2018 Transitional Beginnings

To be honest, I like to think of every day as a new beginning, whether it be the 1st January or any other day of the month, but this year feels different. New Year's really does have a transitional energy about it.

This New Year's Eve feels as if we are stepping through a door into a secret garden, where all is beautiful and filled with light. 2017 has been a trying time, particularly learning to live with hearing loss but I have also learnt some wonderful things about myself and the world I live in. Things that look set to make 2018 the most magical of years yet. 

Discovering deep gratitude and appreciation have been incredible gifts; grateful to awake in my lovely warm, little cottage with my beautiful man and my gorgeous dog. Appreciating the water in my taps and food in my cupboards, Grateful for the trees in the woods, the sea at the coast, the river ever flowing, grateful for friendships, for love. Grateful for my creativity and how I have let it steer me on this path. It is these lessons that I take through the opening door of 2018.

When I woke up deaf, it knocked me for six.  It may seem as if 'grateful' is an odd thing to be when things go wrong. To put it in simple terms, when you have 10 flowers and one dies, you understandably grieve for the loss of that flower but it makes one acutely aware of the 9 flowers that are left. 

For instance, yesterday, when I took Maisy for a walk with my hearing aids in, I could hear the birds singing. It was the most beautiful song that I have ever heard. I could feel my whole body smiling. A song I might never have heard, ever again. 

So, Happy New Year Year to you, I hope it brings you the kind of joy that gratitude has given me. That you are able to count all the wonderful blessings in your life. That you see the beauty in the small things that are actually huge. For me, having learnt how to count my blessings, I intend to keep counting.

As One Door Closes

Six months ago, I made the brave decision to confront my hyperacusis. Since suffering sudden hearing loss and tinnitus, the onset of hyperacusis made me almost house bound. Hyperacusis is a sound distortion caused in the dissonance between my tinnitus tones as they clash. Once triggered, even my own voice becomes distorted in my head. 

To avoid becoming isolated by the condition, we converted an old shop in the village into my studio and during that 6 months, I learnt how to manage my hyperacusis rather than hide from it. 

I'm so glad I took this step. Last term, I went back into schools as an adviser for the Young Promoters Project, Night Out, The Arts Council of Wales and found that with my new hearing aids and some sign language, I was flying high in class, once again. I could feel my old mojo coming back.

And now I have been offered a contract for the coming term with the Creative Lead Schools Project, The Arts Council of Wales, working with a small group of children who have special needs. There will be myself, a film maker and a theatre maker working collaboratively to devise a piece with the children which will be performed & filmed at a local theatre. 

With this new found confidence and return to self, I made another brave decision and that is, to let the shop go and re-base my studio at home.

For now, I have re-camped in the spare bedrooms and look forward to moving into my woman shed by the Spring, it's a bit chilly out there just now. 

One of the most important aspects in coming to terms with deafness has been a pair of magnificent hearing aids from the wonderful, NHS. My hearing aids have literally given me my life back. Massive thank you to Aneurin Bevan, the Minister for Health that introduced the NHS and to the Welsh Labour Party that he was part of, for backing him. We are so very blessed in the UK to have a National Health Service. 

The other equally important thing has been to open up and allow transitional energies to flow through me, trusting my heart to make the right choices. I hope my journey inspires you to do the same.

Live Your Gift

  

If there is something you love to do, something that eases your troubled mind, that brings peace to your heart and yet sets your soul alight, then grab hold of it, give all of yourself to it. Jump right into your desires for these are your gifts, given to you by that which gives light to all. 

Trust yourself, rather than question why you desire to do something.  Does the daisy doubt that she should turn her golden face to the sun?

For me, it is the writing of short stories and poems set with an intention to help others feel better, to inspire folk to look at the world in new ways and then, to make beautiful books that are kept forever as a reminder of how much we are loved. 

What is it for you? What is the gift that you have so lovingly been blessed with?

If you like my blog and would like to find out more about me, why not pop over to my website by clicking the link below ... 

Heartfelt Christmas

There is something very special ...

Knowing that there are people ...

all over the country ...

          Who opened a gift Christmas Morning ...

              that was written and made by me ...