Summer Rains
Month: January 2019
Woven By DNA
A Sound So Pure…
The power of Wind Chimes can be amazing.
I’m not sure if they have the same effect on you as they do me, but almost every time I hear them, one of two things happen:
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They remind me of something beautiful that happened previously in my life and my mind is cast back to that time and I remember the experience with fondness.
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My imagination starts to wander and my mind thinks of beautiful experiences to come.
There is also something inherently pure about their sound, too. It’s like an ‘original score’ that perhaps can never be repeated given that the wind blows in different strengths at different times from different directions.
I’ve also found them to be a great ‘mood lifter’ as well and why wouldn’t they be given the effect they have on me.
We were given a wind chime for Christmas (pictured below). I can hear it now. Such a beautiful sound.
How do they make you feel?
Written by David Johnson
20 January 2019
Chronicling Our Journey
Walking Isn’t ‘Just Walking’…
During Summer in Sydney, Australia, it is always best to walk early. We are expecting another day of 38C/100F temperatures.
Today, I set off a bit later than usual, at 7.00am. It was 17C/63F when I commenced.
As mentioned in previous blogs, I really enjoy walking, not only from the fitness perspective, but also because I get a lot of ideas whilst walking e.g. today, in a 42 minute walk, I came up 8 ideas for articles for this blog, all jotted down via the Google Keep app. Sometimes I get business ideas, or ideas for images, poems and paintings. If they are not recorded by some means, they will be lost…
Sometimes on a walk, I will listen to the sounds of nature, other times a playlist or a podcast, depending on how I feel.
Today, I chose to listen to a podcast by Charlie O’Shields called ’Sketching Stuff.’ I have been following Charlie’s site, ‘Doodlewash’ for some time but only recently started listening to his podcast.
I would encourage you to listen to the podcast if you are in any way interested in getting into Art or indeed, have already started.
Today, I listened to episode #10 and it was informative, inspirational and entertaining. I will be listening to it again over the weekend. (See link below.)
To finish off the walk, I chose a Classical music playlist as it suited my mood.
Sometimes, I will snap some images with my iPhone on my rounds. I took some today but they will come to light in a different article as I seemed to be shooting a theme today. I also have a DSLR, however, if I took that with me, the walk would double or triple in time!
So you see, walking for me isn’t ‘just walking’… it’s also a way of feeding my creativity!
Written by David Johnson
12 January 2019
Creating New Habits, Not Resolutions…
I stopped making ‘New Years Resolutions’ many years ago.
Instead, I set goals and they cover all different areas of my life. The challenge though (as I have found before) is that in the Christmas/New Year period, when life is good, breezy and we are relaxed, we tend to create these awesome theoretical goals for the New Year.
They sound great, however, when life ‘starts happening and reality moves in’ those goals (and good intentions) tend to get consigned to history and a couple of weeks, months and beyond, we look back thinking, ‘what happened?’
So, what can we do about it?
This year, I’ve decided to do something different.
Firstly, I’ve worked out ‘why these goals/habits are important to me?’
Secondly, I’ve set up a spreadsheet with various headings for the goals/new habits that I would to introduce/reintroduce into my life.
Some examples are ‘reading from a professional development book, walking and meditation.’ Each have a heading and I’ve put in (in the case of walking) how far I’ve walked and in the case of reading & meditation, I put in the amount of time.
You might be thinking that’ it’s easy to find the time to read or meditate…’but when you are running a business, am involved in BNI (breakfast business group) and have a heavy involvement in Toastmasters as member with additional roles, family commitments and all the hobbies/interests I have, then it’s easy for it to get forgotten or become erratic.
I’m not trying to start 10 new habits at once though, I’m bringing them in gradually.
I’m 9 days in and the spreadsheet system is working well. I can access it via Google Sheets on my phone as well so I can check up at any time to see how I am progressing.
The thought is, that once I’ve created the new habits and they become part of my life, I won’t need the spreadsheet.
In a couple of months time I’ll report on how this going. Till then, have an awesome New Year!
Written by David Johnson
9 January 2019
When The Thoughts Flow…
Echoes Of Life
Stepping Into The Light
Happy New Year!!!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have visited, liked, commented or followed my blog this past year and prior.
In Sydney, Australia, we saw in the New Year last night. The above is a still taken off our TV with my iPhone. We had a 12 minute Fireworks display over Sydney Harbour.
Last year, I wrote 50 poems, 13 Haiku poems and 11 articles on this blog and am looking forward to what 2019 will bring!
Thank you for being part of my journey! I am also looking forward to following your creative journey.
I would like to wish all of your Families and Friends a wonderful, joyous, creative and safe 2019!
Written by David Johnson
1 January 2019
Communicating Creatively 