Happy New Year 2012

I’m excited for the new year to begin! 2011 was a great year and I’m sure 2012 will be even better! Every day is a blessing and I’m grateful for everything life has brought me. 2012 is the year of the Dragon, and will be a year of great achievements for Lone and I.

As I do at the end of every year, let’s reflect on what the past year has brought me…

• I am grateful for all the new experiences I’m enjoying here in Calgary.
• I am grateful especially for all the wonderful people I’ve met and the great friends I’ve made.
• I am grateful for the people I’ve met from my knitting group and for the great tips I’ve gotten from them about crafting.
• I am grateful for my teachers at my school who I have the utmost respect for; they have been absolutely wonderful to me, helping me in both personal and academic matters. I have learnt so much from them.
• I am grateful for the personal friends I’ve made, people who have been there for me and who’ve been so helpful and kind, and also fun and friendly!
• I am grateful for our first Canadian Christmas, which we celebrated with a family that welcomed us so openly into their home and their hearts.
• I am grateful for the people who’ve enabled Lone and I to continue to succeed here in Calgary, people who value his skills and appreciate his time.
• I am grateful for the library, without which I would not have been able to survive…kind of. I am grateful for the knowledge and the resources that the library provides.
• I am grateful for my family who continues to love and support me in following my dreams and my path.
• I am grateful for my health and for the knowledge I am gaining in learning how to take responsibility for my own health.
• I am grateful for the spiritual people I’ve met and the inspiration I get from them to develop my own spirituality.
• I am grateful to my angels and my spirit guides for always guiding me on my path and helping me achieve the greatest good for myself and my family.
• I am grateful to the Universe for always giving me all that I ask for and more. I am grateful for all that I have.
• I am grateful for a wonderful husband who loves me and who supports me in everything I do. I am grateful that he cares about my happiness and that he makes it his mission in life to make me happy.
• I am grateful for who I am and who I am going to be.

I have so much to be grateful for in 2011, but I know 2012 will be even better, and every day, every month and every year, will only get better and better.

Here’s to a Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas!

It’s Christmas eve and I’m excited to celebrate my first Canadian Christmas! I’m looking forward to experiencing the joy and the beauty of being with good friends and being nourished by good food.

It hasn’t been snowing these last couple of days, but it’s still white outside, and hopefully we’ll have some snow on Christmas. This winter has been a very nice one and we’ve been enjoying the weather, but still, there’s nothing like snow on Christmas to make the magical even more magical.

It’s getting closer towards the end of the year and the start of another new year, and as with most people, we find ourselves reflecting upon the year we had. This year has been wonderful! We’ve made many new friends – amazing ones! – and learned many new things about ourselves and this beautiful place we find ourselves in. Although it’s mostly been a time of transition and learning, it’s helped us build a foundation that we can rely on for further growth and progress.

Now that a new year is arriving, we’re entering yet another new phase in our lives, and it’s time for us to step up! Here’s to a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Puppy on Piano!

I just had to share this picture! It’s so cute!

Child Drowning Prevention

I stumbled upon this website on how to prevent children from drowning and I just had to share:

Child Drowning Prevention

I thought it was brilliant and I think every parent should know about this, especially if you also own a pool. The video on the website is the same as the video I posted, but they explain more on their video and they have a lot more information on the website.

My sister-in-law didn’t have this information, but she had already taught my niece to swim before she was two years old. My niece loves the water and is absolutely fearless. She’s two and a half years old now, and she’s not allowed near the water without adult supervision, of course, but knowing that she can swim if she ever needs to, gives us peace of mind.

Loving the Rose Quartz

When I was in my late teens, I was going through a tough time with feeling insecure and having a low self-esteem.

I hung out with the wrong crowd, had terribly self-destructive behavior, and was basically hating myself so much that I woke up everyday wishing I was dead.

Not a good way to live.

When I finally got myself out of the situation I was in, I realized that while I no longer wanted to die, I was a long way from healing and loving myself again.

I remembered reading about Rose Quartz being used for self-love and emotional healing, and I thought, hey, I need that. Rose Quartz is generally associated with love, gentleness, releasing stress, and the Heart Chakra. There are people who use it to attract love, spread compassion and kindness, and even for help in healing physical problems of the heart.

I believed that gemstones do store some energy, to an extent, but I didn’t believe enough to think that a rock was so powerful as to be able to magically turn me into a strong and self-confident teenager overnight after the months of emotional beating I had. Let’s face it, I wanted it mostly because it was a pretty piece of jewellery, and retail therapy has been proven to work!

So I bought one, and it looked like this:

Beautiful, isn’t it? Mine was a pendant that I wore on a gold chain everyday.

Surprisingly, within a couple of weeks, it had begun to work. Since then, I have never underestimated the power of stones again. I bought it with the intent of healing myself emotionally and to help me love myself again, I was not looking for love from anyone else. However, that was what I got, at least initially.

I’m not sure how to say this next thing without sounding vain and egotistical, but I swear this is the truth; no less than seven guys started going after me. I wasn’t attracted to any of them, and I wouldn’t say that they “loved” me exactly (the Rose Quartz is meant for love, not lust or infatuation, after all), so it’s not like the Roze Quartz was a magic love potion or anything.

However, I did start feeling more strong and confident. I was starting to love myself again, accept myself for who I was, cut myself some slack for making mistakes, and was ready to help myself back up again after my bad falls.

It might have been because I was starting to regain my confidence that attracted those guys to me, or maybe it was those guys going after me that helped me regain my confidence. The chicken and egg question. Either way, I have no doubt that the Rose Quartz played a huge role in my emotional healing. Sometimes, when you experience things like these, you just know, you know?

I still have a lot to learn about stones, and even the Rose Quartz itself, but one lesson I never forget about stones is how powerful they actually are.