What to do with quiet moments....

I haven’t blogged in a while, not because I haven’t written anything but because I've been reluctant to share.

Not even sure why that is.

I have a problem with quiet moments.

When nothing is happening. No gigs, no new songs, no calls to inquire about gigs, no response to emails…. Just silence.

I've always felt like, time is of the essence, make the most of it and my way of making the most of it (i.e. time) is doing A LOT!

So, this season is a bit challenging for me.

I've been reading….

I just read ‘The Art of Asking’ by Amanda Palmer

She bares it all. Talk about vulnerability at its best.

I don’t know how to ask for help.

If anything needs doing, I get on with it. I however realise that you can’t get a lot done without asking for someone or people for help.

I need to learn to ask for HELP!

I was raised in the church so I know how to ask God for help. I however find it difficult to ask humans (hehe!) for help.

I think I am proud..... (ya think?!)

I've been shopping..

How do you like my new shoes?

1   I was on Netflix as you do and I watched the movie, A Long Way Down.

2     

3       It’s a story of 4 strangers who planned to jump off the same roof on New Year's Eve, they join together as a kind of family and give themselves six weeks to find valid reasons to live.

Towards the end of the film, I heard a song called ‘Youth’ by a band called Daughter

I think I played it a dozen of times and finally got my copy on iTunes

Watch the official video of Youth below, it's a gorgeous song.

I’m writing again……….wrote a new song with my ukulele. I think I’ll call this one 3 girls (that may possibly change)

One day (soon) I’ll share it with you.

Before you know it, it’ll be spring!

Speak soon x

I think i like Denver

".....pitch a tent in a cemetery inhabited by highly vocal ghosts"

From the forward of Beloved by Toni Morrison

Reading 'Beloved' for the second time another character has caught my attention..... Denver

Show me an Angel - Review of ANGELS in my HAIR by Lorna Byrne

I am a believer in the fact that there’s more to life than what we see day in day out. Just beyond the curtain there’s a whole new life filled with angels, souls of those who have passed on, some think animals that have died are included in that mix, but I don’t know about that. In my continual search for the whys and the hows of why we go through pain and loss and why sometimes after we’ve prayed and believed that a loved one will be healed and not die, the opposite happens, I came across Lorna Byrne; she was being interviewed by Jeni Barnett at LBC. A soft spoken lady, she narrated with ease her experience with the world beyond ours; her encounter with angels from as little as two!

I immediately placed my order for Angels in my hair via Waterstones online, when the book refused to arrive after 10days, I went on Amazon and ordered a copy. Needless to say while I was a few chapters into my copy from Amazon, my earlier Waterstones order arrived. I popped it in the post to my lil’ sister in Canada; I needed to share this compelling story with someone else and because we recently lost dad, I reckoned she probably has the same questions I have bouncing in her head.

I was surprised by the challenges and losses that Lorna still had to endure though she had and still has constant encounter with angels. I expected that her journey through life would be easier than less spiritually conscious people. Not only was she raised in abject poverty, she suffered rejection from her immediate family members and termed retarded when they did not understand why she seemed not to focus on the world around her. Can you imagine being shown who your husband would be and then to be told that you weren’t going to live old and grey together? I know! I thought that was unfair too.

You can’t help but ask questions when you read this book, it gets you thinking and wondering how much we think we really know. Angels in my hair was an easy read, an account of an ordinary woman’s extraordinary encounter with life beyond everyday experiences.

I found comfort in her account of what death is all about. ‘Death is like rebirth’ she said. It does make a lot of sense to me and gives me a sense of comfort to know that this isn’t all there is to life.

I know a lot of people will be sceptical and probably think it’s a whole lot of rubbish. All I’ll say is this, you have to keep an open mind to read this book and just because you can’t see it does not mean it’s not happening.

Get Caught Reading - The Shack

I had heard a lot about this book months before I finally got my hands on a copy. I think because the subject matter is something I can now relate to, I have to say I was enthralled right from the first sentence.

‘Who wouldn’t be sceptical when a man claims to have spent an entire weekend with God, in a shack no less?’

I tell you what, I would have loved to have an entire hour with God right after I unexpectedly lost my dad a few months ago. I desperately needed answers and for some reason my Sunday school classes and my stint at regular bible study was not helping me understand the whys, hows and the what ifs? So, as I read through the pages of The Shack, I had my ha! moments.

‘Nobody wants God in a box, just in a book. Especially an expensive one bound in a leather with gilt edges or was that guilt edges’

The truth is that one cannot limit God to the good book, or the four walls either. He can reach out to anyone whenever and however he pleases. Thankfully I found some my answers in this fiction written by WM Paul Young to help explain to his kids, his perspective of God. I know this book is not for the legalist or traditionalist.

In his own words…

‘The institutional church doesn't work for those of us who are hurt and those of us who are damaged.’

I have been touched by Mr. Young’s book and wanted to share but not give away the story and spoil it for those who have not read it. What I would say is this, depending on where you’re at, The Shack will either help you to see things from a whole new perspective or be a stumbling block.

The story of how this book got published is also an encouragement for yet to be published writers like myself. All he had was $300 and a few family and friends that believe in him.

I need to get back to writing!