Feeling REALLY Alive: Why Summer Seduces, Tantalizes And Intoxicates

Something magical happens at this time of year.  The morning breeze whispers the promise of longer and brighter days, seducing us with their radiant glory and enticing us to shed our winter layers and come out to play. If winter is our jailer, imprisoning us in the coziness of our homes, then summer is the rebellious inmate who finds a clandestine way to set us free. Even the most well-behaved prisoner who has become resigned to his fate will struggle with the temptation summer proffers. Liberation and summer go hand in hand. The two glide together on a motorbike fuelled by adrenalin, whizzing down open country lanes and  with the wind whipping at loose hair.  As the warmer days heat our mind, our body and our souls, we acquire a certain lightness and  have a new spring in a step. Like sunflowers, our faces are upturned to receive a kiss of vitality that only the sun can bestow.

The sense of liberation started when I was a child. Summer holidays were eons filled with carelessness and frivolity. Each fiery sunset melted into a fresh new day, though no particular day stood out from the rest. Time was a blurry concept, starting out as something whole, but later melting like the sweet vanilla ice-cream trickling down the cone and onto my fingers. I had no concept of past, nor of any particular future. Life was all that was unfolding at that very moment, and I was quite sure that I would be young forever.

That is the summer paradox: on the one had the continual days of sunshine lull you into a false sense of eternity, yet on the other hand we are victims to the short night that tantalize with their brevity. This is why summer is so intoxicating. We yearn to get our fill, desperate to cling onto these fleeting moments of perfection.  We often live out our teenage summers in a wild, unbridled euphoria. Hormones and heat provide a heady catalyst from which unfurls an inexplicable desire to experiment with alcohol and the opposite sex.

Summer. You provided the most wonderful backdrop to many a love story. The short and intense variety. Long and languid days full of fraught desire, culminating in a thunderstorm when all passion was unleashed. The love would last until the autumn leaves fell, yet I could not see beyond those glorious days. The most vivid of all my memories can be found, etched in the  albums of my mind. The times when I have felt so wonderfully alive. The time when I knew I could never die.

Why not create a little summer in our lives, whenever we choose?

 

 

 

Nostalgia: When To Wear The Rose-Tinted Glasses

 

Stories.

Our lives are filled with stories. We watch films and we read books. We listen to the tales of friends, family and acquaintances; stories of lives filled with love, loss and everything in between. We crave the words of others, in our attempt to make sense of life and situate ourself on the map of human experience. We hear stories in music, we see stories in photographs and art and we feel stories through the emotion of people around us. Tales are the invisible currency of human relationships.

Though we have a need for the stories of the people around us, we have a greater necessity to tell ourselves our very own tale. We do this to create a sense of identity and to get a deeper understanding of ourselves, our values and our priorities. Subconsciously, we create an invisible scrapbook of memories. We have a particular filing system for these memories; people and life events that touch us deeply are usually memories that we glue tightly into our scrapbooks. No matter how many times we open the book, these pictures will never fall. Memories that do not move us quite so profoundly are the ones that are simply placed inside the book. With the passing of time, it is likely that these souvenirs may fall and be lost forever. There is a third classification in our memory scrapbook; the bad times that weigh heavily on our emotions. Though we may not want to guard these memories at all, they become stuck at the back of the book. Most of the time we will choose to open other pages, yet there will be times when a playful wind blows through the open window, flicking the unsuspecting scrapbook onto the back page. We may be forced to revisit this episode of out lives, before quickly flicking back to the front of the book.

Life is about the acquisition of good memories with which wel fill our personal scrapbooks. Like any good story, there will be highs and lows, yet ultimately we will create our happy ending. The great thing about having this kind of book, is that we can delve into it at any time and relive any moment of our life. However, before we open such a book, we almost always do something special; we put on a pair of rose-tinted glasses. These glasses serve to embellish the story, the words and images take on a softer and sweeter hue when seen through these lenses. Whilst the good times become even greater in our mind, the bad times tend to lose their power. The passage of time has worked its magic and has taken away the acuteness of our vision. When we see these images from the past, they are softer and less clearly defined. Our vision is no longer struck by their sharp, jagged edges, so we are not affected in the same way.

Reminiscing in going back to a ‘safe’ place. It can offer us a certain escape from the present moment; a time in which uncertainty can fill us with fear. As we know the outcome to all that happened in the past, there is comfort in travelling back; a little like watching a much-loved film over and over again. However, we must be mindful that whilst it’s natural to relive all the wonderful memories we have had and to learn from our previous experience, we must busy ourselves collecting new memories to fill our scrapbooks. As we are the authour of this work, we alone choose what should go inside. Nobody will ever be able to judge this choice, for nobody will have ever lived the same experience.

So please go out into the world and collect your clippings. Create beautiful books to be proud of. Flick through them as you please, relishing all the fun you’ve ever had and knowing that the blank pages ahead can surpass all expectations.

 

 

 

The Beauty Of Blogging And Having A Virtual Family

 

 

 

Just over three months ago, something wonderful happened to me. I was adopted into a very large family, though no official papers were signed at the time. I’m thirty-three years old and I’m blessed with a real family of my own, yet I seem to have found myself with a network of relatives in cities and countries I may or may never visit, living lives that I’ll never fully know and eating, sleeping and writing at very different times to me. Let me explain.

 

Just over three months ago, I started a blog on positivity; my philosophy and my religion. I was really looking for an outlet through which to channel my two passions; self-improvement and writing. Like a parent with two equally lovable children, I couldn’t possibly choose a favourite, so I decided this would be the perfect way to unite the two. I do believe that ink has been running through my veins for a while now. It started at around the age of nine, when I wrote secret diaries and fairy stories. This was always snuggled in bed and under the light of a torch, which gave a secret thrill to my pursuit. Quite a few years later my subject changed from that of the fairy variety and I self-published a couple of works. Though this was immensely rewarding, I was still left with so many words flapping through my mind and I had the necessity to set them free. For this reason, I started my blogging adventure.

 

I have never been particularly adventurous, unless moving to a couple of foreign countries counts. I did it alone, if that adds merit! That said, I hate camping. I don’t like extreme sports either. I’m much more of a domestic cat, with the need for a clean bathroom and a comfortable bed. So I hadn’t really considered that starting a blog would be the adventure it has become. I may have felt slightly intimidated otherwise; with the feeling a vertigo you get looking over the edge of a cliff. However, I’m starting to wonder if I may enjoy adventure after all. This is why…

 

One day I wrote a post. I didn’t really expect anything to happen. The next day I found ‘likes’. Barely had I recovered  from this delightful surprise, when I found I had my first follower. My pride was swelling and my smile was beaming. Somebody in the universe cared about what I had to say! Not only did they care, but they even liked the way in which I expressed myself. Don’t get my wrong, for I’m not an orphan in desperate need of love, but that was a real boost to my confidence! What ensued was really rather wonderful, with posts spawning ‘likes’, ‘shares’, comments and followers. I was touching the lives of others with my words AND I was being touched by these very same lives. This is the real beauty of the blogging community. It unites like-minded people who would have never had the chance to meet in ‘reality’. Through connecting in this virtual world, we can share each other’s hopes, dreams, experiences and stories in a way that would have once been unimaginable. We are enriched by unknown ‘relatives’ offering unconditional support and encouragement. We are runners on a marathon and each of us have our own style. While we share the same destination, our way of arriving there is very different. Yet taking part in such a race makes us feel like we belong. It is the love and support of the other racers that helps us get through and ultimately our personal time doesn’t really matter. It’s the experience gained along the way.

 

Our Secret Weapons : Our Words

Words are weapons that we must wield with care. When the right word is used in the right context, by the right person and at the right time, the effect is that of a magical wand. Communication flows and a clear and effective message is given and received.

 

Words are powerful. Once written or spoken, they are perennial; ethched on a blank page or else within the realm of a person’s mind forever more. Words are beautiful too. A sentence is a necklace; its gems are the vowels and consonants that make a pretty arrangement and dance together in perfect harmony.

 

Words are emotional explosives. They can be fireworks in the night sky, illuminating the darkness with their colourful beauty. However, words can also be time-bombs ticking, ready to create mass destruction. Words can be the soothing mother, calming and reassuring at a time of need. Words can be the authoritative father, giving a lofty command that one is bound to follow. Words can be the charming seducer, uttered softly and accompanied by a charismatic smile.

 

Words can inform.

Words can teach.

Words can sell.

Words can entertain.

Words can console.

Words can express love.

Words can divide.

Words can unite.

 

Choose your words with care. They leave an invisible imprint on a person’s soul.