Happy New Year to all my dear friends from Inspired Life & Home! I hope all of you had a peaceful and healthy transition into 2012! I confess that my first order of business for 2012 is to apologize and make a commitment to you, my dear readers...
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"What are you trying to do with this blog? What do you want people to know?"
Last year Inspired Life & Home was really about practicing my writing and having somewhere to share my photography, home inspiration, love for Spain, and simple thoughts. I wrote here and there with no true compass and maybe submitted a blip on the screen once or twice a month. Friends and readers alike asked why I wasn't writing more and when I realized I had reached 4,000+ hits on the site I knew I should take the blog seriously. But truthfully, I was wiped out and could barely hear my own thoughts. I desperately needed to get some personal time and space away to reflect on 2011 and ask myself some hard questions. So I headed off to my beloved Spain SOLO for some fresh air, inspiration, and clarity. This is what I found to be true about myself during this journey....
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| Steps near back entrance of Cathedral in Girona, Spain |
During a 7 (14 miles round trip) mile hike on the Costa Brava from the seaside town of Llanca to El Port de la Selva a hearty winter breeze was my push to keep going through these desolate ghost towns (this coast is packed in the summer!).
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| Map of la Costa Brava found @ immocostabrava.com |
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| Port de la Selva windsurfers |
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| My pathway and vista during my "hike". |
I was reminded that I am my mothers daughter and fear is not a word I give power to! Fear had been plaguing me these past three years, I let it creep inside and I was finally able to cut it loose and bury it! Its sword was shiny and jeweled but I realized that for me, not everything covered in gold is good for you and masked good deeds are the hardest to decipher.
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| The lock to the main door of the old Royal Tobacco Factory in Sevilla. Now the Universidad de Sevilla. |
Promise to Listen:
Do you remember during your college years how you actually listened to your own thoughts? How you followed your own whims without hesitation, understanding and accepting your own reasons- without any guilt, without putting anyone else first because "this was the time to do so"?
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| Happy Koi fish doing their own thing in Cordoba's Gardens of Alcazar de Los Reyes Cristianos |
I realized on this trip that I haven't heard myself like this in so long but when I finally did I felt exuberant, happy, positive, thoughtful and alive! I am finally starting to find clarity in my own thoughts, treasuring every little inner message, every little word that comes out of me because it is truly my unprotocoled self. It doesn't require a rule book.
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| One of the hidden courtyards of the old Arab baths in Cordoba's Alcazar |
Appreciate the Simple Beauty:
Even with all these wonderful experiences, I can share with you that I am most proud of the life I have chosen to live, more importantly, the people I have chosen in my life to share this journey with. They are the true treasures of my life, my precious medals, my biggest accomplishments, my everlasting diamonds. My base that keeps me ME, that loves me for ME, that continuously helps me improve ME!
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| Me in Placa Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain |
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| Parc de la Devesa in Girona, Spain |
I'm trying to be me, share a simple form of living where life happens in the spontaneous details, where the gift of time is the most valuable and where I can share with everyone my thoughts on simple everyday beauty. I also hope to share in this blog my sincere affection and adoration for Spain. Who knows maybe this blog will help me one day create my physical home there!
As for "What do you want people to know?"
I want people to know that there are still good, simple people out there and that beauty truly is where you find it. You just have to never stop searching!
In regards to my commitment to this blog.... I want to write at least 2-3 posts per week and if you like what you read then share it with as many people as you know. If we do this right, I will be able to start my bed and breakfast in Spain in no time and you all are invited!
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| CHEERS! |
May the new year bring new hope and continue to feed our dreams!
xoxox,
G
Love this post! And, it's so true. I think we all need a little alone time to evaluate our lives. Do we like where we've been? If not, how do we change where we're going? The hardest part is 1- finding the alone time and 2- not thinking of those we miss while we're alone.
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