Blissful collecting

Joseph Campbell said, “If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.” 

Following your bliss means different things to different people - for some it means spending more of their weekends and time off doing what they love, for some it is playing with their grand-children and for others climbing Kilimanjaro. What we all need is our own personal recipe for bliss. 

One blissful past-time for me is collecting - Collecting feathers, old vintage glass and glass bottles, things found in nature, antique silver, crystals - Collecting the Moments... one by one...

Vintage glass bottles and two new cough mixture bottles, just because they're pretty...

Antique glass and silver... a cut-glass cruet set, cut-glass perfume bottle, cut-glass glass dish, silver and enamel hair brush set, to the far left an antique silver chain mail purse, small gold hand mirror inlaid with turquoise beads and on the left, a 1901 silver star pendant with inlaid seed pearls 

Vintage and antique silver cutlery, some with bone handles, some with mother-of-pearl 

Vintage cutlery with bone handles

A small part of my crystal collection   

things found in nature - seed pods and some Impala dung... 

A collection of vintage brass locks, animal skulls and insect exoskeletons

So, "Nothing is more important than reconnecting with your bliss. Nothing is as rich. Nothing is more real." 
- Deepak Chopra

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Birds and bliss

Nobody else knows your reason for being. You do. Your bliss guides you to it. When you follow your bliss, when you follow your path to joy, your conversation is of joy, your feelings are of joy — you're right on the path of that which you intended when you came forth into this physical body.
--- Abraham-Hicks

Birds... those lovely little creatures that just brighten up any day, no matter how cold. Without any complaints they just go about their business, finding food for the family, basking in the sun on a bare branch, singing soft melodies that gladden the heart.

Having the birds in my garden visiting my various bird feeders makes me feel so special. Makes me feel alive with purpose. Brings a smile to my face and makes me feel grateful to be part of Mother Nature who surrounds us and takes care of all her siblings, me and you included.

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Connecting with your bliss

The above pic is my 'Money plant' (as I know it), intertwined with some ivy, hanging from a patio beam. The story goes that, if it dies, so does all your wealth. It's hanging outside on my patio and every winter I panic as I slowly see it die down but then, each spring, I rejoice as it springs back to life, thick and abundant, needing to be trimmed back every now and then.

This winter I brought it inside, just in case.... (smile!)

Deepak Chopra said, "Nothing is more important than reconnecting with your bliss. Nothing is as rich. Nothing is more real." For me connecting with my bliss means pottering in the garden, feeling the rich soil between my fingers and nothing beats the feeling of actually holding the garden hose and watering the plants in stead of relying on an automated sprinkler system.

It's while you're watering that you notice all sorts of things - a dead plant, a mound of topsoil indicating the the mole is back in the garden again, aphids on the roses or red spider on the aloes. It also delights my senses to be "washing" the garden, removing dust from the leaves and giving the foliage a thorough cleansing.

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