Lovelylyvyn

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” – Epicurius

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” – Frederick Keoniq

Today I’d like to discuss contentment.

“Happiness is self-contentedness.” - Aristotle

Contentment isn’t a matter with being content with your situation in life and never trying to improve it. It’s a matter of being content with what you have — but realizing that as humans, we will always try to improve, no matter how happy we are. If we don’t, we have given up on life.
There have been times in my life when I wasn’t happy, when things seemed dismal, when I wish I had more. I went through such an experience recently – there was the bank repayments on a business loan to be paid, not enough money coming in, husband’s business not prospering, pregnancy and the need for a bigger home and the list goes on. Naturally, I wasn’t content with the way things were and I was quite unhappy for some weeks until I made a decision to snap out of it.

We choose whether we are happy or unhappy.

Read that sentence again if it’s not already something you consciously practice in your daily life.

If you’re unhappy with your life right now, I will venture to guess that it’s because you’ve chosen to be unhappy. That sounds harsh, but in my experience it’s completely true.
When I was unhappy, I focused on all the bad things in my life. Not only that, but I continually thought about how bad they were, and would complain, and would ask, “Why me?” I would let myself sink into inaction and eventually depression. I would be grumpy and cause those around me to be unhappy. That, in turn, only made the situation worse. It certainly didn’t help.

At the times of happiness, in contrast: I focused instead on the good things in my life. Because while I had problems at my job and with my relationships and with my finances and health and all that … there were still good things.
I have found that I could be happy, despite my conditions, because I chose to be happy. I found contentment in what I already had, instead of wishing I had something else, instead of being discontented with what I had. Contentment not only made me happy, but it transformed my life in many ways.
I have also found that by lowering my expectations of myself, the people around me and my situation it is easier for me to enter into a state of contentment more easily.

Consider the wordings of this popular hymn when next you’re down in the dumps.

Count Your Blessings | Johnson Oatman, Jr.

1. When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

o Refrain:

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
*Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
[*And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.]

2. Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

3. When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings—wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

4. So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2

People often manufacture their own unhappiness by the negative manner in which they think about things. Work with your mind, exercise disciplinary control, and re-slant your thoughts for happier living. Drain the mind, by consciously conceiving of yourself as dropping out every destructive thought, every fear, every inferiority feeling. Picture your mind as completely empty. Then start filling it with thoughts of God, and of Christ, thoughts about every good and pleasant thing. Practice this new habit regularly twice every day, morning and evening, to counteract the older and negative habit of allowing unhappy things to occupy your mind. In due course, unhappy thoughts will not feel at home in your mind, and happy thoughts will transform you.


Courtesy of: PealeCenterforPositiveThinking.com

It good to finanally be able to spend a few hours alone and in bed indulging in one of my favourite pastimes - web browsing!

Things have been pretty hectic lately and I've had scarcely a moment to myself. I just thank God for this opportunity.

Can't post much though, gotta go catchup with all my faveourite blogs.

Good to be back though even if its just for a little while.

I spent some time researching the benefits of shea butter this morning. I was quite impressed with the results of the research. Being an African, I’ve known about this product for a long time. It is common to find it being hawked in the open markets and a lot of people attests to its value for both the skin and hair.

I’ve used it successfully on a number of occasions myself. Once we had a small domestic fire incident and my husband’s hand got burnt. When the wounds healed he was left with discolourations on both his hands and wrists. I suggested he should rub some shea butter on the affected parts daily and within a short period of time we noticed that the skin had healed completely and the skin had regained its normal tone.

My daughter had a cold recently and her nose was blocked. She couldn’t breathe easily and being a young child she couldn’t blow out the catarrh in her nostrils. I tried drugs recommended by the doctor to no avail till a neighbour advised that I should rub some shea butter on her nose bridge and around her nostrils. Within a few minutes the catarrh flowed out easily from her nostrils and she could breathe easily.

Another experience I’ve had with shea butter was when I accidentally bumped my forehead on a hard object at home. It was so painful I could actually feel the spot swelling up. I rubbed on a little shea butter and immediately felt relieved of the pain and swelling.

I’ve used shea butter to condition my hair at the salon and I’ve used it to relieve aches and pains on various parts of my daughter’s body successfully.

I have friends who swear by it as an effective moisturiser for their skin.

With all these testimonies you’d think I would treasure this product like gold. Maybe because it is so commonly and cheaply available around here but reading all the wonderful things about it online this morning made me realise how valuable this product is and how blessed we are to have it.

From my research this morning I was able to find that shea butter can treat:
dry skin,
skin rash,
skin peeling after tanning,
blemishes and wrinkles,
itching skin,
sunburn,
shaving cream,
small skin wounds,
skin cracks,
tough or rough skin,
cold weather,
frost bites,
stretch mark prevention during pregnancy,
insect bites,
healthy skin,
muscle fatigue, aches and tension,
for before and after strenuous exercise,
skin allergies,
eczema,
dermatitis,
skin damage from heat
I hope to post more about the benefits of shea butter later and also hopefully post more recipes for using shea butter.

I had the privilege of watching a cartoon movie on television yesterday morning and even though this is a fairytale I've read often as a child the story took on a new meaning for me as I watched it.

As the story goes, Belle/Beauty is a beautiful damsel who is being courted by Gestund, a handsome macho man, who fits into the typical image of every young girl's ideal husband.
Beauty/Belle is a girl who is well read and loves to develop her mind but Gestund would rather have her fit into a mould and be more concerned about frivolties like other girls.

By some dint of fate, Belle is led into an enchanted castle where she is kept prisoner by The Beast who believes she has the power to break the spell that was cast on him.
The only problem is that the spell can only be broken if she falls in love with him and he has very little time to make her do so.

Of course like all the other fairytales, they end up living happily ever after.

Watching Beauty and The Beast was such a blessing to me. Unlike other fairytales which fill young girls heads with all sorts of unrealistic romantic notions, I believe Beauty and The Beast is so true to life.

I was able to draw a lot os similarities between the story and my life as well as the lives of other women I know.
It is typically every young girl's dream to marry a prince charming - handsome, fearless, respectable and veeeeerrry RICH, but in reality, how many of us girls do actually get to meet these types of guys?
I blame this idealistic fantasy for my late marriage.As I kept waiting for the elusive prince charming when all the while a 'beast' was waiting in the wings pinning for my attention. Thank God for the wise counsel of Godly parents and friends who helped me see that underneath the rough exterior lies a heart of gold. Although a heart of gold wasn't high on my list of qualities but I married the 'beast' anyway.

Mademoiselle Beauty was confined to living with The Beast against her will but she had to out of devotion for her father whose freedom from The Beast she could only secure by ransoming her own self. In her time of incarceration, she could have sulked and be bad tempered till The Beast threw her out of his castle or even destroyed her there, but instead she overcame her initial disappointments quickly and was genuinely kind and pleasant to him. Within a short while, even Belle had to admit to seeing something in him that she didn't think was there before - The Beast was beginning to soften!
He started to show some tenderness towards Belle as he fell in love with her. He even loved her so much that at great personal risk he let her go when it became necessary for her to take care of her sick father.
She later returns to him out love and right before her eyes she was able to witness his transformation into a charming prince!

When the announcement of my marriage to my dh was made, not a few people were surprised, many thought it was a desperate move on my part due to my age ( I was 37 at the time).

However, since I decided to love and honour my husband, those same friends have returned to enthused about how lucky I am to be married to such a wonderful man.
Gone are the coarse unrefrined ways, I now have on hand a kind, generous man with noble qualities not forgeting to add very handsome too.

To all the dear young ladies contemplating marriage and even the married sisters, there are so many lessons to be learnt in the story Beauty and The Beast but an important one is this....

Inside every man exists two entities: 'The Man' and 'The Beast'.

It is your responsibility to feed the one you wish to see in your man.

'The Beast' is fed with harsh words, nastiness, insults and abuse while 'The Man' is fed with kindness, respect, encouragement and all round goodness.

Its up to you ladies what would you rather live with Beast or Man?

Happy New Year again!!!

My new year has taken off with a lovely start with my dh taking it upon himself to rearrange our living room and getting rid of all the stuff that has cluttered up our living room space for soooo loooong!!

Its amazing what rearranging the furniture can do to a space. The room actually seem larger and brighter now. Its so beautiful I cant wait to see the faces of our friends when they come visiting. Its almost like living in a new apartment.

While dh busied himself with the rearrangements, I spent my time cooking a large pot of vegetable stew which I had planned to share with some of our neighbours but it didnt come out as tasty as I wanted so I didnt share it but we had it for lunch instead.

My year is definitely off to a lovely start and over the next few days I would be posting my plans for a lovely 2009.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!