious. We might fail, actually...and sometimes that makes us afraid to try. It makes us worried that if we do try, we might fail and look really silly on the process. Sometimes the consequences of failure to successfully execute a dream are too frightening to consider. You might lose your savings, you might lose your job or you might even lose a relationship. So, we play it safe. We move into the next season of our lives sometimes thinking, "I could have been that...done that...or seen that". ....but there are times when we can't ignore the voice inside that urges us to be more than we are, bigger than we are or just less afraid of being who we are. It's the kid voice, the dreaming voice that believes we cannot fail if we try. It urges us on and we knock it back with many sensible excuses. But what if? What if....we did do something knowing we could not fail. What if we believed it? It just might be that amazing things could happen. That's what I've been thinking lately. Amazing things could happen when we do something big, in the knowledge that we will not fail. Big. Huge. Things. After all, wasn't it Edison who said something like he didnt fail 1000 times, but learned 1000 ways not to do something? Here's the challenge...do something today or tomorrow knowing that you cannot fail. If you don't get it right, think of it as an opportunity to learn how not to do it and try again. Let me know how it goes. Just be careful of those hills on your skateboard.

Let me tell you how I lost my mind. I was sitting on a rock...not just any rock, but a volcanic-y, limestone-y rock that had been in this particular place, in this particular bay, for much longer than I've been on this earth. The rock was rough under me, the sun was warm on my legs, sandy toes and face. I was looking at the sun light reflecting on the little waves that were rolling into this bay. I heard the sea and reflected with awe the beauty of it that I had just seen as I had been snorkeling. There was a Rock Cod with bright orange lips and the friendly Bream that made me laugh out loud under water because of their curiosity...the Angel fish who are beautiful and the Parrot fish with their babies. Then, there were the sounds...mostly the clicking you hear when crayfish are near but the different sounds of a life under water. I sat on this rock and lost my mind, and it was wonderful. I don't know about you, but I'm the sort of person who makes lists. When I have time off be it a weekend or a couple of days, my mind always turns to the things I could or should be doing. There are lists for work, lists for the family, and lists for just about everything. I think a lot of energy goes into these lists, written or mental. As I was sitting there on this rock, I realized that I was not making lists. I was not planning for the future, I wasn't even thinking about lunch. I had, in effect, lost my mind! My mind was truly lost, in the moment! It was a most liberating feeling. It wasn't that anything was possible,it was more that it didn't really matter... Could it be that I had lost my mind and given my control to a moment in time? I was astounded. I surrendered. It was liberating. Could I go back home, away from this bay and lose my mind and surrender control? Would my life be different if I could? Or couldn't? All I can really say was that the awareness of losing control was hard hitting. Maybe if I was less concerned with control, and more concerned with the awareness of losing it, I'd be able to tell which control was important and which things I should just let go. I think we go through different phases of losing control as we get older. Some things, we can't control...you will not be able to control your spouse or the opinions of your teenage son. But, you might be able to control where you live, how long you will live there and how you will leave this earth. I hope that wherever you are that you will be able to lose your mind and lose control for a moment. It may get you thinking.

A Change of Season

There is almost nothing I anticipate more than the changing of seasons in Perth from hot weather to cool. Technically, there are four seasons, but in reality, I think there are three. These are: cold and rainy, absolutely beautiful and stinking, bloody hot. During summer- that's December through February, it's stinking hot. Stinking hot can start as early as November and it can be stinking hot even into April. Today is the last day of March. Today, it was breezy and cool-ish. There is a chill in the air of an evening and thoughts turn toward the antipation of Winter activities...like wearing pants.
Even the birds are happy. You can hear it in their songs. I don't know all my Australian birds, but the Kookabura is unmistakable. Today, I was over at my mother in laws house and the Kookaburas were laughing themselves silly. The other birds around took their lead and there was a full orchestra of birdsong within a few moments. The combination of a light breeze and that lovely birdsong put me in a state of perfect bliss. The birds know that the earth around here is headed for a season of renewal- out of the brain burning heat and haze to a place of cool clarity which will hopefully include some rain. My youngest son wouldn't remember being an infant in Oregon, but when he sees clouds, he says to me, "I just LOVE these days". A child after my heart.
I have heard references to people's lives having seasons and I just love that. Isn't it true? We have seasons full of new life and joy and seasons which are sad and full of loss. Lately I've equated a season of loss with intense heat and haziness. When we are young, life is full of promise and we see seasons of potential. When we are older, we have seasons which can be characterized by loss, but in there I'm sure there is also a sense of promise that those seasons won't last forever. That's the lovely thing about seasons both in nature and in life...every so often they change and there is hope and promise in that.
No matter where you are in the world today, I hope that you are enjoying both the season of nature you are in as well as the season of life you find yourself in. If not, take heart that change is just around the corner.

Where are you from?

When I'm out and about doing my work thing here in Perth, or I meet someone for the first time, often people ask me, "Where are you from"? Since I've been living in Perth for almost 11 years now, sometimes I tell them I'm from Mullaloo (my suburb) just to play with them a little bit. Then they look at me funny and say, "No....I mean where are you FROM"? People here don't usually try to guess whether you are from the US or Canada because apparently sometimes this is a touchy subject. Go figure. Anyway, when I say I'm American, they usually tell me really good stories about the time that they visited the US-usually LA or New York.
In my office, many of us are "transplants" here. Frankly, you wouldn't move to the most isolated capital city in the world unless you had a good reason.
My friends here are from all over the world and I find it fascinating. In a single day I can speak to people who were raised in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, India, China, South Africa, Singapore, Canada, and the Netherlands. You can imagine the variety of perspectives you can get on just about any topic! Even the way we describe things is different. Here, I use the lift and go to the loo. I have a coworker who tells me I'm "pure dead brilliant" and calls me "poppet". I put petrol in my car. I ring people on my mobile and I go to the newsagent to buy lotto tickets or a paper. We don't have much ketchup, but we do have a lot of tomato sauce.
For all the differences between us, all of us have something in common, no matter where in the world you came from....we are all getting older. People older than we are are getting older too! That's a gift! Really!!
Given than that I work in community aged care, it makes me think a lot about this ageing thing. What types of support and services will I want when I'm older? What will my parents want? How can I make a difference now to what is available for all of us later? Where in the world has really good supports and networks for older people? How can we make those work here?
I'm just curious....does this ever cross your mind? Do you know of some really fabulous models for ageing, anywhere in the world? Have you had a particularly good or bad experience with aged care for a relative? Drop me a comment and let me know what you think. I'm multilingual in American and Australian, so I'll be able to work out what you're saying. :)

Things are different here!

Over the past decade, many people have asked me, "Why did you move to Australia"? There would be lots of good answers to that question, I suppose, and it just depends on the context. Other parents would understand if I told them I moved here to let the kids be kids longer, or that living in a sunny climate was good for kids because they could be outside. Work mates who know me well would understand if I said I thought the type of work I do is full of opportunity in Australia. People who are married to partners from other countries understand if I say I came because my husband is from here. All of these things are most certainly true, but the thing that drew me here most strongly, and continues to keep me in love with this place is, it's different here.
When I say it's different, I mean it's really different from where I started in Portland, Oregon.
Oregon is cold, Perth is hot. Oregon is green. Perth....not so much. Oregon has beautiful rugged coastlines. Perth has white sandy beaches and the surf patrol people in their iconic hats. Perth has kangaroos, and colourful birds. Ever seen a pink and grey bird fly through your backyard? How about a bright green, blue and red one?
Yes, these things are different.
What is also different is a strong sense of community that comes through in Australia. America certainly has this in places as well, but I feel it most strongly here.
But it makes me wonder....if there is such a strong sense of community and it is so different, why are people still isolated, and why is the Australian government having as much trouble as the rest of the world in trying to figure out the best way to "care" for older people over the next few years?
I have some ideas and some things I'd like to explore. I hope you'll give me some of your ideas and we can explore this together. Hopefully One day we can all say the same thing about the place we call home...it's different here!