Undiluted Joy

If we don't laugh we will surely die. If we don't find that pure place where we regularly just crack up and topple over in fits of hysterical laughter, something will surely die deep inside. We were created to laugh. We were created to laugh with one another.  With laughter life is enriched.  I love this shot of the girls from the very first Living in Light shoot.  It radiates absolute joy. Undiluted.

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It captures so effortlessly the delightful bliss of an abundant life. This shot I guess has it all...fun, fashion, friendship...all that the magazines indicate, an independent chick aspires to have in her life...but the beautiful thing is that it's not an orchestrated shot.

It's not a facade, manipulated to evoke an emotion so that people will see it, want to be it and then realise one day that it's just an illusion...let's face it, most of the time the shots we see in magazines and adverts are all just that - a fantasy - and behind all the airbrushing, smiley faces and perfect features are the lies, heartache and reality.

Yet contrary to some of the magazines and billboards out there this snap of the girls is to me, a beautiful snapshot of a truly joyful life...its a delicious glimpse of being able to actually have it all...it tells me that you can be stylish...sassy and sincerely happy...without compromising, without pretending and without selling out. So many of us have at one point or another compromised ourselves to be happy...we've relied on something or someone to make us happy...we've sometimes settled for the worst in a bid to get a glimpse of the best...we've stepped on others to satisfy our pleasure...i'm sure we've all been guilty of looking for happiness in all the wrong places...we've all even pretended to be happy when inside we feel like CRAP! Lol!

But this picture tells a different story. In fact I know it's not even a story because I was there. It's a picture of deep joy - it's not a moment of happiness based on circumstances...nor is it an outcome of looking so hot (obviously wearing the Bianca Pants would make anyone look hot). It's not laughter induced pride, by drink, drugs, people pleasing or false confidence.

It's pure undiluted joy, an inner confidence, a calm delight that comes from them knowing who they are and whose they are. What about you. Do you know who you are? Do you know whose you are??? Does it bring you joy?

Whats the joyometer in your life saying. Where's your inner delight coming from...What's your confidence in?

UNDILUTED JOY. It's yours if you want it.

Photography by Michelle Moreland.

Models: Anna Omak, Robyn Matthews & Annabel Spooner

Freedom

I'm smiling. Permanently. There's nothing quite as delicious as being free.

I'm sitting here thinking that I suppose that's what sometimes drives people to do the craziest, sometimes the most selfish or at times the most unexplainable things - because they get a taste of being free - and then they spend their whole life pursuing what they deem to be freedom - and they run towards it - at the same time running away from all the things that make them feel trapped.

Running away from the monotony of their lives, from the 9-5 drill, from the boring marriage, from their mundane education...whatever it might be the whole world is full of people seeking or even desperately attempting to re-live that sweet sense of liberty...sometimes stretching out...frustrating and pushing...re-enacting that moment they first felt free...be it their first trip alone...their first drug...their first kiss...their first wild haircut...their first piercing...thinking that maybe if they keep chasing their desires they might actually feel free...they may finally feel satisfied…if they can just get to the other side, the grass just might be greener.

But see in the end it doesn't satisfy. True freedom wasn't made for us just to taste once and never truly experience again in its fullness - true freedom is a place of fulfilment that never loses its taste...a place where you can feast again and again. It's a place where you can dwell forever...and the more of yourself you surrender to it...the freer it becomes...

Smiles. xx

Image from http://wallpaperswa.com

Green Light

HELLO DESTINY!

Image from http://wallpaperswa.com

There's nothing like getting the G.R.E.E.N. L.I.G.H.T to go ahead into the next season of life...the next adventure...the next ASSIGNMENT...when you have faith brewing at record level...that supersized hope...expectation the size of Africa...that delicious place of anticipation...that yummy place of being pregnant with destiny...Yerrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

I don't know where you're at but I gotta tell you, WE HAVE SOOOO MUCH IN US!! We should be using our hands, minds, and spirits to be productive and not relying on one job or stream to bring in our income!! We should have different avenues of fruitfulness from the different areas of productivity in our lives.

We were created to be creative...we should have idea after idea being nurtured in our lives. We have solutions to problems stored in us...we have witty inventions deep in our core...

So what ideas have you got generating in your spirit?...in your hands?...in your mind??? Maybe you had ideas when you were younger but then your hopes got dashed...or maybe people rejected your ideas and now you feel dead...stir it up baybeeeee...let hope arise again and start dreaming again...

You see...we have got to reproduce...we must bear fruit...not just in the womb but with our hands, our minds and spirit...with our lips in what we say...We've got to have that brainchild...that handchild...you've got to birth the thing in your spirit and then you've got to name it!!

People name their children...what's your brain child called? Where's your product??? You're wearing everyone else's clothes, using everyone else's technology...eating everyone else's food...singing everyone else's song...when are people going to read your book...sing your song...wear your clothes???????????

Deep deep deep!! Green light. Go. Create the environment for yourself to be fruitful. Believe in your idea.  Believe in yourself. Believe in your Creator. And GO FOR IT...YOU'VE GOT THE GREEN LIGHT!

x

Envisaging the Light

Okaaaay...so I'm just waiting for all the techie geeky stuff to be sorted until the Living in Light website can go live...soooo mind numbingly boring...trust me, there's only so many times you can have a conversation about managing domains, URL's and nameservers before you want to kill yourself...yet I am kind of getting excited...because I’m thinking to myself...yay I'm going to finally have a little business...yet at the same time a part of me is wondering...what if no one wants to buy the stuff?...And what if everyone thinks the website is lame...?  What if I fail miserably?  And then I am reminded...lol...that I actually don't care...

And it really REALLY doesn't matter because more than anything, it’s about stepping out...about taking what you've got and doing something with it...taking risks and not fearing the failure...it’s about having fun with life and extending your boundaries each day in some new way...woohoo...it’s about proving faithful with your stuff!

I have seriously had just sooooo much fun doing the first shoot...Anna, Annabelle and Robyn...all modelling for me... Michelle, Ondine and Shaun doing the photography...wow they totally rocked.  I even had Ron help me with the location and my own lil runner...thanks Jen.  The shoot photo's exceeded my expectations totally.  I lurved the fashion pictures.  To think I was originally going to postpone the shoot because I had so much going on.  Yet deep down I knew I wanted to go ahead and get this baybeee on the road…and maaan, I'm so glad that I did…

That's the thing though...you can kind of avoid doing things because you think they aren't going to happen quite the way you want them to happen...so we can often have a tendency to not even go through with our ideas or our dreams - for fear of the finished result not being good enough…so we almost give up before we even get started...but the thing is this...it's soooo much more exciting, liberating and powerful to actually GO FOR IT...and to just see what happens...EVEN if it goes nowhere…and hey, if you do fail in one aspect - no matter what - you'll have stepped out, you'll have come out of your comfort zone and strengthened who you are...we all know Edison - the dude who developed the final light bulb concept - well he must have tried untold times and messed up repeatedly before he actually succeeded in creating something that could realistically be used...so the lesson for us all is…before we can succeed we will often FAIL!  Note to self…failure does not have to be scary!!

And the most amazing thing is this...when you surround yourself with creativity and share your vision with love...you simply can't fail...I know...pass me the sick bucket...its all soooo frickin mushy...but it's true!

And another super amazing thing is that when you persevere and push through a door that you'd only ever previously allowed yourself to glimpse through the keyhole of, it's amazing what lies on the other side…even if it's not what you expected. Often times…the door leads to better places of opportunity. Cameron my gorgeous lil niece recently said something pretty deep to me for a mere seven year old.  She happened to ask me if she could hold the keys to my classroom at school.  And then getting pretty excited she informed me that..."She loved keys!!  She really did…”I love them because they get you into places..." she said...

I love that.  It has prompted me to consider what keys I have in my hand…and the only keys I feel I am carrying right now are my creativity…my ability to design, sew and my passion to write.  That's all I have to open the door to Living in Light.  As small as my keys are they are all I need to get started.  So question for you…what are the keys in your life people...what are your talents, gifts, abilities, resources...what are your passions?  Are you using them to get through the doors to destiny?  Have you tapped into the keys you hold in your hand and are you using them to get you where you really wanna go?????

Don't hesitate…go on…give it a bash…I dare ya…just take what's in your hand and dare to use it...start today if you haven't already...because those little keys are your secret weapon (I know it sounds crazy but it isn't!!) and trust me the doors they unlock lead to more than you could ever imagine…but first you must be willing to make a start with the little you have.

xxx