Friday 4 January 2013

The 'Hope' word.


I wrote this on the 30th July 2009, and I thought it a good idea to post it up again: 

'Now here's a strange thing: all the day long, well for two days actually, everytime I close my eyes I keep 'seeing' the word 'HOPE' inside my mind. 

Now I shouldn't be surprised at this really. I am, after all, 'psychically well-endowed'. But this 'HOPE' word just seemed to stay stuck fast. 

So it came to our afternoon 'stretching of our backs' in the bedroom caravan, which some people may call a 'siesta' but I think a siesta is a state of being whereby one drops the eyes shut for a space of time. 'Stretching of our backs' is just that: giving our spines a rest from the hours of sitting working at our PC's. Our eyes remain open, although may have a momentary droop, but definitely do not shut completely. Lester will be listening to his Ipod, and I will be drifting about in my thoughts, or reading French, or we will be having a family pow-wow. 

As soon as I was lying prone on the bed, straightway into my mind came 'HOPE' again. And this time the letters of the word became split up: 
H is Happiness: that living in hope will bring long term happiness. 
O is for Opportunities: that living in hope will not allow for any opportunities to pass you by. 
P is for Prosperity: not necessarily with copious amounts of money, but a richness of self. 
E is for Excitement: which is how you are going to feel if you live in HOPE because you will be living your life, not sitting on the sidelines and watching the days of your life pass you on by. 

But like all things, being Hopeful requires effort. No gain without pain, as the saying goes. What I mean is, that it is hard at first to learn to be Hopeful. But with practice, it becomes easier. 

I have been thinking of these words often over the two days. When I push them out, they pop back into my head. So I pass them on to you as well. I have definitely become filled with more optimism, something which had become drizzled away with the effort of making a fresh start in somebody else's country, and I feel my feet stepping lighter as a result. What I have been doing to achieve this state of being, is every time I have a worrisome or negative thought drift into my mind, I turn it around on itself by Hoping for a good outcome. 

I have found that the HOPE word is a very powerful assistance in lifting one's spirits. As I put on my Facebook page yesterday: to HOPE is to be a travelling-forward-in-life person. But to be without hope, and therefore HOPELESS, is to be a going no-where person.'

********

Max and one of his girls had a long five minute 'moment' yesterday, with him on her, and both off in a land belonging only to the two of them. Not one movement did they make, nor one sound. Him on her, the way littl'uns are made.

One more lamb, black and white, born this morning. Now have three young goats, five lambs, and more to come. All is well so far, and all mums are managing without any assistance from us whatsoever.

An overcast day to day. Reminds me of those grey UK winter days, which used to have me down in the dumps and minus any energy for days on end. But it is not cold enough to have a fire on. I have, however, two thermal vests on (a white lacy one of mine, and a sensible   man-type one borrowed from Lester), a long sleeved t-shirt, a fleecy jumper, a thick home made aran cardi, a thick homemade knitted scarf, one fleecy petticoat, a long  corduroy skirt, home made socks, and boots. Over all of this, I have a crocheted shawl,  which is huge, more like a blanket really!  I would switch the fire on if I felt cold, but I don't so I won't. And if I do feel chilly I go sit in the bathroom which has a low heat on all the time, and is often the warmest place of the entire property, and there I sit on a chair and do my knitting. 

Now off outside to see if we have any more little ones. Having trouble with the goats at the moment, who are fighting all the time. Apparently this is what goats do, something to do with the pecking order. Very worrying though, when we hear that almighty thud of head on head, especially when there are little ones about. Love the little goatlings. They look like little puppies with the floppy ears. 

Anyway, must go, so bye for now.

8 comments:

John Going Gently said...

Vera that post is an ideal one for this time so early in the new year.
Nicely put
Then and now

Horst in Edmonton said...

Hi Vera, yes the goats have a pecking order. Females as well as males. This fighting also keeps them active and fit in case of prediters.

rusty duck said...

Oooh love the sound of the goatlings! Can you get a picture?

Zimbabwe said...

A great word and I love your definition of it. Hopeless does not exist in my world. Take care Diane

Vera said...

John, thanks.

Horst, ah so the fighting is an OK thing to be doing then!

Jessica, will try to get a photo posted up, but the enclosure they are in is too dim to get a good photo of them, but they will be going out in to the field soon, and then I shall be merrily snapping away!

Diane, hopeless does not exist in mine either!

Vera said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jean said...

Well said Vera. Rather poignant for me because I am intent on retiring this year and will have a drastically reduced income which I am hoping will be compensated for by lots of other opportunities and hopefully enough prosperity (pension) to keep the wolf from the door.

You are right, the greyness of UK weather is so depressing. Having said that, today it is bright and sunny, still quite mild too. So we will abandon all plans for doing something useful and go out for the day with the dog and a flask of coffee!!
That in itself is unsettling. Jobs don't get done because when the weather is nice I feel we should enjoy ourselves. That's my excuse for only ever doing crisis housework, crisis gardening, crisis ironing, etc !!

Vera said...

Jean, I do wish you the very best for your change of direction this year.
I liked the 'crisis housework', etc, because I get caught up outside when the weather is good. At the moment it is mild but grey and misty, which is very similar to the UK 'grey days'. Makes it hard to go outside, prefer to work indoors!