Steph's Ripples

I've cut myself from blogging for a while. It was an unintentional break. For someone who thinks she knows her priorities, I've been left wondering. I've been distracted. I've kept my distance. I almost forgot, until I listen to "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. She mentioned that she started a blog on a whim to take some action. It reminded me of my personal blog.  This is one thing I realise. What you don't use, you lose. I've got caught up with random things in my life and the next thing. I lost my routine. I lost my feet, and once you get your way out of something, it's like it never happened.  Also, if something feels like a burden you shouldn't really do it. I feel it's counterproductive. Of course, sometimes you have to push yourself, get yourself back into it. There should be a balance between what is right and not right for you.  For me, I really enjoyed blogging, putting my thoughts into writing and sharing. ...

I think most of the time, we tend to go back. Think about the past, what we did and so forth. When we meet a stranger, their first questions might be where do you come from, what do you know, or what did you study etc? We assume that these events that occur in the past determine who we are. They define us, what we are capable of and our identity. The truth, though, is that we are not where we were born. We are not what we do. We are not what we did 5 or 10 years ago. It's about using all the experiences we had and think about what you can do now. Right now. With all the skills, things learned and discoveries. With all that we have acquired. With all the knowledge. It's all about using what we have.

Nature goes through change of seasons. We all do. We go through periods where everything seems to fade away, and then all of a sudden, we find our salvation and feel alive again. The renewal process is under way. Everyday is a brand new day to start all over again. There will be times where we are bright and then some gloomy.It's the circle of life. Nature is a great teacher.

As this year comes to a close, I believe the most rewarding action to take is to list down all the things you are grateful for. It will be a gateway to reflect on all that happened during the year. It'll be an opportunity to unwind and see all the blessings you received. Sometimes what appears to be challenging and undesirable turned out to be a learning curve.  This is the time to be reminded of all the lessons learnt. Life has so much to teach us, but all lessons are learnt within and kept inside. Be aware that we have all that we need at any given time. I'm grateful for 2017 and all that it came with. Count your blessings.

Reflection has never been my forte. I used to hate doing reflection or rather I simply didn't feel the need to. Little did I know about the benefits of taking the time to reflect, the healing power that it all encompasses. It's a such a powerful tool we can use to help us. It's free and doesn't require much. All you need is to take a few moment, relax and think.  You can reflect on anything from your life, your feelings to aspirations. Reflection can be useful in so many ways: - To hold us accountable for our actions - To allow us to breathe - To take time to learn from the past - To stop and see where we are going - To give us perspective - To see what's truly happening in our lives - To relax - To enjoy the now - To appreciate all of our blessings - To calm our mind Our lives get so busy sometimes and it's so easy to get caught up in this madness. In a way, this blog is the perfect medium to reflect on my life and lessons learned. ...