Hi Honeys,
Here we are at the weekend again. Time is passing so fast, we'll be celebrating the holidays again before we know it 😊 Today is also day eighteen of the Blogtober challenge, where bloggers attempt to write thirty one posts in thirty one days.
I have to dash off to work soon but for today's post I'd share something very precious to me. It's how I've coped with some very stressful situations, it's how I always find my calm place and it never lets me down...
It all started a few years ago when I saw a lovely canvas online. Have you ever just immediately connected with something honeys? A connection so strong, it almost defies words?
The moment I saw this perfect, tranquil scene, showing a flight of sandy covered steps leading down to a beautiful beach, I made that kind of connection.
I immediately ordered it and ever since it arrived it's been at the centre of what has, over time, grown into what I call "my calm wall."
The wall immediately above the headboard of the bed in our master bedroom, is my calm wall. For some years now it's been my "safe place." I suffer from anxiety dear ones, I used to have the most terrible "panic attacks" but (touch wood!) those have been mostly controlled over the past couple of years. I learned, no matter where I was, if I closed my eyes and just concentrated on my breathing, block out the noise or whatever was causing the overwhelm.
It helps, I think, that my calm place isn't just on the wall of our master bedroom, it's also in my head too. Whenever I feel as if I'm not coping very well, I go upstairs, sit in the middle of the bed and stare at my canvas.
It took quite a while, it certainly didn't happen overnight, but I have stared so long at my precious canvas that I can now, mentally at least, step into it. I can feel the steps under my feet, the salt air on my skin, the wind in my hair and I can walk down the steps and sit on the beach to watch the waves. The ability to do this, even when I'm away from home, has helped me so much in dealing with stressful, even frightening situations.
Two years ago, when I had to attend our local hospital to have a CT scan done, I was genuinely frightened honeys. I had no experience of this scan, I had to have an IV put into my arm (another unfamiliar and frightening experience) and I have to admit, it became almost overwhelming at one point, but my little canvas came to the rescue, just as it always does. You can read what happened here.
I don't have any kind of experience in, or knowledge of, coping mechanisms for stress dear ones, I only know what has helped me. I'm not even sure I understand how it helps, only that it does.
Maybe the secret is to find something, not necessarily an object, like a canvas, maybe a piece of music, a phrase or poem, something that has a similar connection to the one I have with my little canvas? Once found, it can, over time, become your calming aid too?
As I said honeys, where there was once only my little canvas on my "calm wall," it's been joined over time by other items and my tiny oasis of calm now looks like this...
The latest additions were these beautiful ceramic origami birds in flight. On the wall they are flying towards the beach scene in the canvas. I like that.
There is also a lovely framed print, a gift from Hubby this year as part of my birthday. Again, I saw it online and just couldn't stop staring at it. It shows the prettiest cottage by the sea, there's laundry blowing in the breeze in the garden of the cottage and I can so easily imagine Hubby, our furbaby Jade and I living very happily there honeys 💖
Find something that you connect with honeys. You'll know it when you find it, or maybe it will find you, as I believe my little canvas did with me...
Even looking at these sandy covered steps now makes me feel immediately calm, happy even. I so wish that everyone could find the same sense of calm, that same happiness.
How do you deal with stress honeys? Do you have a calm wall? Do you meditate? I suppose that's what I'm doing when I go sit upstairs, when I concentrate all of my attention on the beach in my little canvas and on my own breathing.
Wishing you calm in a busy, noisy world dear ones, and so much happiness 💖 Till next time, smile lots and hug even more, hugs always x
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