The concept of self-care was introduced to me about a decade ago. It is not a self-indulgence. It is vital for physical, emotional, spiritual and mental health. The premise is quite uncomplicated. If you don’t look after yourself, you can’t look after others.
I sought to be nurtured in different places and by different people. The mix was never right and left me wanting to fill the void. My only regret in life is that it has taken me so long to discover, nature can be a powerful nurturing force in one’s life.
And so my journey began …
I sought the embrace of tall trees. 
And in the outback where the wide open spaces and empty places are filled, within me.
Usually solitary, there are times I seek footprints left by others.
I neglected this boab bonsai at my peril. It did not survive. The warning signs I’ve since heeded, make time, those who nurture me, deserve my nurturing too.
Best of all … no matter where I am and what I’m doing, just a glimpse of my daughter’s dogs, makes me smile. Their loyalty and companionship is uncomplicated, with the only complication being in the gaze. My kind of relationship!
Winter has arrived in Perth with fury. I returned home last night in a storm. I’m exhausted from the stress of the flight. Today, I plan to have a hot stone massage, get a pedicure, do some cooking and then get back to ‘catch up’ work while watching the steady rain outdoors.
I’ve mapped my day and it looks perfect for me. Wherever you are, may your day be perfect too. Isolate some time for yourself. You deserve it.
Until next time
As always
a dawn bird
In response to RDP – Thursday : Nurture
My daughter S with Embley – Perth Hills
M is nearly seven. A veteran of a few surgeries and was recovering from one in this picture. She knows not to jump on me and can read my hand signal, stop. Clever girl! She is now comfortable in my home whenever they visit.
Then came Em. The Instagram star. She also found herself featured in an Ikea catalogue. Our little celebrity. Hold a mobile phone and Em will immediately get a toy and pose! She was barely a year old in this picture and is now bigger. The first thing I do on the internet each morning, is look at her latest picture. She is my morning smile.
The most recent addition to the family is Kovu, my son’s chocolate labrador. Still only a few months old he is a bundle of energy. It makes me smile when the dogs go to the beach on ‘a play date’! I nearly fell off the chair the other day when my son stated he needed to go home as his “son” was waiting for him. This from a hipster twentysomething who claims he and his fiancee are never going to have children!
The snowdrops in my garden first appear in August. The anniversary of my father’s passing. Far from saddening me, the flower, like memories of him, delights the heart.
My father was my David Attenborough. He showed me the wonders of the world in words and books. Through his eyes I see softness in ranges and know Nature’s hand can shape and smooth the most difficult terrain.
Jostled in the air, I have learnt to focus on the sun ray bursting through a storm.
I know no fear travelling in desolate outback. I’ve come to learn, there is beauty in the barren. There is peace in void.
My steps are measured and mindful because I know there’s more to experience in the journey between A to Z.
I found them in my garden.
Viola! in the strawberry, waiting to fruit.
Among bush tracks.
Against a fence.
In the neighbour’s garden.
In the eyes of the magpie lark, as it picked through the remnants of my breakfast.
In the eyes of a sick dog, who knows she is loved.
In my eyes, when I found the heart I left behind.
And, when I walked among the ‘sea clouds’.
I found my very own Milky Way.
So I took it home, and like a child at Halloween, emptied my pockets of loot.
A Shared Space 
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