My favourite things

Once in while I’m so in the zone it just feels bizarre. I see things I’m “meant” to see, hear things “intended” for me and just basically find all sorts of inspirations. And so it was today that I was suddenly thrown into this vortex. I guess that in recent weeks I’ve been trying to ask myself some of the powerful questions that the gurus suggest you should be asking yourself on a daily basis: “What’s my unique gift to the world?” or “What makes me happy”. Well, a few minutes of thinking about it earlier in the day and there I was in the gym, trying out the rowing machine, when out jumped the word “goal” ahead of me. I could see it written on a running machine to denote how much time had been used or calories burned. I just focused on the word.

And I don’t recall what music had been on my iPod prior to all of this but up popped the song “My Favourite Things”. It was a version of the song by Al Jarreau (it’s safe to say I don’t have much Julie Andrews in my collection) and all of a sudden I felt more aligned. Yes, it could all have been something about nothing and might not last long but at least for a little while things felt different. I simply remembered my favourite things then I didn’t feel so bad…

Words

I always love reading inspirational writing. It gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling that just seems to come from nowhere. Let’s face it, they’re just words. No one has come up to me and given me a big old hug, handed me a winning lottery ticket or promised me that I wouldn’t age a single day from hereon in. But words of inspirational always add a certain something.

Sometimes they help me reframe my little old world into seeing it as a big and wonderful abundant universe. Sometimes they help me remember the great memories I had from another, more carefree time. I could go on. Bottom line is, for me, words of inspiration add value rather than subtract.

But then what? You’ve had the non-saccharine sugar rush and you’re flying higher than a kite. But what happens next? For me – and it won’t be the same for everyone – for the sensation to last a little longer I need to act upon it. I don't have to do anything big. It doesn’t necessarily need to be relevant to what I’ve just read. It just needs to be something that reinforces my mood. Anything that kind of reflects some gratitude for what I've just read really. And today having fallen upon some wonderful insights from Jim Rohn I was inspired to just get down some thoughts of my own. And here we are - actions speaking louder than words and all that.

Glad that I live am I

You know those days when you can't get a song out of your head you'd heard earlier on the radio. Every time you get a bit of silence you just keep on getting that catchy chorus jingling between your ears.

Well, imagine the song that keeps on playing isn't one you've just heard but is in fact one you can safely say you haven't heard since you were about nine or ten years old. That kind of happened to me last week. I don't know where it came from or why it did but I recalled a ditty we used to sing in school assembly: "Glad That I Live Am I".

I'm guessing I was having one of those really good days, where everything felt right with the world. We all have them, probably not often enough. But we all have them. And so it was the song just popped into my head and the words - that hadn't left me after all these years - seemed to make so much sense to me. It was a good day:

Glad that I live am I,
That the sky is blue.
Glad for the country lanes
And the fall of dew.

After the sun the rain,
After the rain the sun,
This is the way of life,
Til the work be done.

All that we need to do,
Be we low or high,
Is to see that we grow
Nearer the sky.

What the world needs now

Well, there we have it. One whole year of blogging. It was only last January after months and months of umming and ahhing that I finally got round to putting something down. And what a fun experience it's been as well! Even writing it down and reading back months later is a learning experience for me. It's kind of like looking back at a thoughtful diary without the moany and stressy stuff.

Okay, I kind of messed up on the blog address and blog name - basically I was determined to have a Burt Bacharach moment but ended up using two song titles rather than a more sensible one title. Hence it juggles "What the world needs now..." and "Always something there to remind me" - which quite frankly are both cool ways at trying to look at life a bit differently.

So we're in 2010 now and I'm keen to keep evolving this page in the same vein and with the same spirit as it was originally intended - keeping the positive vibe. For those that have been reading it on occasion, many, many thanks and hopefully once in a while you've found something to make you stop and pause.

Anyway, off we go towards the next anniversary...