Your Breathing Space for December…
December 2, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.
~Norman Vincent Peale
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Join us in Celebration!
December 2, 2007 | 2 Comments
Welcome to the December 2007 Edition of The Calm Space. Can you believe it is December already?
We’re marking this month with Celebration.
Whether you’re celebrating Christmas, or simply getting through the rest of 2007, we have something for you this month.
I am thrilled to introduce Joanna Young as our newest contributor - bring us the Writing Space. Welcome Joanna! This month, Joanna shares how the simple gift of words can help us celebrate and find the “magical blend of anticipation, excitement and gratitude“.
Also in this edition - get the ins and outs of buying a techo gift with Leah (I’ve been hankering after a digital photo frame, so the reviews and tips in the Digital Space are going to turn into hints to hubby). Find out the benefits of making a list - just like Santa - with Angela in the Organising Space. Look at the beauty and meaning in celebration with Annie at the Spiritual Space. Join Chris as she celebrates something a little less festive, but eminently close to her heart at the Relationship Space. Check in with Marj as she shares her picks to help you celebrate in the Reading Space. Then pop on over to the Music Space and share your picks for music to uplift and soothe our souls.
Please take your time. Read. Explore. Leave a comment. Start a conversation.
From all of us here at The Calm Space we wish you a joyous festive celebration - filled with love, laughter and happy times.
The Power of Celebration
The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.
~Oprah Winfrey
We chose our theme of Celebration this month as a way of marking and honouring the end of a year, and the hope that comes with the dawn of a new year. I am encouraging you to see celebration as a way of life - not something we do when we have time, but something that comes naturally and easily, and often.
I feel that celebration is all about honour - and indeed, my dictionary definition for Celebrate agrees with me - “to honour”. We honour the spirit of the season, and we honour those we cherish by showing them how much we care. Despite the commercialism and expectations that are heaped upon us at this time of year, we can each leave our mark by observing this special time of year with ceremony and festivity.
When you put December and Celebration together, most of us think of Christmas. Of tinsel and toys, gifts and games, turkey and trees, pudding and paper, bon bons and egg nog, summer holidays and Christmas parties. And these are all wonderful and joyous. I’m a huge fan of Christmas.
Mark the passing of the year with ceremony and festivity and honour yourself and your loved ones, either quietly or with a burst of fireworks (depending, perhaps, on the type of year you’ve lived through).
Even more than Christmas, however, I’d like to talk about celebrating life. Christmas isn’t the only time of year we can show our love to those we care about. Don’t save it all for special occasions - make every day a special occasion!
As the amazing Oprah so eloquently put it in that quote above, the more we celebrate the more there is to celebrate. The little things are as worthy of celebration as the big. No matter what 2007 delivered to your door - this month we can:
- celebrate our friends and family
- celebrate our joys and accomplishments
- celebrate we have made it through another year safe and healthy
- celebrate how we’ve made a difference in the lives of others this year
- celebrate with joy and thanks for all we are and all we have
- spread the joy and peace of the festive season through the rest of the year
Will you join with me in celebration of being alive! It’s time to envision possibilities and, as Joanna says in the Writing Space, it’s time to celebrate the magical blend of anticipation, excitement and gratitude.
How will you celebrate?
- use the good china because you feel like it
- dance to the joy of being alive
- raise a glass and toast to you
- turn off the TV and play games with your family
- feel the joy at the receiving of gifts and compliments
- relish the giving of gifts with thought and ceremony
- wave your magic wand
- write down what you are grateful for, often
- sing out loud
You’ll find that the more you celebrate, the more you’ll have to celebrate about… and I’ll be here dancing and singing with you during December and right throughout 2008.
Finally, I’d like to celebrate you. I celebrate you for who you are. I celebrate and am grateful for you reading The Calm Space. I celebrate the possibilities opening up for you in 2008.
Merry Christmas from my heart to yours.
The Sounds of Celebration
December 2, 2007 | 7 Comments
There is nothing better than hearing the sound of laughter and happy conversation when in the company of those we love.
And during the festive season, we’re bound to have a few moments of time with our family and dear friends. Maybe even large dollops of time to spend in laughter and happy conversation.
I have realised that often the other sounds when we’re celebrating are sometimes a last minute, that-will-do sort of thing. I’m talking about the music - whether it is in the background or ramped up real loud and inviting us to get up a move.
And so this year I decided to be a little more proactive about what will be playing during Christmas Day in this house, and during all those other moments when music is vitally necessary (in my book).
You know the times. When you’re cleaning house, it’s great to have some music to get you moving, something to sing along to so the chores don’t seem like chores. When you’re faced with a pile of gifts to wrap, or a house to decorate, it’s nice to have music to put you in the mood for generosity and the spirit of the season.
There’s the music you put on right before the doorbell rings with the arrival of your dinner party guests. Loud enough to be heard, but not loud enough to discourage conversation and conviviality.
And then, of course, there is also the music you put on right before you collapse on the lounge after a long day fighting Christmas shopping crowds. That music definitely won’t be Christmas Carols - you’ve heard enough of the tinny tunes at the mall, haven’t you?
This month I’d like to offer you a few ideas, a couple of my favourites and a couple of CDs I’d like to see in my stocking this year… and then I’d like YOUR input! Share with us your favourite celebration music - tell us who you love to listen to and why. Help us spread the word about the importance of music to the mood you set in your home, in your car, in your ears.
After a long day at the office or shopping, try Pachebel’s Cannon for a soothing flow of sound to wash over you and calm your jangled nerves.
For wrapping gifts, decorating the tree and baking Christmas goodies (and certainly for when you’re writing your Christmas cards), I’m putting Il Divo’s Christmas Collection on. There is something about their voices that stirs my blood and makes my heart soar with joy. (This one may also work for the first half of the Christmas Day celebrations, I know it won’t last past lunch in this house - sadly, the kids will make sure of that!)
For dinner parties, a crooner or two - Michael Buble’s latest is one I’d like to find under the tree on December 25 (hint hint). The newly released 2CD version of Call Me Irresponsible includes a couple of Christmas songs for good measure… what’s not to like?
For when the temperature heats up, you need to move, you need to groove… I’ve gone for two recommendations from father and son… both now on my wishlist.
David Campbell - gotta love that swing in Swing Sessions 2.
Jimmy Barnes ‘ latest - Out In The Blue released last weekend.
Who Needs Christmas…
December 2, 2007 | 4 Comments
It’s December, so if we’re going to have a celebration theme, you’d expect to hear talk of Christmas, Hanukkah or some similar celebration.
Always eager to go a bit out of line, I wanted to remind you that celebrations come in all forms, even in December! Some people have birthdays, some attend funerals to celebrate lives loved and lost.
In our family, we’ve just gathered for our first wedding.
The youngest of My Three Sons was married last week so Christmas has paled into insignificance as this eventful celebration worked up its own head of steam!
When Karen and I wrote our first Save Our Sanity book about Christmas, we always intended there’d be more. I’m thinking the next one may well be about weddings! Because while they’re exciting and romantic, weddings are also a financial, organisational and emotional rollercoaster!
It is 33 years since my own wedding. Styles, rituals, ceremonies, and perspectives have changed a lot since then. With few weddings among extended family and friends, I’d really had no exposure to the obscenity that is the cost of weddings in the 21st century. Fortunately these two didn’t feel the need for a gargantuan extravaganza and chose to focus on things that were important to them.
There was much excitement on the night they told us of their engagement. He’d just taken her to the top of the Dandenongs and asked her to marry him. (‘Atta boy – top marks for romancing!)
But I remember saying that night - it doesn’t matter what form of “party” you have to celebrate the wedding, the only important thing on that day is your vows! Standing up and proclaiming to the world how much you love each other and that you are committing to each other for the rest of your lives, that’s what’s important. Not what dress you wear, or where the party’s held!
Many girls spend years dreaming of how their princess wedding will be. This bride found it hard to make decisions about what to wear, because she’d spent more time imagining herself show-jumping her horse than picturing her wedding bouquet.
They were an interesting mix, she so relaxed, she could have been horizontal, he in serious organisational over-drive! The Wedding Co-ordinator was astounded as he was handed lists, timelines, hand-prepared booklets, place-cards, double copies of specific music for service and reception etc etc etc. (See darling, your mother’s organisational genes DO come in handy!)
They were keen to marry in the Dandenongs where they’d shared that romantic proposal and acceptance. The hills are thick with ferns, rhododendrons, and wildlife. In spring, the outdoor setting under the rotunda was romantic, the gardens around us alive with birdsong and flowers.
The ceremony was beautiful from the bride’s arrival to the bubbles we blew over them as they swept down the aisle at the end. As they exchanged their vows the world narrowed for them to just each other. It felt a little like we were intruding on their moment, so focused were they on each other. Their vows WERE important. (So I wasn’t really nagging after all. Bad luck kid, you got a mum whose world is relationships - so you get the soapboxes that go with it.)
As a sign of their new life and to send wishes for them up to the heavens, they released butterflies. It was a cool day and the butterflies lingered in their warm hands, on our shoulders and in granny’s hair! It was a gentle, and unexpectedly moving, ritual to portray their hopes and dreams.
Oh and of course I was teary! What celebration is complete without mums dabbing away the odd tear of joy and chest-bursting pride? (Damn it, here I go again as I write!)
Look, don’t get me wrong the wedding was not without its little dramas! (We won’t talk about my outfit – because it wasn’t about me!)
And this mother, in trying to make everything as perfect as possible, got lost in stress and tears during the lead-up. But in the end, I did sink into the moment and just send out love to my son, and his bride. For my husband and I there was also a deep connection as we shared love and pride at the success of our nurturing through all these years.
It was a new phenomenon in our lives as a family, but it was moving, special, and memory-creating.
We won’t ever forget the look of absolute delight on our son’s face.
Christmas doesn’t matter a jot this year, because we’ve celebrated a Wedding.
Celebrations!
December 2, 2007 | 3 Comments
Whatever the celebration it’s not complete without food and drink to complete the commemoration of the occasion! I place below some handy support in book form.
Classic Cocktails
Classic Cocktails provides all the inspiration you need to create fabulous cocktails at home. The epitome of glamour and sophistication, the cocktail has withstood the test of time, dating back over a century and surviving depression, war, revolution and prohibition, to bring elegance and excitement to any occasion.
Classic Cocktails celebrates those irresistible concoctions that have graced the world’s best bars for decades. Award-winning bartender and bestselling author Ben Reed brings you an indispensable collection of recipes, from the delectable Vodkatini to a mouthwatering Bellini. Impress your guests with a tray of ice-cold Margaritas or beat that hangover with a spicy Bloody Mary.
AWW Christmas: Food and Craft
This popular collection of Christmas food and craft complements any Australian Christmas.
All you need to wrap up Christmas. This collection of Christmas food and craft is a mix of modern and traditional: perfectly complementing the Australian Christmas. It includes ideas for party drinks and nibbles, fabulous starters, seafood spreads and fresh modern desserts.
Of course, the classic favourites are there too with our triple-test guarantee on recipes for turkey, goose, and the traditional cakes and puddings. Make your Christmas unique with easy, crafty creations for table settings, flower arrangements, decorations and gift ideas. You’ll also get a Christmas carol songbook and pattern sheet.
Kitchen Classics: Dinner with Friends
For those of us who love to cook, there can be few pleasures in life greater than having friends over for dinner. Kitchen Classics: Dinner with Friends takes a thematic approach to entertaining, from casual summer fare to warming winter meals, great Mediterranean and Asian food, and those more lavish recipes for when you really want to impress.
Each chapter offers a wide range of simple and more complex recipes such as creamy baked scallops, rack of lamb with herb crust, roast duck with olives, Thai lemon grass prawns and sables with berries and cream. Kitchen Classics: Dinner with Friends has plenty of starters, salads, sides, mains and desserts so that you can mix and match to create their own enticing menus.
Spiritual Celebration
December 2, 2007 | 4 Comments
For me, celebration means much more than festivities traditionally held for birthdays, religious ceremonies and anniversaries.
By all means, let’s mark those occasions with a ‘celebration’ because of the love and joy we can share with family and friends. Let’s face it though, these occasions don’t happen that frequently and it seems a shame to waste all the opportunities in between!
My thinking is that we could increase our personal happiness exponentially if we took every opportunity to celebrate lots more things, like:
- the unexpected smile of a stranger or the expected smile of a friend
- watching your flowers grow
- the smell of a baby (the good one!)
- beautiful music
- the joy of sharing a meal with friends
- the love of those near and dear
- the delightful abandon of puppies at play
- dancing
- sailing etc, etc.
This is to experience the joy of being truly alive, and to show yourself and God, that you are grateful for being a part of it all.
Oh, and since it is almost Christmas, my suggestion is to really celebrate with your family and friends this year. How many of us have experienced Christmas day being ruined by old family feuds and little annoyances escalating to major wars?!
Perhaps there are too many expectations that Christmas Day (read any other occasion) should be perfect and ‘happy families’ should be the order of the day. Unless we are prepared to do something different and let small annoyances slide, by filling that space with a loving and kind feeling towards everyone, nothing will change. Of course excess alcohol doesn’t help, so less is more!
Anyway, why not make a list of those things that you will choose to be more mindful about celebrating in future? After all, the time for resolutions is also coming up!
Love, peace and wisdom
Get Ready to Celebrate with the Gift of Words
December 2, 2007 | 5 Comments
I don’t know about you but getting into the right frame of mind, the right emotional state, can make a huge difference to my experience and enjoyment of celebrations. It’s the feelings that make all the difference – and are what we hold on to long after the event. The magical blend of anticipation, excitement and gratitude. The moments when we’re overwhelmed by our emotions - from profound thankfulness to exuberant delight.
And what I like best are the feelings just before a celebration gets going. It’s as if there are bubbles of possibility just waiting inside us – like the fizz in the champagne bottle, waiting for the cork to fly.
And as I thought about those feelings of anticipation ahead of a celebration – well I started to wonder how writing, and words, could help us to get ready. Because for me, writing changes the way that I feel. It changes my emotional state. Sometimes I can get those feelings of excitement, of wonder, of gratitude, of anticipation, of exuberant delight – just from the words on a page, my own, or someone else’s. And I realised that there were plenty ways that we can help get ourselves ready to celebrate – through the simple gift of words.
Here are some possibilities:
- Notice the words that other people gift you. Slow down enough to notice the positive words, the specific words that people use to describe you, to thank you, to notice and value you
- Take care with the words that you give to others. Take a few extra minutes to choose your words, to find just the right expression. It’s just like choosing a gift – and can often mean so much more.
- Be generous with your words. Take the time to write – a note, a card, an e-mail, a letter. Small acts of generosity can generate a powerful sense of well-being in the sender as well as the receiver!
- Be specific. Whether you’re writing for others or yourself – be specific with your language, pick the precise word that captures the essence of that person you treasure, that experience you want to capture, that moment you want to record.
- Write what you’re grateful for. Spend a few minutes each day writing down the things that you’re grateful for. However bad things are – there’s always one thing. And by writing even that one small thing – well it can shift your state, and help you to feel good, and grateful
- Switch off your negative words. What we write affects the way that we feel. The more time we spend on the good stuff the better we feel. Practice switching your language to more positive talk – especially when it’s about yourself. You’ll soon start to get the message.
- Connect to your intuition. Watch for words that give you a tingle, a shot of recognition and pleasure when you write them. They’re significant – they mean something to you, are valuable, somehow. Treasure them.
- Play with your words. Experiment with more celebratory language: words like funky, jazzy, exuberant. Notice how you feel better just by writing them? I can’t write the word jazzy without a wiggle and a smile.
- Tap into your celebrated memories. Write about some of the special times that you remember from the past – capture the detail of what happened, what you did, how you felt – notice how you’re starting to feel that way again as you write?
- Write the moment. Write about a moment, real or imagined, of wild, joyful, exuberant celebration. And capture the detail of how it feels in that moment: where you feel that mood of celebration, whether it’s the flush on your cheeks, the bubbles of excitement inside, or the quiet, insistent upward curl of your mouth as you start to smile the broadest of smiles…
Hmm. Blissful. I’m feeling so much better just writing this list!
Our words, our language, our writing – well for me, it’s a gift. And we can choose to use it – to give to others, and to give, most generously, to ourselves. To write our way into a celebratory frame of mind. To get ready to celebrate before any party. To learn how to feel good – not just for the holidays, but for the whole of the year.
Making a List and Checking It Twice
December 2, 2007 | 6 Comments
Take Santa’s lead. Make a list. Check it twice.
If ever there was a season for lists, this is it. Whenever time is tight and there’s lots to do, lists can cut through to the nitty gritty and help you focus on getting things done. Learn from Santa and make the most out of your lists.
Christmas card lists, updated year after year, can grow to epic proportions. Consider each person on the list, and whether it’s still relevant to keep in touch. Perhaps you’ve been promising for years to “catch up”. Well, if you really want to, this year set a date. Does the card-writing fall to you alone? Sit down with a partner before writing cards to divide up the list. Perhaps it would be helpful to delegate the addressing of envelopes. Or keep your list on the computer and print off address labels. Santa has helpers too.
A gift list makes shopping easier. Include everyone you’re buying for, their measurements, likes & dislikes, interests and past gifts. Keep it with you so you’re always prepared. How else would Santa get it so right each year?
Develop a list of “maximum impact, minimum effort” dishes for entertaining and impressing that will leave you time and energy for enjoying the occasion, rather than slaving in the kitchen. Let those dishes become known as your signature and never give away your secrets. After all, Santa never tells how he gets so much done in one night.
And then there’s the classic grocery shopping list. It pays to make your grocery list early on, and buy as much of it as you can before the shopping centres swarm with crowds. Place your order with the local butcher early. Once you have the staples and dry goods in your pantry, you’ll only need to collect your meat order, and visit your local greengrocer for the fresh fruit and vegetables. Parking will be easier and the quality superior. Santa always plans ahead.
There are more things we can learn from Santa too. He’s always laughing, he enjoys his work and he always has a good rest after his busy time.
All the best for the festive season,
Techie Gifts that you will love
December 2, 2007 | 7 Comments
With Christmas almost upon us, I’ve seen the usual Christmas Gift Guides popping up in magazines, newspapers, on TV and online. When I start paying attention to the “techie” gifts they always seem to be targeted towards men or teenage boys (actually I can’t tell the difference sometimes between those two buying groups).
So I decided that for the December Celebration edition of The Calm Space I would put together a list of so-called techie gifts that most women would love to get.
iPod shuffle
As you know the iPod has been around for a few years now. If you have kids they were probably begging you for one for the last couple of years. Well much of the hype, and some of the teething problems, have settled down and now they are just a great way to carrying your music around with you.
In my book the iPod Shuffle is the perfect gift for the woman who loves music, audio books, or listening to her favourite podcasts without being tethered to the computer. It is small and doesn’t scream “look at me I’ve got an iPod!”
It can handle up to 240 songs and has a battery life of around 12 hours - more than enough time to escape the loud demands of others and slip into your own world for a while.
As an added extra benefit if you purchase one of the (PRODUCT) Red Special Edition ones, Apple gives its portion to the Global Fund’s fight against AIDS in Africa.
Not bad for an all up price of $99.
Digital Picture Frames
No longer do your digital photos have to be printed before you pop them in a frame and put them out on display. Now you can pop the photos you want to display onto a memory card (just like the one in your digital camera) and then put the memory card into the digital frame.
You also get the added bonus of being able to display either a single photo or a slideshow of several images (so there will be no getting bored with the same old photo any more).
The frames are still at the luxury end of the gift scale with most of the quality frames costing between $180 and $400.
There are a variety of models on the market from well-known manufacturers such as Phillips and Kasier Bass, as well as some new names like Sun and Rock being distributed by DigiVista.
Some things you need to be aware of :
Power - all are powered either via batteries (which will only last about 1 hour before you need to recharge or replace) or via a 240v mains connection (so you will need to have a powerpoint nearby and some way to hide the cable).
Memory Card - Unless you want to be using either your camera or the digital picture frame you will need to get another memory card to store the photos you want to display.
Image Resolution and Type - Most frames will require that the image be a jpeg and will require you to reduce the size from the original size taken by the camera (most required 640×480 pixels). But if you are handy with some image software like Google’s Picassa or the one that came with your camera then this should be a breeze.
Replace a Mouse with a Pen
Did you know that most mouse designs can be a big pain in the wrist (and arm/should/neck) if you use them for long periods at a time? And when it come to precision pointing then a mouse can leave a lot to be desired.
A pen tablet used to be the domain of serious designers with serious price tags to match, but not any any longer. Wacom have brought out the Bamboo tablet targeted at the everday computer user. This is not just a replacement for your mouse but can also be used for taking hand-written notes that will be transferred straight into your computer and also a great tool for any of those photo touch-ups you might want to do over the holidays. From $129 there is now no excuse to be stuck with that painful mouse.
Funky Laptop Bag
While technically a laptop bag is not a “techie” gift, it definitely is technology related - after all why must we women be stuck with ugly grey laptop bags? I’m sure the standard ones were designed by the same geeks that designed the computer.
Some of the most refreshingly different laptop bags I’ve found online in Australia are at Rushfaster (I think they need to get a little Calm Space about that name).
If you can’t find a laptop bag there that really expresses you and your personality then I don’t think you are looking hard enough. They even have a lovely range of soothing calm colours, just perfect for the Calm Space reader run off her feet at the computer all day.
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