Tag: daily-prompt

Realisation

lizaaitken

If I had realised half the things I have started in life would turn out the way they did or cost as much, I may not have started any of them.  Then again, I suppose that would make me a different person.

It’s not only the big things, it’s little ones too.  I started posting ‘Nature Lessons’ linking my thoughts with photographs as quotes for fun, I thought it was a nice idea and thought I’d give it a week or so and make a little collection.  I’m on day 43 now and realise I might have to continue for the rest of the year, maybe longer.  If I make it a year then it’s another 322 pictures and quotes I need to come up with, that’s a lot of thinking let alone walks in nature in the freezing cold!

So I have come to the realisation that I need a good camera, although my iPhone 6+ does take some nice snaps, I want to get some better ones, like night shots and distance.  I know nothing about cameras so I’m hoping this post might help generate some advice.  Oh and I don’t have a fortune to spend 😉

Last night I went down to the seafront, it was 150 years since the opening of the West Pier.  Anyone who follows my blog will know I love this place and never tire of photographing it.  It is beautiful and I think very powerful and last night as a celebration of 150 years the town was lighting it up.  I hoped to get some great snaps but unfortunately my iPhone  camera is not any good after dark (see below ;-)).

If I start something and set my mind to it I finish it, not all my ideas come into fruition, I have so many of them, but those I start become part of me.  Well that’s apart from lifestyles like the diets, but that’s because they don’t work, oh yes and the yoga 😉

Funny how things turn into habits and we find it hard to let them go.  Like coffee, wine and smoking, although I sort of finally nailed that one.  Then there are the relationships we probably knew were not good for us in the start, what’s that all about?  But then again if I hadn’t met my sons father I wouldn’t have such a wonderful son, so I needed to do that one too.

I’m now hooked on writing and I really enjoy adding photos to my work.  In fact some of the photos I take on my nature walks are inspiration for my words.

I have always liked to write but I’m totally absorbed by writing at the moment, on a good day I might even dare call myself a writer.  I like the fact that I can share messages about life, love and kindness on my blog and I’m overjoyed that some of you seem to like them.  I try to inspire through words and the photos help this process, so you see, I need your help with that camera.

 

 

Realise – DP

lizaaitken

I would get you the stars and moon,

if it would help you to fly high,

but realise it’s just a dream, 

to be floating up on high.

I would conquer all your fears,

if that would make you smile,

but realise they are not real,

but understanding takes a while.

I would go to the end of time,

to help you to start again,

but realise I might bring back,

those days so full of pain.

I would march into kingdoms,

put you on a throne,

but realise it wouldn’t change,

you’d still feel so alone.

I would demand all stars to shine

spotlights down on you,

but realise it wouldn’t work,

it wouldn’t please you too.

I like to gather all the love in the world,

and place it on your knee,

but I realise your not wanting that,

it’s just enough from me.

..

I wrote this response to the Daily Prompt Word Realise, thinking about someone who is going through a hard time at the moment.

Another Tree

lizaaitken

family-tree

The tree signifies great strength to me, 

growth and connections are clear to see.

Stable roots that are earthed holding tight,

a trunk that is solid by day or by night.

The tree reaches out, to earth and to sky,

animals nesting and birds passing by.

Children swing from the strongest bow,

Returning again to show their young how.

The tree will give us hundreds of years,

of kisses under and plenty of tears.

Those that bare fruit apples and pears,

will feed us for free and take off our cares.

~

Tree – DP

lizaaitken

 

img_2480

If you compare yourself to the tree,

so slender, strong and straight.

The tree does not express his strength,

in attempting to dominate.

He does not crush those weaker than him,

he cannot chase you off.

Just holds out those magnificent arms,

those branches he holds aloft.

Take a tree in a community,

who does not utter any words.

Not undertaking many deeds,

just as a shelter for the birds.

His roots are deep and solid,

no way he’ll be pushed about.

Remaining strong and silent

not pushing opinion out.

He gains the praise of nature

with a strength that’s so assured.

With a mightiness and perfection,

by following natures laws

 

 

.

 

Nostalgia – DP photo challenge

lizaaitken

img_2849

 

 

So many things come to mind when I think of nostalgia.  I’m sentimental and slip back in time at the drop of a hat.  I find it easy to walk back into a scene, reminisce, look around and smell and feel what’s going on.  It’s interesting, as an adult I remember different things, must be my very vivid imagination or things stored in my mind, I didn’t acknowledge the first time around.  Maybe at an age I couldn’t comprehend, didn’t understand or just another false memory!

This is my first go at the Daily Prompt Photo Challenge, I don’t know if it should be a stand alone photo but I had to write a little poem to explain Nostalgia 🙂

 

Nostalgia sleeps upon my bed, he’s slept there many years

Witnessed all the heartbreak, the sadness and the tears

I’d say he’s probably forty five, maybe give a year or two

Those of you who are close to me, he knows your secrets too

My mother helped me make him, as I was seven or eight

I couldn’t do it all by myself, as I had got in such a state

We sewed him up with cotton thread, adding memories

Pink button eyes and matching lips, he was built to please

The velvet is still black as night, he blends in as I sleep

When we made him years ago, we made a guy to keep.

 

It Takes Daring…

lizaaitken

img_2511

It takes some daring, to look at yourself,

clearly, no holds barred.

See the picture others see,

the brightness and the scars.

Inspect ourselves with a critical eye,

not missing anything out.

Stopping where we need to stop,

in attempt to work it out.

It takes some daring, to stand naked,

unprotected from all eyes.

Without the shrouds that cover us,

mistakes and all the lies.

To look beyond the physical self,

look deep into the soul.

See that we’ve not always been,

as focused on the goal.

It takes some daring, to really listen,

to hear what others hear.

Not muffled by our egos,

but hearing loud and clear. 

To listen to our mistakes,

to hear what we got wrong.

It’s so much easier to think about,

the future paths we’re on.

Life’s Tests

lizaaitken

img_2646

I feel that maybe life is a test, we come here to achieve something, find ourselves, maybe remember who we are but we get caught up in life and forget our purpose.

We come to develop an understanding, find tolerance and compassion.  Often this comes from the tests life give us, that we suffer on occasions ourselves opens our understanding of suffering.  To feel pain we recognise the pain of others and in turn learn compassion.  I know it sounds silly but it’s like anything, to experience is to understand.

When we find tolerance, we are able to meet life’s challenges head on, knowing that they will make us stronger and strengthen our soul.

Joy and pain are two sides of the same coin, like night and day, there is not one without the other.  If we have an easy ride, well maybe that’s a life without meaning, recovery from the last or we are here to help others.  I’m not sure we won’t know until the end, it’s all a mystery really.

via Daily Prompt: Test

Test of the Tower

lizaaitken

img_2679

I pulled the tower in 2013, not for the first time in my life but anyone who understands the tower in the tarot deck, will know it is significant.  I’m not frightened of the tower because it signifies necessary change, it’s just not always easy.  In fact I have pulled the tower at some major points in my life.   I pulled it when my husband and I lost our business, home and marriage.  I pulled it just before I quit a very well paid secure job at the beginning of 2013 and I pulled it before my mother died eighteen months later.

The tower is a test card, it usually indicates the breaking down of establishment, established ways of living, signifies necessary change and rocks the status quo.  I’m not one for thinking too much about it, what will be will be.  My friend on the other hand is terrified of the card, she makes me laugh because as much as these cards do tend to come up at the right time, they are really only for entertainment.  It could be that our unconscious self, that, that knows where we are going knows exactly where each card is in a pack.  I am quite psychic, do read the cards etc but don’t let it rule my life, as we are very much in charge of our own destiny.  Small changes we make one day might take us up a totally different path the next, although I do think the lessons along the way are the same, as is the destination.

Well the point of this post is to look at the changes that have come about for me over the last few years.  I started this blog as my mother was dying, it helped me process her impending death, she died in 2014 and I left it alone.  A few months back I came back to my blog and it is like I am a different person.  I talk out loud through my writing and I am now nearer to making sense of who I am.  It has been a difficult three years, extremely difficult.  The day my mother died, my stepfather had a heart attack and cancer was discovered.  I brought him home to live with me and he died at Christmas, two months after my mum.  I got through it with the help of my family and friends and now, two years later feel I have finally reached the other side.

I am happy, although I would do anything to have my mum back with me I have also had to stand on my own two feet.  She was my rock, she listened to me, supported me and worried about me.  There is something about the death of a parent that makes you grow up.  You have to think for yourself and make your own decisions.  It’s not that you didn’t anyway, but you did so in the knowledge that your parents were supporting you and loving you all the way.  I’m single so don’t have a partner for support but this time has been so good for me, I have discovered myself.  I’m comfortable with who I am and don’t rely on anyone for confirmation I’m going the right way.

Where am I going now, I work as a consultant in care, although it doesn’t really fulfil me anymore.  I’m between contracts and not really looking for anything along those lines, I think I’ve done my time.  I’m looking for a new direction, that’s why I have so much time to write and read your blogs.  I know I want to work in a way that will help others, I have natural empathy and can help people work things out somehow, maybe it’s because I listen and I’m good at untangling knots.  I’m a great believer in what is meant to be will not pass you by, so I’m waiting patiently.

I got a new tower today, I found it in my stats which made me think of the significance of the tower in my life.  Just maybe I will win the euro millions tonight and spend the rest of my days happy and blogging 🙂

Universal Dream

lizaaitken

 

 

img_2513

Are we awake right now, living in the minute

or we just dreaming, just thinking we’re in it

is all of this an illusion, created by our minds

could it be we are asleep, not even humankind.

 

Is the planet our creation, but not really here

just all experiencing the dream, so very clear

And if that is the case, oh, where in hell are we

are we just a stream of thought, nothing else can see.

 

via Daily Prompt: Facade