Sharing My Gratitude Walk
And Lessons I Am Learning.
Welcome to Denyse Whelan Writes Here.
My Gratitude Walk.
Sharing my gratitude walk with my words, short videos, some photos and my connection with the area now known as Norwest.
But first….
We were one of the first families to buy land and build back in 1993 after the Brick Company Norbrick sold all of their land.
Our house, revisited by me a year ago, sold by us for around $470,000 in 1997 (as a necessity due to our business finishing up) and is now worth….drum roll…$2.6 million.
Norwest is a rapid growth area of North Western Sydney and one of its suburbs is called Bella Vista. There are nothing but multi million dollar homes, apartments and more. It has a Metro station in 2 places, and (I add this with no endorsement at all) Hillsong Church headquarters.
Bella Vista (beautiful view) was named after the farm settlement by the Macarthur family in the early times of the European settlement. They brought the first Merino sheep to Australia. I can attest to the view too, because way back in the late 1990s we could see these Norfolk pines from the western facing windows of our house.
All of the land, is of course, country here for the original inhabitants since around 60,000 years ago. I write on Dharug Country and pay my respects to elders past, present and future.
Back to My Walk.
I am grateful every single day for aspects of my life.
It’s been an up and down journey for sure but I know that some of my biggest life challenges help me see another side of my life with greater acceptance and positivity.
I write about something (or someone) I am grateful for every day in my on-line diary.
Making myself (because it can be hard sometimes) find gratitude in the ordinary and every day is a great inner healing tool.
So, I can feel the shift when I both write about gratitude and feel it.
Last Sunday.
I drove locally to Norwest 15 minutes from where we live now …and to find a spot to park (it’s so busy most times) so I could walk near nature, and possibly the lake.
Back story of the lake is that it is man made. It does have fish and ducks but no longer is it recommended to feed the ducks with bread (we did that eons ago with grandkids)
The area also encourages walking with tracks through trees, near office blocks and apartments, and with ease of access.
I found a park! Win.
And set off.
I admit my current health improvements over the past weeks helped my confidence to be out and about too.
Office buildings, apartments, a shopping centre, a private hospital are all here now.
As I walked to the rail at the edge of the lake I just had to say this…..
But I accept this truth. I no longer harbour the regrets and sadness that come with “what if” and that made my gratitude even stronger and more important to mark.
I was thinking however, that I have a mindset about ‘being renters’ since 2015 and needed to change that or find another way of viewing how things really were.
So my summary, which helped shift my negative thinking is this…as we were both full-time workers, employed and busy parents of 2 we did have the capacity to provide houses for us and our small family from the years 1978 until 2014. Our kids (now in their 50s and 40s) only ever lived in places where we had mortgages until they left home aged 21 and 25 respectively.
The WORLD of housing and finance has changed immensely in the past 10-12 years and whilst we benefitted from selling our last house, it would never be enough to BUY anywhere we wanted to live.
So I am grateful we have been able to rent comfortable houses since then and in places where we wanted to live at the time. This place now exemplifies our gratitude.
Back to The Actual Walk.
I saw a lot of this area developed to become part of the Norwest hub. I used to shop at Coles there, and often took young grandchildren to have donut king (yum) and a drink as a treat after our walk. NO more donut king there…now. So much sushi. It does feed a very big working population now. The large (multi-million dollar to buy) apartment block used to be the site for an Ice Skating rink.
And my walk…what I knew, from way back, is the way to get to my car without backtracking….and that took me here:
On my way to the street and I stopped. For a hug of a tree and to express my gratitude again for NATURE and all she provides for us.
Shelter, warmth, cool, and a reminder of the value of seasons!
And before I knew it, and I am good at directions there I was, making my way back to the car. Weekends meant parks here were good. Other days..none at all.
It was a bit of a different kind of walk and post today but I hope you enjoyed my sharing.
Warm wishes,
Denyse x
I am linking up with Min and friends too here for WWWhimsy and am grateful for that kind place in the world of blogging.
Thank you for sharing your gratitude walk, Denyse. What a lovely area to enjoy on your walk. I laughed when you said you are good at directions, because I am horrible and would be lost for sure.
I loved your video - and the most Sydney thing ever "OMG, we wouldn't be able to buy anything here now". Glad you were smiling. And I wouldn't hug a paper bark incase a spider crawled out of it. So you are braver than me!