DAY 52

every day is a brand new day!

"Proclamation i & ii" by Kleoniki Vanos

"wake at dawn with a winged heart & give thanks for another day of loving." kahlil gibran

when you wake-up in the morning what are the first thoughts that enter your mind?
are they perhaps:
"oh no, not this day."
"today i have to do x, y & z."
or maybe there are no thoughts & your mind is waiting for you to lovingly place a thought in there that will set the tone & be your fuel for the rest of the day?

"Dawn" by Kleoniki Vanos

"it's a nice day to start again."
 
what do you expect out of this one & only, never to be repeated, day?
is it possible that you are allowed to expect good things to happen to you?
can you dare to expect to be loved?

"Dive Into: by Kleoniki Vanos

"your daily life is your temple & your religion. whenever you enter into it take with you your all." gibran

here is a little exercise you can try:
close your eyes & picture yourself inside a huge, transparent, beautiful red heart. see yourself relaxed, smiling & content.

how does this make you feel?

i'll tell you how it makes me feel - i feel calm. my heart & mind stop racing & i open my eyes to right here right now. nothing else matters because i know i am loved.

"You Are Not Alone" by Kleoniki Vanos

"the message was very clear - follow your heart. looking without seeing can make me feel alone, but when i open my eyes the invisible becomes clear & i see that i am not alone."

expect good things to happen to you today & at the end of this day reflect upon all the surprisingly good things that did happen.

keep on expecting love to love you & be prepared to be amazed!!!

"Keep On Keeping On" by Kleoniki Vanos

"joy is infectious, as is enthusiasm & love."

love is patient

love is kind

it does not envy

it does not boast

it is not proud

it does not dishonour others

it is not self-seeking

it is not easily angered

it keeps no record of wrongs

love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth

it always protects

always trusts

always hopes

always perseveres.

"Crucified" by Kleoniki Vanos

"letting go of the past, living in the present & preparing for the future."

DAY 51

how do i love me?

how do i love me? let me count the ways.
i love me to the depth & breadth & height
my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
for the ends of being & ideal grace.
i love me to the level of every day's
most quiet need, by sun & candlelight.
i love me freely as men strive for right;
i love me purely, as they turn from praise.

i love me with the passion put to use
in my old griefs, & with my childhood's faith.
i love me with a love i seemed to loose
with my lost saints, - i love me with the breath,
smiles, tears, of all my life! - & if God choose,
i shall but love me better after death.

adaptation from "how do i love thee?" by elizabeth barrett browning

"Highs & lows" by Kleoniki Vanos

"every life, no matter how many valleys & mountain tops he encounters, is made up of a single moment, the moment he discovers who he is."

when i loved myself enough i no longer needed things or people to make me feel loved.

when i loved myself enough i recognised my courage & fear, my naivety & wisdom, & i loved them all the same.

"Deserving" by Kleoniki Vanos

"you can search the entire universe for someone who is deserving of your love & affection than you are yourself & that person is not to be found anywhere. you yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love & affection." buddha

in order for me to be able to love others i first need to learn to love myself. how can i give something if i have nothing to give?

how can i give a broken gift? it will be of no use to the recipients. they can try with all their might & mind to repair the gift, but will eventually have to admit defeat & walk away with shoulders hanging, ashamed that they could not mend your broken heart.

how we hurt ourselves because we are afraid to love ourselves & in the process hurt the ones who loved us enough to try & repair what only we could.

different reasons prevent us from drawing ourselves toward ourselves:
- fear of coming across as selfish (let's rectify this misnomer - love is not selfish).
- fear of what we might find hidden under the years of dust & neglect.

i would like to let you in on a little secret -
everything that i have carefully & lovingly worked through, in the process of finding myself, has amazed me to infinity. i have found beauty, strength & courage. i have found that i am able to let go of disappointment & pain, & receive encouragement & joy in its place. i have learnt to be my own best friend.

"Incubation" by Kleoniki Vanos

"your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. who looks outside, dreams. who looks inside, awakens." carl jung

DAY 50

on thankfulness...

everything happens to us for a reason. a reason that, in the long run, will benefit us & bring greater joy than if it had not happened.

maybe we need to change direction because we are moving further away from our true selves, or it could be that the situation/people that surround us are preventing us from living our full potential. we need to be free to find & live who we were created to be, no matter what it takes. (it's your choice or is it?)

we can sometimes be our own worst enemy because we limit the power of unconditional self love. our surroundings also play an important part in our self imposed limitations. we were born to live out our full potential & in this find the true value & gift of life. this is our gift to the world & to ourselves.

when looking at life in this way; the plateau's, steep climbs, victories & defeats (even defeat leads to victory), the natural course of your heart will be gratitude.

upon opening my eyes in the morning the first thing i do is say: "thank you." irregardless of how i feel; whether good or bad.
sending out the words; "thank you for the magnificent outcome of..." creates an atmosphere of expectation & miracles, allowing for love to come in & make the impossible possible.

"Daughter of freedom" by Kleoniki Vanos

"every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end" seneca.

"life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs. c. bronte

DAY 49

bless the source of your pain with LOVE & release it.

this practise has changed my life!

when i am afraid, i bless the fear with love & let it go. the conscious action sets me free to live in abundance.

to me, this is what abundant life feels like:

i am free to explore, live, learn, make mistakes & express myself, all the while knowing that love will guide, protect, teach & show me the way. the awareness of love cultivates the truth that the world is a safe place.

"Angel of love i & ii" by Kleoniki Vanos

"an angel descends from heaven bringing a pure message of love that strengthens my faith for the journey & gives me courage to face the challenges with perseverance."

be prepared to be AMAZED!

DAY 48

today i would like to talk about peace that surpases ALL understanding...

the first time this feeling came over me i was totally taken aback. it saturated my spirit, soul & body. i asked myself: "self, what is this?" it wouldn't go away so i decided to explore it. now, let me just paint a quick picture of where i was at that time of first exposure. i was preparing for a journey that would take me away from everything i knew to all things new.

don't get me wrong, there were still challenges, but somehow i found the courage, strength, tenacity & determination to push through the fears to find the beyond. could it have been that at that moment of all consuming peace i received all that i needed for the next phase of my life's journey? i believe it was.

how did this peace come to me? what did i do to deserve it? it took a dream & a prayer that compelled me to take a step into the unknown, even if it meant plummeting to my death. i had to do or die & then the peace came.

let me just say that i did not plummet to my death instead a hand caught me & wrapped his loving arms around me. he has not let go ever since.

i have consequently had more of those peace filled moments & have learnt not to be afraid of them but to embrace them as a sign that i am in the right place at the right time with everything i need to be there.

be assured that taking that FIRST step will change your life forever. you will find strength in yourself that you never knew you had & when the next challenge comes to take the next step...

BE PREPARED TO BE AMAMZED!

"Maximise" by Kleoniki Vanos

"she had to reach deep withing herself to find the strength that had been there all along, to help maximise her faith to take the leap forward."

DAY 47

what if i decided to accept, as truth, that i am the right person with the right name at the right place? how would my day turn out to be?

"Love in motion" by Kleoniki Vanos

i set my heart free to dance the jig of love to get to the core of who i am.

"The moment of truth" by Kleoniki Vanos

 

let me see your nakedness & i will show you a world that goes beyond the visceral into the dimensions of your soul.

"Intimidation" by Kleoniki Vanos

gone are the days when life & man intimidated the life out of me. now i am!!!

"Cool runnings" by Kleoniki Vanos

running toward & not away from love, life & happiness.

just because we can't see something it doesn't mean that it's not there. sometimes the subtle things in life are the catalyst for a paradigm shift.

DAY 46

the acceptance of change is one of the greatest freedoms a human can experience, putting consciousness in the present moment where the power of creation is condensed.

"Love is the only gold" by Kleoniki Vanos

truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold. tolstoy

"Edges of time" by Kleoniki Vanos

let your life lightly dance on the edges of time like dew on the tip of a leaf. tagore

"Growth & evolution" by Kleoniki Vanos

a circle is the reflection of eternity & if you have several circles over each other then you get a spiral which represents growth & evolution.

DAY 45

loving my weeknesses & strengths...

"Eye" by Kleoniki Vanos

the eye of a human being is like a microscope, which makes the world seem bigger than it is. khalil gibran

"Generosity" by Kleoniki Vanos

those who give you a serpent when you ask for a fish, may have nothing but a serpent to give. it is then generosity on their part. khalil gibran

"Defeat my defeat" by Kleoniki Vanos

defeat my defeat, my deathless courage, you & i shall laugh together with the storm, & together we shall dig graves for all that die in us, & we shall stand in the sun with a will, & we shall be dangerous. khalil gibran