Living Life Curiously with Rebecca McMullen

06/07/2023

The swirly patterns on the beach today (@ Midge Point).

Looking back at the photo now, it's reminding me to spin and dance and play and enjoy life.

What comes to mind for you?

03/07/2023

I'm by learning from other people's lived experiences...

Netflix has some featured films, TV series & Documentaries for .

I'm about to sit down and watch this doco "The last Daughter"

Here's what its about (source: thelastdaughter.com.au)

Brenda’s first memories were of growing up in a loving white foster family, before she was suddenly taken away and returned to her Aboriginal family. 

Decades later, she feels disconnected from both halves of her life. But the traumas of her past do not lie quietly buried. So, she goes searching for the foster family with whom she had lost all contact. 

Along the way she uncovers long-buried secrets, government lies, and the possibility for deeper connections to family and culture. The Last Daughter is a documentary about Brenda’s journey to unearth the truth about her past, and to reconcile the two sides of her family.

02/07/2023

Puzzle time!

$2 score from the op shop. I can tell this one will take a while 😜

18/10/2022

Things that stand out often shock or confuse us...

Or they may invoke curiousity or fascination.

One market-goer this morning seemed to have the first experience, saying to a stallholder "I just saw a guy who didn't know what he was".

Hmmm interesting... who was confused here?

Here's what I saw: someone so SURE about who they are, that they felt confident enough to display it in the way they dressed, and the way they danced like no one was looking to the music playing from a nearby van.

I was fascinated by how comfortable they were to just be THEM... in a world where it is not yet widely accepted.

And that made me smile.

16/10/2022

Us: Yay, Mummy & Daddy are finally finished uni. Day trip this weekend to celebrate...

Also us: *barely arrived at our destination 1.5hrs away & back home again before lunch.

Sharing to normalise overwhelm and that sometimes "family time" doesn't need to mean we are engaged in the same activity.

This state we are each in happened slowly over YEARS... It's going to take time to undo all of that.

Here's my reframe from today.

💬This day was too much for what our nervous systems could handle today and we made the choice to come home to avoid further damage.

We recognise that we were needing different things to regulate and accommodating everyone wasn't possible.

Rather than "push on" to have a "family day" we've come home & everyone is taking some time alone to do what we each individually need to do, to recover.💬

(It looked messier than that, but that's the summary/reframe of what actually happened and it's helping me to not feel like a failure)

03/07/2022

Love this!

There is nothing more magical than witnessing ones creative unfolding ✨

29/05/2022

Have you ever seen BLACK flowers??

How curious!

The Stunning Helleborus Black Beauty.

01/05/2022

Today I'm redefining "family time".

I haven't written in my journal for about 6 weeks! But here's

"Sometimes 'happy families' is being apart and each doing things you need to do to fill your own cup."

Today, that meant:

🎣 hubby needed to go fishing

📘 I needed to sit in the shade with my journal, oracle/tarot decks, and couple reading books

📸 Cass came along to fish, take photos and talk... A LOT 🤣

🎮 the boys needed to stay home and game

08/04/2022

"Incuriousity is the oddest and most foolish failing there is"

What do you think about this statement?

I think life is more interesting and full when we CHOOSE to be curious.

That being said, some things spark our curiousity more so than other things.

I don't think it's necessary to be curious about EVERYTHING. Rather, we should follow and explore those things that naturally ignite a sense of curiousity.

25/03/2022

I've been trying to understand why my Master 8 'behaves' the way he does.

I've been about why there is so much inconsistency in the way he 'behaves' and presents himself at school vs at home.

I always suspected he was 'different' (I use that word lightly, because we are all unique) but have never sought an assessment/diagnosis because he appears to thrive at school (he is very clever, has friends, and follows the rules).

But home life can often feel challenging so I wondered if it were time to start .

Well imagine my relief when I came across an 'profile' recently that seems to fit: Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA).

Most of what I've read about makes perfect sense and describes his brain type.

I've been binge watching YouTube videos to learn more and I'm feeling a sense a relief.

Relief to finally find something that helps me to understand my boy.

🙏

21/03/2022

I attempted my first ever today.

I really enjoy being in nature, but this is the first time I've ever just sat, in one spot, to just...

BE in nature for a full HOUR!

And it was hard.

I kept feeling the urge to grab my jounal to write down things I saw or thought of.

I kept wanting to grab my camera/phone to take a picture. (Truth be told I couldn't resist the urge a few times & just did it).

I kept wondering how long it had been & how much longer I had left.

But I was curious to experience it the way it was presented to me, to witness first hand what it would be like.

Because I'm big on reading about things, signing up to free challenges, watching informative videos... and then not putting things into practice.

Some cool things I noticed that I've never noticed before.

🥰 dragonflies throwing themselves at the surface of the water over & over again (playfully??)

🥰 ducks dipping their beaks in the water, not the tip of their beak like they were eating something, but the whole bottom of their beak (wonder what that's about??)

🥰 tiny fish jumping in the water (I've seen fish jump before obviously, but not here & it only happened during times I felt more )

It was definately an interesting experience but now I'm going to take some time to journal & get the camera out 🤣

Have you ever heard of doing a sit spot? Ever tried it?

19/03/2022

I couldn't walk past this book at Vinnies this morning.

I'm curious to dig into this view of being curious 😉