Hello Vibers!

Welcome to August. Yep can you believe we are into the second half of the year already!

We had some great feedback on our new Tanya Loviz artwork last month - it really is gorgeous - if you haven't had a look already - check it out here.

When I sit down to write this newsletter each month - I often have no idea what the theme will be - but after sitting with it for a while, a pattern becomes obvious. Does that ever happen for you? If you sit quietly and reflect on the last month - what emotions or feelings come up for you?

What really stood out for me over recent weeks was - Perspective. Sometimes when we are right in the middle of something - it's hard to understand why this it is happening - or how we will get past it. Although it's not always easy - if we can try and step aside from the situation and see it from a different perspective - it can help us to come back to the situation with new eyes and feel differently about it.

I found the following quote really helpful this month:

There will be a time, not so far from now, that you will look back on this phase of your life and instead of condemning it or beating up on it... Instead of blaming or guilting, you will feel appreciation for it, because you will understand that a renewed desire for life was born out of this time period that will bring you to physical heights that you could not have achieved without the contrast that gave birth to this desire.
--- Abraham

I've also come across a few stories this month - which help to view things from a different perspective: an old Cherokee Fable about Two Wolves and a story of an African King which shows us we don't always know why something is happening in our lives until after the fact.

A lovely heart-warming children's book called Love You Forever gives you an insight into the strength of a mother's love - no matter the situation. And I also share with you one of my fave movies The Legend of Bagger Vance - while seemingly a movie about the game of golf - it really is a metaphor for the Game of Life.

This month's wallpaper has a bit of a 'can't see the forest for the trees' Perspective image. It's a goodie.

For all those Kimmidoll fans - a whole new collection is going to be released in the next month or so - so get excited!

Enjoy your August from a new perspective!

Sending you positive vibes,

The story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, "This is good!"

One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off. Examining the situation, the friend remarked as usual, "This is good!"

To which the king replied - "No, this is not good!" and proceeded to send his friend to jail.

About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake.

As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone who was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.

As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend.

"You were right," he said, "it was good that my thumb was blown off." And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened." And so, I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this."

"No," his friend replied, "This is good!"

"What do you mean, 'This is good'? How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?"

"If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you, and not here with you right now."

In a very unusual way, the message here unfolds into exposing the following principle about life.

"Absolutely everything happens for a purpose; and out of what seems like adversity at the time; always comes good".

I'm sure that if any of us care to reflect back on the tragedy's, the heartaches, the 'bad times' in our lives, we discover that we have really grown or developed during that period of time: even though the reflection may still cause us discomfort in some way.

It is in this way that we slowly gather experience and wisdom, and even though we may think or feel that it is unfair, that's the way it is.

"This is good". Many of our life's experiences have saved us from some form of cannibals; it's just that we often don't know that they have at the time.

So, for a simple example to help with awareness: next time you may begin to feel you are being 'wronged' by being stuck in a traffic jam, think about the cannibals that could be lurking down the road a bit, but will be gone by the time you get there.
Now that's a bit different, but it’s worth trying: "this is good" - despite the circumstances.

Remember: "What others do or say is their stuff; how we react, or not, is our stuff"!

And: "True Happiness in life isn't having what you want, but wanting what you have"!