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Rosie’sFrenchAdventuresandIrish Shenanigans.com

~ Letting ‘Life’ show me the way.

Rosie’sFrenchAdventuresandIrish Shenanigans.com

Tag Archives: here and now

Living In The Here and Now- Small Moments

08 Sunday Nov 2020

Posted by RosieJoseph in a sense of community, Change is a coming, mental health, My home, Simple things, The continuing adventure

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Change, Contentment, Dogs, Happiness, here and now, LIfe, living in the moment, Simple things, Welsh Terriers, Welshies

Selling houses is stressful, there is no doubt about that. But more of that on future blogs. Just to say the Compromise de Vente (which means a commitment to sale) has finally been signed by our buyers, and we are due to sign next week. There will then be a ten day cooling off period for the buyers, fingers crossed it all goes well.

Due to the stresses it has been easy to forget that we only ever live in the here and now. So last week as RD and I sat in the garden in some bright autumn sunshine, I reminded him that we should make the most of our impromptu tea break because when we go to Ireland we are both going back to work, which means the time for impromptu tea breaks on any day will be gone. That we should treasure how much time we get to spend with the Welshies, because we won’t have as much time as this in the future.

Later in the week we lit our garden fire, and took two of our garden chairs to just ‘sit’ and watch the flames. We are both in the frame of mind that we just want to leave France now, but we should treasure the moments when we sit under some of our majestic oaks, with the dogs, and enjoy the peace and solitude that you can only find in nature.

Today we were invited to our lovely neighbours Manu and Lucie, for aperitif. We spent a couple of hours with them, playing drafts with the chess set we retrieved from our barn, a gift to our son many years ago and never touched. Trying to teach them,and us,chess with the language barrier was just too great! Their eight year old son loved it, and a relaxed fun couple of hours was had.

RD has been struggling with everything that’s been going on, but when we returned he said ‘that has really lifted me, today,’ I looked at him and said ‘That’s what I mean about living in the here and now, we give so much focusing on what we want in the future we fail to see what we have now. We let it go, and we stop enjoying it.’ RD looked at me and said ‘I understand.’

Happy Sunday folks

Rosie

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Living In The Moment

21 Wednesday Oct 2020

Posted by RosieJoseph in Belief, Change is a coming, For the live of dogs, mental health, My family and other furry creatures, My home, new adventures, Simple things, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure, The seasons

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

autumn, autumn in France, Autumn leaves, blustery days, counting your blessings, here and now, living in the moment, reminders, swaying trees, Windy days, windy weather

It’s a blowy, blustery day here in France. One of those types of days that I love: when the rain is blown in and literally back out again by the ferocity of the wind, and the trees are waving away like demented stick giants frantically trying to tell us something.

I found the quote at the beginning of the post, today. As always, at a time when I needed to be reminded. What we will need will come. Selling houses are always such stressful times.

I reminded RD last night as we lay in our pretty little bedroom cuddling, with the lights sparkling away, and the Welshies gently snoring, that despite what we think we want, we must remember to live in the here and now: with our lovely house, with it’s stunning views, because that is all we have. As I lay in the night listening to the rain hitting the shutters I was reminded that this was one of the first things I loved about living here: that noise of the rain being flung about by the wind, knocking at the shutters as if asking to come into the safe and warm.

I think selling houses gets you so caught up in the planning for the future that you can often lose sight of the fact that you’re not really living your current moment. It was timely that the quote was sent my way today.

We had ordered some wood for the winter, knowing that despite the pending move nothing is certain and that we still need it for the here and now. With RD working it was down to me to take delivery and decant into our log store.

It was just what I needed: to be out in the blowey blustery day working, whilst I let the wind clear my mind. Nature was kind to me, the sun came out and the rain blew on by. I took some time to watch as the leaves dancing in the air as if some mad puppet master had control of them, at one point it looked as if they were marching in a line.

Now after a few hours work I sit here….

It is one of my favourite places to sit, and I am listening to the wind blowing through the trees, the sun is streaming through the window and I am again counting my blessings.

Rosie

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Poignant Times: No Going Back ….

20 Thursday Aug 2020

Posted by RosieJoseph in Change is a coming, new adventures, New Paths, poignancy, sunrises and sunsets, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

A haven, a house is.not a home, a house once loved, a labour of love, a moment in time, a place for reflection, accepting change, adventures, aerial displays, French Sunrise, French sunsets, happy times, here and now, houses for sale in France, peace and tranquility, Poignant times, Rolling hills, swifts

https://www.frenchestateagents.com/french-property-for-sale/view/114748ADR53/house-for-sale-in-ambrieres-les-vallees-mayenne-pays-de-la-loire-france

So here it is. Our house in all her glory, now for sale on the internet and generating a lot of interest.

Why wouldn’t it? The location of our house is second to none, set amidst the rolling valleys of the Parc Normandie, at the very end of a dead end road, with no traffic.

God she is going to be hard to replace (a small tear came to my eyes then.)

But as I am writing this I know that selling up and moving is the right thing to do. I cannot be away from my family constantly on a long term basis, and I will have been away this time for weeks. Albeit with a fabulous client.

Even in paradise we all need money to live.

Over the five years I have been writing this blog I have written about change so often, and how we should not fear it, because it is the only constant we have. So I know this change is right for us, using all we have learned from this adventure to enhance the next one.

And boy! Have we learned a lot!

But I know that with my current job I will only have six weeks at home for the remainder of the year, and for me that is too long away from the ones I love. I also believe that life is too short.

I know that there is a high probability that this is the last summer in this beautiful place. That when I left last time would be the last time I saw the bales of hay waiting for collection from my bedroom window.

That it will be the last time we will sit in the late sunshine, drinking wine and watching the swifts teach their babies to catch the insects in the evening air.

So when I go home I am going to enjoy every sunny evening for the two weeks I am home. I am going to cherish that ‘here and now’. I will catch the sunrises…

and I will raise a glass to the sunsets.

And I will remind myself that Ireland will offer me more of the same, only different.

Poignant Times

Rosie

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Remembering To Enjoy The Here and Now

21 Tuesday Jul 2020

Posted by RosieJoseph in Change is a coming, Learning and Evolving, My home, Simple things, sunrises and sunsets, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure, The good life

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

early mornings, enjoying the moment, here and now, morning sunshine, poignancy, summer mornings in France, tea

Morning sunshine 2020

So on the back of the last post from what will be a series of posts reflecting on what we have learned from the past, here is the first post from the series about the Here and Now.

I am so aware of the fact that this may well be our last summer here (I never assume a definite I am not doing the driving ) but I know it’s pretty likely. We have taken the weather for granted over the years, the sunny mornings and the fabulous views, and have often sat inside drinking our tea; but today the morning is beautiful and we are sitting on our terrace, drinking our tea, and treasuring this moment.

It’s so easy when we make plans for the future to jump headfirst into them and forget about where you are, and enjoying the moment. I know it is something I do, and by writing a series of blogs about enjoying what we have here, and all the poignancy that entails now we know we will be saying goodbye, I hope will keep me grounded.

Enjoy your day. It’s all you have.

Rosie.

July 2020 Pays de Loire

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Absence makes the heart grow fonder

01 Monday Jun 2020

Posted by RosieJoseph in Change is a coming, new adventures, New Paths, renovations, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

birdsong, counting your blessings, French Countryside, here and now, home, Peace, peacfulness, renovations, Rolling hills, taking nothing for granted, White French kitchens, white kitchens

When I first got home the peacefulness of where we live came over me like a wave. It was not lost on me how blessed we are to live here. The birdsong that surrounds us, and the rolling hills.

Then I walked into the kitchen and saw all the hard work that RD had done painting the whole kitchen white (five coats on the ceiling! One of RD’s characteristics is tenacity, no doubting that!) what hit me was the size of my kitchen. I had not realised it was that big!

I love my home, but I have learnt that home is wherever you make it. So enjoying where I am right now, and counting my blessings in the here and now.

More to come ….

Rosie

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Sometimes I just get inspired

18 Monday Nov 2019

Posted by RosieJoseph in Simple things, The adventures of living life in the French countryside, The continuing adventure, The seasons

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

autumn, autumn mists, Feeling blessed, floating, French Sunrises, here and now, living in France, misty mornings, misty sunrises, Rural France, Simple things, Sunrises, treasuring moments

I woke up this morning, came downstairs, opened the blinds and was greeted by this….

It is probably the thing that keeps me going the most. To look out at this view and think to myself am blessed.

Whatever the season the sunrises always take my breath away, but autumn, with its mists and the colours in the skies just makes them so atmospheric and poignant.

Being on the pinnacle of a hill on mornings like this it feels as if we are floating amongst the clouds, like a little island.

Every day is a new beginning, every day is something to cherish. I know that I need to treasure it for I also know that one day I will leave this house, and being able to wake up to this will only be a memory.

Here and now, here and now.

Rosie

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Moving forward – Coming back

25 Thursday Apr 2019

Posted by RosieJoseph in Change is a coming, Making our own way, My home, Reflections, The background story, The continuing adventure, Us

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

adventures, challenging, Change, Changing direction, courage, empaths, French Countryside, going with the flow, here and now, learning, LIfe, life goes in cycles, life never goes to plan, makingthisbetter.com, Pays de Loire, strength, strong personalities, Understanding the messages, Who knows

Related image

When we undertook this adventure what I did not see was just how much it would show me: with regard to the way I look at life. Since moving here I have read the Tao, still not completed reading ‘The Road Less Travelled and Beyond’, and I have touched on the great ‘regarder of life’: Byron Katie. I have learnt a lot from them all. In addition living here has given me the peace and tranquility that I needed to find myself again, I have written before that I am back, but never really fully explained why. You can read some of my posts on this here

As  most of my readers know due to the pressures of my job in England, and being an empath, I eventually became very ill from stress. I did not realise just how ill I was until I fully recovered this year.

As part of this adventure I have written my book ‘Making This Better; and I have serialised it on another blog (you can click on the link at the top of the page.) I always knew that the story of what happened to Rich and I would help others, and serialising my book has proved to me that this is the case. (Nearly 10,000 views this month alone and on it’s way to 42,000 views in seven months.) But more than anything as I re-read some of my journal entries from so long ago they have showed me the one true asset that I have had all my life: my strong personality. In fact in one of my journal entries I have commented how I was fighting ‘the essence of me’ to stay with Rich. You can read this entry here

As I have said in that post when I read it I had tears in my eyes, because I knew that I over the intervening years I had suppressed it and I realised what an asset I have been given in my life. The teachings of the Tao are to be kind, that is true; but they are also to turn the other cheek, and with that I cannot always agree. This adventure has shown us people who will take advantge of that, I have written about them often; and perhaps all of those experiences was life telling me to take back the one thing that God gave me that mattered: my strong personality. you can read about some of the lessons here

and here

and here

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Now when I read what I said all those years ago, knowing that I have taken back my strength, I feel that I am finally where I need to be with regard to what to do with life. Since doing this, it has been as if life is saying ‘thank Christ for that! She has finally realised what she has to do, now I will help her’: and since then Rich’s business has started to take off. I said many years ago that integrity was a commodity out here; and now I am managing his Facebook page and have designed his website, which I am also promoting Rich is doing well, and I believe it is because we are being us and using the skills and integrity that we have. We don’t rip people off, we do over and above what is needed and we can be trusted not to steal.

One of the things that really got to me since living here was that people can be so vicious, especially when it comes to hustling for work; we were in some ways afraid to put Rich’s services out there because of what they would say (this would never have been me before my illness!)  and so we relied on others to offer us work. Now I am back that is not working for me: I want us to get our own work, I know what we are capable of as a team and I don’t want to be beholden to anyone.

In  addition I will not put up  with an ounce of unnecessary shit from anyone. Now if people want to  be rude to us, or try to undermine us, then I will answer them right back, in a professional and businesslike,  sometimes terrifying way.  In fact I  already have, and we got a job out of it. I find nastiness unecessary, and whilst I understand that often it is because people feel insecure or vulnerable, we all have to step up to the plate, if you are feeling vulnerable then find out why and change it; stop taking it out on everyone else.  I am not unnecessarily nasty to anyone:  unless they are nasty to me!

The other day I was saying about something to Rich and about how I was not prepared to put up with it and he giggled; when I looked at him he said ‘I love that so much about you: that you won’t let anyone beat you.’

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We have also realised that when you undetake an adventure like this, many people  who are afraid to do the same are often waiting for you to fail; add to that you also feel like you ‘have’ to keep plugging away at it because you chose to make such a huge change, and because of that you fail to see that the whole point of an adventure is change: when you embark on it, and when you are in the midst of it. As part of me coming back this year, Rich and I have been honest with each other in that we didn’t know if we would stay: and from that we then realised that was all part of the adventure to make change as we needed.

A few weeks ago I met a couple who were returning to the UK. As you know I have blogged about the fact that I was reconsidering whether I wanted to continue our adventure here in France, or whether to move to pastures new (although we know that England will not be an option.) This lady said to me that she had loved living here, but that they had been here twelve years and she believed that life went in ten-year cycles: when it is then time to move on to something new; and it got me thinking: I do believe tha life is about moving forward all the time; perhaps it is also about accepting that when we get itchy feet we should listen to the message that life is sending our way.

When we moved to the Pays de Loire area of France four years ago we chose this are because we had holidayed here twice, and we loved the peace and tranquility. We loved it because we were having a break from out two notoriously hectic careers; mine even more so. England is a notoriously crowded Island: you queue  to go anywhere even to the supermarket; and I wrote very early on in this adventure how people in the UK generally seemed so angry. All of these things led us both to want somewhere in the rural countryside, where life was extremely laid back and was not overcrowded with people and so we made the choice to move to the Pays de Loire region. I have come to realise that at that time that is what we needed; and you can only ever make life choices based on what you have in the here and now.

3 Rules All Great Leaders Follow When Facing Change

The last four years have been glorious they have replenished me; I still love my house and the beautiful countryside around us, but as I have written recently I am back to being the real Moisy and I don’t think in the long-term that will be enough. I now need a little more stimulation, I am ready for it again. Who Knew that would happen?

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A winter sunset from my garden in France 

It has made me consider that perhaps we all hold on too tightly to things, and don’t embrace the fact that life is a constantly evolving adventure. Now that is something that I learnt from the Tao: no matter how much you plan, no matter how many contingencies you put into place life never goes to plan.

Image result for images for change

Add to all of this my book which means that I now interact with people whose lives have been turned upside down, as ours was many years ago; and I can see that was another life event to make us stop and change direction with our lives (we had been together nine years!) It was also an event that we have now been able to use to help other people; and I never thought that I would encounter so many wonderful people as I have. Who knew?

When I moved into my house in Kent all those years ago I thought it was my forever home; and now I am here: in France. Who knew?

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Now I have come to realise that life does go in cycles, and only by embracing that knowledge can you truly find peace. So the biggest lesson I have learnt: We make decisions based on the here and now (as we should) and given that we should all expect change as the here and now changes!

I  know that whatever decision we make we will make it based on the circumstances at the time and that in the future when those cirucmstances change we may well adapt and decide to do something different.

THAT is life.

So here is the thing that I have learnt so far from this adventure:

Understand that when you make a decision in life it is based on what you need at that time; but over time your needs will change, you will change, and it is okay to change direction, change your adventure and move on to something new. It is not failure it is in fact strength and bravery.

Never let go of any strength you have, if you have been blessed with it use it for all your worth: look at what has happened to us this year since I have got all my strength back. Don’t let others undermine your strong personality, it is your asset and they are envious.

So here is to strong personailities, here is to the adventurers, here is to changing direction when it is needed, or every ten years, here is to listening to life.

I am never saying never about staying here; because I do not know where my life may change again, as I said to Rich who knows what we will be doing this time next year!

I’m just going with the flow because I know it will take me where I need to go.

Moisy

img_2555-1

The view from my garden in France 

 

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In the top 25 bloggers about living in France

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