Gratitude List

 Things I'm grateful for this month:

• Gingerbread lattes
• Yule/the Winter Solstice
• Going to Haskins Roundstone garden centre
  
• Christmas
• Books
• Friendship
  
• Christmas trees 
• The weather warming up again after a cold spell

Gratitude List + November Thoughts

 Things I'm grateful for this month:

• Golden late autumn days
• Going to Creams Cafe in Brighton
• Autumn beauty
• Hot chocolate
• Doing some belly dancing again
• Going to Action for Happiness meetups again
• Feeling "seen" by others
• Finding inspiration in the world
   

Thoughts

In addition to my monthly gratitude list, I decided to share some random thoughts.  I haven't written many posts this year apart from my Gratitude Lists. I do have a couple of ideas in mind but for now I'm just going to do a sort of "mini" blog post.

This time of year feels a bit hard to me in some ways because the days are getting shorter and darker as we move towards winter. (Although I find January the hardest really). I've mentioned before that I struggle a bit during autumn. I also have a seasonal living blog called The Seasonal Life and I've gone a bit more into that subject over there, e.g. about how I find the transition from summer to autumn more difficult than that of the one from winter to spring. It feels like a "pulling in" as we move towards the darkest part of the year, the Winter Solstice (also known as Yule) in December, which is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

Autumn is a beautiful time of year but it's also quite melancholy for me because nature is dying off and the weather becoming bleaker. Several years ago, I went through a hard time during October (I wrote the post When You're Struggling then) but when November came, I felt a bit "lighter" again. These past couple of years have been extra hard for everyone with the pandemic and other issues/events such as racial unrest and the war in Ukraine. Things still feel very uncertain. 

I tend to feel a bit weary during the last part of year because while sometimes the year seems to have gone quite quickly, some months feel long! The time from September to December always seem to go quickly.

I haven't felt as inspired to blog on here as much over the past two years, although I have written more regularly on The Seasonal Life and my entertainment blog Star Sparkle Blog. I think posts here require more "energy" because I'm covering deeper subjects. I do still enjoy it though and I'm glad that I have this space to reflect on self-help/personal development and spiritual subjects. Next year it will be 10 years since I started Falling Petals! I will do a birthday post.

A couple of months ago I picked up my Feeling Your Emotions series again after a break of 2 and a half years, writing a recap post. I plan to write more in that series next year. I've also been looking into the Law of Assumption (after previously having only known the Law of Attraction).

So that's it for now! Next month I will do my annual end of year post, which will be more in-depth. Thank you for reading and hope everyone is doing ok. I know that in America you just had Thanksgiving, so I hope that those who celebrated had a good time. :) 

Photo: Buckingham Park, Shoreham-by-sea. Moonsparkle 2022.

Gratitude List

 Things I'm grateful for this month:

• Golden autumn days
• Going to the beach- probably the last time I'll go before it gets too cold!
• Autumn colours
• Positive online spaces 
• Listening to music 
• Coffee
  
• The weather being not too cold but pleasantly cooler
• Hallowe'en/Samhain tomorrow! 

 

And here's a photo I took recently of a tree turning beautiful autumn colours:

Tree in Shoreham-by-sea.

 

Gratitude List

 Things I'm grateful for this month:

• The last of summer
  
• Going to Goring (Worthing) Beach
• Madron/the Autumn Equinox
• Getting new library books
  
• The trees beginning to change colour
• The start of autumn
• Beautiful sunsets. :) 
  
• Connecting with people online

Feeling Your Emotions Recap

Back in 2017 I started a series called Feeling Your Emotions. The intention was to look at different emotions (such as anger, sadness, fear, peace and love) and get in touch with them, to help heal and move forward. You can read the introduction here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)

I  haven't done any new posts in the series for over 2 years (2 and a half years this month actually), so I felt like now was a good time to do a recap. I started with the so-called "negative" emotions, intending to work my way up to more "positive" ones. However, I didn't end up covering love or peace (which I intended to do next), since I just didn't feel in a space to write about them, especially with the events of the past two years.

I'm going to revisit the previous posts, plus take another look at emotions in general and then decide where to take FYE next.

Gratitude List

I nearly forgot to do this month's Gratitude List but remembered on the last day of the month! So that's why this post is not on my usual posting days. :) 

 

Things I'm grateful for this month:

• Lammas
• Going to Kaspas Desserts- I'd been meaning to try it for ages!
• Gentle windy days and breezes
• Golden morning light
  
• The last few weeks of summer
• Living in a country where I get to experience different seasons (despite not being a fan of winter!)
• Weekly park walks
  
• Finding inspiration on YouTube

 

Here are a couple of photos I took in the park recently:

Hove Park.

A few leaves are already starting to turn!

Wishing everyone a wonderful end of month, and start to the new month and new season ahead (whether it's autumn or spring for you)!

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

• First full month of summer
• Ice cream
• Going to the beach
• BrownandBendy blog posts (to accompany Dominique's videos on manifesting)
  
• New recipes, meal ideas and meal prep inspiration
• The lighter atmosphere I feel in summer
• Baking
• Having access to nature- the country and the beach 

 

And here is a picture I took at the beach recently, at sunset:

Lancing Beach.

 

 

 

Gratitude List

 Things I'm grateful for this month:

• Roses
• Jasmine Mireya's Self-Concept challenge (taking place on YouTube)
• Litha/the Summer Solstice
• Summer starting! 
• Longest days of the year
  
• Going to my belly dance group's hafla (dance party)
  
• Reading absorbing books
• Listening to music
  

Mid-2022 Reflections

It's June once again, so time for my mid-year reflections post! It's a bit later than some years because I've been a bit busy with other blog posts recently! I've been writing these reflections for the past few years (the first one was in May, not June though). You can read the previous posts at the links below:

Reflections (2017): https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/05/reflections.html

Mid-2018 Reflections: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2018/06/mid-2018-reflections.html

Mid-2019 Reflections: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2019/06/mid-2019-reflections.html

 

Mid-2020 Reflections: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/mid-2020-reflections.html

Mid-2021 Reflections: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2021/06/mid-2021-reflections.html 

 

I also write an end of year post. Here's 2021's: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2021/12/letting-go-of-2021.html

As with 2021, the first half of the year seems to have gone quickly. In February our Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a plan for "living with Covid" and in March all restrictions were basically dropped in England. The rest of the UK has relaxed rules too.

It felt weird to have things going "back to normal" after two years of pandemic lockdown and restrictions. I think we're all a bit shellshocked! The Cambridge dictionary definition of that term ("extremely tired and nervous or frightened, especially after an unpleasant and unexpected event") seems to fit this situation well. I think it's a good idea to still be cautious though and keep up things like masks in indoor public places and hand sanitising.  

 

Gratitude List

 Things I'm grateful for this month:

• Beltane 
• Going to Five Guys 
• Last of the spring blossom
  
• The weather warming up a bit and feeling the move towards summer
• McDonald's new summer drinks range!
  
• Making my first Vietnamese style iced coffee of the year- now that it's getting warmer, I'm transitioning from making hot chocolate to cold drinks!
• The days continuing to get longer as we move towards the longest day (Litha/Summer Solstice) in June (in the Northern Hemisphere)
• Finding new meal ideas and trying out new recipes

Law of Assumption- An Alternative Way of Manifesting

A few months ago, I wrote about how to believe in your dreams (something I have been struggling with myself). It's called How to REALLY Believe (LOA) and you can read it here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2021/11/how-to-really-believe-loa.html

In that post I briefly talked about the Law of Assumption. While I've been interested in the Law of Attraction for about 12 years, I don't know much about the Law of Assumption. I've come across mention of it before, but only started hearing more about it last year. 

In this post I'm going to take a closer look at the Law of Assumption. If you've been struggling to manifest by using Law of Attraction techniques, you might find it helpful to try an alternative. I will also be referencing the Law of Attraction a bit in this post.

Note: Since I'm used to writing "LOA" for the Law of Attraction, I'll refer to the Law of Assumption with its full title for this post. 

Update 14/11/23: I've replaced and removed some links.

For more on the Law of Attraction, visit these posts:

Law of Attraction (basic intro): https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2013/08/law-of-attraction.html

LOA Round-up: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2019/04/loa-round-up.html

LOA 2.0: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/law-of-attraction-loa-20.html

 

Extra note: I also just wanted to say that if you have mental health issues (which I do), you should approach both the Law of Attraction and the Law of Assumption with caution, as it will not be helpful to worry that you have "caused" bad things to happen in your life. I have written a couple of posts on manifesting and mental health which you can find by clicking here and here.

 

 

The Law of Assumption was developed by Neville Goddard and the basis behind it is that whatever you assume to be true, is true. What you assume becomes your reality. And so, to manifest you "assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled". This sounds similar to "acting as if".  

A lot of people seem to get into the Law of Assumption after struggling with "traditional" LOA and I've seen people online saying they've had more success after following the Law of Assumption. I'm still new to it, so this is a "starter" post. :)

In the How to REALLY Believe post I shared a few links with some basic info on the Law of Assumption. Here are a couple of them again:

How To Use The Law of Assumption in 3 Steps: https://millennial-grind.com/how-to-use-the-law-of-assumption-in-3-steps/

Background on the Law of Assumption and how to use it when (the other) LOA isn't working (Summer Monae video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfamzZxfQOI

 

Gratitude List

 Things I'm grateful for this month:

• Blossom trees
• Going to Wendy's- a restaurant opened in Brighton last month
  
• First full month of spring
• BANKS' new album coming out
  
• Easter
• Leftover chocolate eggs! lol
  
• Longer days
• Iced coffees/frappes

 

I also thought I'd share a picture I took at Hove Park this month:

 

Gratitude List

I forgot to post this last month (when I remembered, it was already March! lol). Never mind, here is this month's Gratitude List. :)

 

Things I'm grateful for this month:

• Birthday presents and wishes! :)
• Being able to eat inside Nando's again for my birthday meal (last year it was only takeaway because of lockdown)
  
• The weather warming up
• Going to a belly dance workshop with Nadia Undine 
  
• Dental treatment
• Oestara/the Spring Equinox and the official start of spring 
• Blossom coming out on the trees
• Sunny days
  

When You've Been Down for Too Long

 

In the past I've written about feeling down and struggling, and also trying to improve your life. If you're trying to turn things around but dealing with long term mental health issues, had a lot of setbacks and/or just feeling consistently stuck, it can be really hard to move forward. Last year I wrote two blog posts about moving upwards when you've been in a low place. You can see them both here: 

Starting From the Bottom- Part 1: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2021/04/starting-from-bottom-part-1.html

Starting From the Bottom- Part 2: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2021/08/starting-from-bottom-part-2.html 

 

For a little while now I've had the idea for a post about feeling like you've been down for a long time. So that's what I'm writing about today. :)

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)

 

In the self-help world (and in general) there is a lot of focus on feeling better and improving your life but what if your life has felt bad (or at least not good) for a long time? What if you've been stuck in a cycle of depression, anxiety and things just not feeling "right" for years? 

Please note: If you are having mental health issues, please seek the advice of a doctor/mental health professional. I am not qualified to help, just someone who experiences mental health issues myself. :)

 

Important: If you are feeling suicidal here are a few links to where you can find people qualified to help you right now:

http://lostallhope.com/help-me

 

Gratitude List

 Things I'm grateful for this month:

• The days getting slightly longer
• Sunny winter days
• Re-playing my favourite PS2 and PS3 games
• Sunsets
• Blue skies 
• Weekly park walks
• Bournville Easter eggs already in the shops! lol
• Buying songs on iTunes