Amorina Rose Writes: Balance, Life and the World of Words

I honestly wonder sometimes what possesses me to have this desire to write as it gets in the way of my reading. I am a reader first and yet how can I not write and share some of the things I read, or learn or I have sent to me and this has nothing to do with the part of me that wants to also be an author. That’s a different writing again, that’s author writing. Sometimes my reading and writing gets in the way of my authoring. My word, don’t even think of telling me it’s not a real word. Then there is the dreaded need for making a living or there is no reading, writing or arithmetic for that matter. You know what I mean, without working then there is no way to fund the life you want. I just threw arithmetic in them because it sounded good. The key to having it all is balance and balance has to be the hardest thing we do in life. Look at me, I am in love with my computer and my relationship with it is very deep. Being parted even for a few hours is difficult enough to have me hyperventilate and yet I need time for other things that may be just as satisfying. How do I balance it all?

I have made a new friend and I think Julia is very brave. She has given the concept of balance a lot of thought and has gone into a professional area that is quite new and very misunderstood. Julia is a health coach. She is someone that helps you set goals that involve balancing emotional, mental and physical health. This arena is fraught with skeptics. I think as soon as you mention mental and emotional in one sentence people run. Mention exercise they understand even if they don’t do it necessarily. But balance is everything. I am totally consumed by writing my novel, the anthology and the behind the scenes details that go with it. Frustrated because one of our group failed to deliver something we needed I went to the gym (no I am not a gym junkie and one look at me and you will know that) but I came back and the problem was simpler to solve involving one text message. My mind functioned better.

I spent yesterday morning with Julia and I am impressed with her desire to help people change their thinking. She is taking a risk in a new industry but she has a very real product to offer. Have a look at her website or read her blog which is attached to her website and see for yourself. She advocates balance in all things and has some very helpful advice to give so that your whole lifestyle benefits. Find her at http://www.activebalancehealthcoaching.com/.

Still on the topic of balance my very good friend Marianna sent me a link to another website because she knows me and knows I need reminding about balance. She like all the people I love dearly lives in Sydney and it saddens me as I had dreams of being like the girls in sex and the city (well not quite like them though they have an interesting life and all end up with a super hero). Those girls met up constantly and a problem shared early is an acorn, shared late it’s a bloody big tree getting in the way of my view. Anyway back to Marianna she sent me a reminder of what is really important in life. Below find just a small taste of food for thought in the opening lines of Oriah’s poem The Invitation and then look for more of the same and some other interesting things by following the link http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/. My favourite find is this Chinese proverb that says “If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come”. I think I better stop complaining about that tree and be grateful I have wonderful friends.

The Invitation by Oriah

It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

Now for some great news about our group and I guess about balance once again. We have struggled to make time from our real lives to write, to meet and discuss, to keep our families happy and to keep our desire to put words into practice alive. Coming together as a group has give Alison, Kay and I confidence to go ahead and achieve small pieces of our much bigger dreams. We all now have our own blogs and are very excited because the next step is the publication of our anthology Stories of the Dark and Light. As a group we have been able to work towards daring “to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.” Oriah’s words perhaps but it is our doing, our daring to put ourselves out there for our readers and also for ourselves. Together the risks have been minimised. Alison’s blog (she is obsessed with dragons) can found at https://blueinkonadragonstail.wordpress.com/ while Kay’s The Wandering Mind can be found at https://kaywantcheung.wordpress.com/. Actually I am not sure you can find Kay’s wandering mind as Alison and I have been trying for some time and had little success.