Meghan Aileen

Inspired images. Authentic Musings. Learn to Meditate using Art.

[meghanaileen]

Chapter 37: A New Home. As this year comes to an end I evaluate the things I have, want and don't know. There is so much of each. I do however feel strongly called to turn my struggles into something different, something good. My plan and my hope is to make this place you see here my home. The barn behind me will become my house. It will be minimal and rustic. The land surrounding I will do my best to homestead. I hope to teach Fiona about being self sufficient, hard working and grateful. This process I am sure I will stumble through. I will fail, I will get frustrated. It will be a journey of discovery, intentionality, simpler living, motherhood and more. I want to learn from the way our ancestors did things and balance it with thriving in today's world. I want to learn from my child about letting go and simple joys. I want to learn how to not just survive each day but to fully live it out as best I can. If you want to, please join me on this visual journey. Hold my hand, pray for me, learn from my mistakes and hopefully my ramblings. Or just come by and hang by the fire. #homesteading #simpleliving #mindfulness #writing #motherhood #farmland #countryliving #barn #barnhouse

[meghanaileen]

I've never liked exercise for the sake of exercise. Despite what I know about health I have always struggled with adding it to my life. I'm not counting yoga and sporadic hiking. This morning I decided to go for a run in the cold crisp air. My quiet country road with morning sun was breathtaking as usual and the icy air was harsh in my unconditioned lungs. My hands and ears were freezing because I left unprepared of course. Apparently it's winter now. My legs burned. I pushed myself hard, I let myself take breaks. I loved every minute. It seems to me maybe when we make our physical mimic our emotional it can bring a special kind of relief. In the same way acting out where we want to go can allow our internal to catch up. It's time for movement. #exercise #health #running #simpleliving #mindfulness #selfhelp #countryroad #meghanaileen #morningsun #leipersfork #franklintn

[meghanaileen]

It's a bit of a balancing act isn't it. Half the time if not more I feel like I'm about to fall. But really what's the big deal if I do I suppose. Just get my ass back up and keep going! ;) #simpleliving #mindfulness #traintracks #writing #musings #art #beauty #selfhelp

[meghanaileen]

Someday I will finish this children's book I started. Someone hold me accountable please before Fiona is too old to be in it! For now...this elephant and my girl. #thelivingdreambook #makeme #childrensbook #elephant #surrealphotography #childrensbooks

[meghanaileen]

"You cannot selectively numb. When we numb pain, we numb joy, we numb gratitude, we numb happiness." -Brene Brown We all want to want to numb the pain. And there are many tactics to do this. We each learn our coping skills at a young age and throughout our life. We feel pain and they kick in. Avoid it, get angry at it, numb it. It sucks. It's hard. But without pain, there is no joy, just like without death there is no life. Life is designed in a balance, and it is a beautiful design with great purpose involving learning, growing and being fulfilled. But if you close your eyes, you can't see any of it. #beauty #art #nature #glacier #newzealand #landscape #writing #simplelife #mindfulness #selfhelp #godisgood

[meghanaileen]

I push through the seemingly endless cobwebs. Beyond them I'm sure there is a scene filled with entangled plants and fog thicker than I've ever seen. I will have no idea what's beyond it and I won't care. I'll be content with just the beauty right in front of me. I swear I will. #poetry #writing #fog #musings #simpleliving #mindfulness #countrylife #nature #beauty #landscape #art

[meghanaileen]

Running full on into the unknown with nothing more than a sense of adventure, faith and a desire for the simplest form of joy. I look to her to remind me daily that I am not in control anyway...so why not run. #water #lake #simpleliving #mindfulness #selfhelp #writings #musings

[meghanaileen]

Running full on into the unknown with nothing more than a sense of adventure, faith and a desire for the simplest form of joy. I look to her to remind me daily that I am not in control anyway...so why not run. #water #lake #simpleliving #mindfulness #selfhelp #writings #musings

[meghanaileen]

Passion & Vices Passion for something and someone you love are amazing gifts, and I feel are an imperative part of life. It's easy to lose however as we get swept up by the everyday life: the necessities, the routine, the pulls from all directions. I am starting to realize that when I am unable to experience passion I start to feel a pull towards my vices to fill that space. Everyone has vices. The thing they go to when things seem off, when life is just a little too much at that moment. I don't like it at all it makes me feel weak which is not a place I like to fall into. Today however, I am choosing passion. I choose to put the effort required into the things and people for which I feel bring that passion to my life. That's the problem sometimes, it does take effort and of course risk to experience passion. Sometimes the vices seem like a better choice as they require no effort and provide some temporary relief. Passion however runs much deeper. Unfortunately it is rarer than I wish it was. But that of course is what makes it so incredible, and so special. And today I decide it's worth it. #passion #mudpit #mudpool #newzealand #travel #writing #selfhelp #musings #simpleliving #mindfulness #nature #art #beauty

[meghanaileen]

Perspective is an amazing thing. One moment we can see a situation or person in a beautiful light with hope, admiration or maybe even expectations. Then in almost an instant at times it can shift. Something may be revealed we were not aware of, a new behavior we have never witnessed. Or maybe something within ourselves shifts. We reach a breaking point or limit we didn't know we had. From the outside this thing might look exactly the same to others but to you it will never be the same. Once I had something I thought was really wonderful enter my life like a whirlwind. Pushing me in positive way, bringing joy, helping reveal and awaken things about myself and my life that I needed to see. Then the perspective shifted, it was no longer what I thought it was or wanted it to be. It was as if a shadow had been cast over it with newly revealed information. It's hard to not mourn it when this happens because it is a loss in a way. But what I am trying to teach myself, is that what it brought me before the perspective shifted doesn't have to be lost. The ways I felt and the things I learned were real and they can still be something I remember in that same light. Don't let the negative erase the positive. We are allowed to hold on to all the positive we can get in this life. Don't let anyone take those memories of the good stuff from you. They will always be yours. #beauty #art #nature #yellowstone #meghanaileen #landscape #writing #musings #selfhelp #simpleliving #mindfulness #livinghealthy

[meghanaileen]

Often we don't understand the way people around us are behaving. They don't respond the way we expect them too, they make choices that baffle us, we perceive their behaviors as crazy or hurtful. We ask what the heck is wrong with them?! Everyone has their own story, their own set of coping skills, and of course, limitations. There is likely a tough daily battle they are fighting just like you. They may not have been taught what you were taught by anyone ever. They might be in so much pain they can't function in the way you think they should. I need to be reminded of this every day. My judgement is not relevant. My analyzing or assumptions will probably not be accurate no matter how much I try to break it down or figure it out. I can only control my own actions, and my own reactions. I can forgive, I can love, I can also walk away if that is what is best. #rocks #mountains #fog #writing #musings #mindfulness #simpleliving #selfhelp #nature #beauty #art

[meghanaileen]

I am an all in kinda person usually. I feel things strongly, I love deeply, I work harder than I should. In many ways I am glad this is who I am. It allows me to accomplish and experience things I might not otherwise. It allows me to risk more than some too. But many times, the world around me does not reciprocate. It can be very painful which I of course feel that deeply too. One of these times when I was hurt, I was told by someone who knows me best, "Meghan not everyone loves as much as you do." It was like it had not even occurred to me that that could be true. I expected others to think the way I do, to feel the way I do, and they don't of course. Over time I have been learning to accept this. To love them anyway for who they are, to put in the effort even if the world doesn't give it back to me. It's just who I am. And if there is pain? Well, then I will walk through it to the other side. We don't need to always avoid pain. Yes it sucks, it doesn't feel good. But there is growth, learning, and building of strength and skills within it. #landscape #beauty #art #nature #newzealand #writing #musings #mindfulness #simpleliving

[meghanaileen]

Little helper today. I don't cook much. There's just no time for it at this point in my life. But as I spend the day washing chopping and preparing I am grateful to be reminded of the work it takes to get the food we eat on the table. We all take for granted including myself how easy it is to feed ourselves. I hope I can make more time to teach her about the value of the work involved both before and after it gets to us. #thanksgiving #cooking #mindfulness #simpleliving

[meghanaileen]

This certainly has not been the easiest year of my life. I asked God to shake things up awhile back, and He answered beyond my expectation as usual. The big picture challenges and changes, the day to day struggles that sometimes send me into tears or anger. The major and minor choices I've had to make without nearly enough information. There has been loss, pain and uncertainty. But in the midst of it, and sometimes even at the exact same moment, there has been such incredible joy, uncontrollable laughter, and excitement of what's in store. It's such a confusing beautiful mess this life we are in. And for this...I am grateful. Happy Thanksgiving y'all. Photo taken in Tuscany, Italy #thanksgiving #simpleliving #mindfulness #writing #art #beauty #nature #italy

[meghanaileen]

There are seasons of life that feel like the cave is gonna collapse on you before you can find your way out. Your skills are being tested and so is your perseverance and your faith. Panic can easily set in immobilizing us. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and focus on the light. You will make it out. #mindfulness #simpleliving #glacier #newzealand #travel #nature #beauty #art #landscapes #cave

[meghanaileen]

This wasn't quite the top. The top was 8000ft or so. I remember saying "Crap we still have to go all the way down!" Apparently that was the first time it had truly hit me this was not a one way trip. Meanwhile I was delirious, and trying to take a selfie with a chocolate bar. But this was before the word selfie was invented. And that shot was not in focus or I would have posted that one. Hahaha #newzealand #mountain #climbing #explore #landscape #art #beauty #nature #simpleliving #travel

[meghanaileen]

Before we had the Internet in the palm of our hands, before there were apps to find whatever you need or call for a ride, before digital cameras and @instagram or any social media sharing... We traveled the country of New Zealand. We had an @lonelyplanet guidebook, an old white van named Carlos, and a lot of sausage and beer thanks to the Germans in the bunch. We explored every chance we got. We drove til we could no more and camped not knowing where we would wake up. We got really lost, really dirty and really delirious. We made fires, played music and laughed til our faces hurt. We walked from a black sand beach, into a rain forrest, and onto a glacier in the same day. We climbed a volcano and I pushed myself further than I thought my body could go.This was how I spent the year 2000. The only way I had to document this time in my life, was a Nikon film camera I really had no idea how to use. Sharing it with others? We had to get prints made and mail them out or pass them around. So thankful for the memories and the pictures in print that I do have. Thankful for experiencing and exploring in a time that was not so 'connected'. However as I reminisce, I am also thankful that we are now able so easily document and share our experiences with others. It truly is amazing. I think having a good balance of connected and disconnected is so important in our world today. Do you give yourself time to disconnect or get a little lost? #landscapes #fog #nature #explore #travel #mindfullness #simpleliving #art #beauty #mountains #newzealand