Author: Patricia J Evans

Over the past 2 years many things have changed in my life. A critically ill husband for a few months followed by the appearance of Covid 19 in the world. Add to that terrible bushfires for months on end, living in such dense smoke that permeated through my lungs making it so hard to breathe while waiting for the fire to break through the fence line with me ready to face it and fight it alone. I also had to put my writing on the back burner for such a long time.

Hubby continued on the sick list waiting for surgery on his left hand in March 2021 followed by most of the year needing physiotherapy. Adding to this after the fires ……the rains came, causing floods and devastation to local farmers in surrounding areas. Life carries on though as we country folk do…..some things that I could not do had to wait though….so grass grew long but winter slowed it down which was good …for me as a woman who had so much else to cope with in the house. Good friends kept us in firewood all winter so we were warm…..this was so much appreciated and I was so very grateful.

We were very lucky with Covid 19 here in the Regions with no cases in the 1st or second wave but the 3rd wave has seen cases and we had a month long lockdown. Now vaccinations are at full speed NSW and Victoria are fully open even with new cases every day. There is 90% full vaccination and 94% single vaccination in NSW so life is coming back to normal.

Sadly in other parts of the world people have not fared so well. We have had family sick with Covid and lost a very much loved family member in Wales.This has brought much sadness to many people and it reminds us that we must live for today because that is all we have.

Mindfulness has been important to me during this time as it makes coping with so many issues that compounded right through the past two years. They can’t be pushed aside because they were all important and required caring,patience,strength and love, so giving myself some ME time was so important. So many needed me to be mindful in my care of their feelings and sadness……..I also needed to be mindful in my self care…..life was not easy and I knew that. I am very grateful for the Lessons I learned during this time. Life is a continuing road of Lessons both good and bad, all of them teach us something.

The time I spent daily just giving myself time to rejuvenate was priceless and still is. So when you feel like you need a little stress relief from life….ME time is what you need meditate…..exercise…..go for a walk……read a book……..sit outside and watch the world go by or walk your dog and sit in the park. there are so any things you can do to give yourself the time you need and most of us need this DAILY!

Self love helps cope with some extremely hard moments so give yourself a break and give yourself some…. Believe in yourself….. You are Enough and Let Your Light Shine.

Take care until next time.

It has taken me a while to get going on this new blog. The past year has gone so fast and I have learned so much.
My life before was stressful with me going into the dark side of depression far too often , life was tough and I had not dealt with the gremlins of the past how I should have.
For the past 12 months I have been learning Mindfulness and living my life in a mindful way. During this time I have been able to help family and friends as well as myself.
I also discovered for many years I had been walking a Mindful Path and did not know it. Now I have more tools to use and share with others to cope with any obstacle that is thrown in their path.
I have learnt to deal with my past that was not all that pleasant …Domestic Violence never is. I have been taught to look for lessons in that time that I can use in the future to make me a stronger person, which it has.
I am grateful for the good and the bad as we all should be. Some would not agree with that but everything happens for a reason. That was something that I did not understand but now I see that things like this can make you stronger,help you to understand others and help you grow.
At 74 years of age… I have quite a lot of life experience and I like sharing my experiences to help others it is just my nature along with my upbringing that make me like that.
The roller coaster of life can throw many curved balls in our path so it is good to be prepared for anything that comes your way.
Right now I am living on a small farm in the middle of a very severe drought. My Dams are bone dry and my water tanks are very low….we need rain so badly but I still look for the good things. The plants that struggle to grow, the few drops of rain that we may get….it is not enough to register in my rain gauge gut I am grateful anyway .
I can wish for rain but that won’t bring it to me so I am grateful for the good things I see because worrying won’t bring rain either.
We just have to work with what we have at the present time and concentrate on that.
Mindfulness gives you an inner peace that calms your whole body.You learn to deal with your thoughts …good or bad by going within, meditation or just find a quite place that you love.
I know many of these strategies help me and I am sure they can help you.
I have learned to listen to the problems of others….not talking…just listening , then when they have finished talking about their problem helping them find the best strategy for them.
I will leave things at this for today and will be back soon….until then
I am Mindfully Yours.