It’s so nearly the end of the year and already I am impatient to start 2022. It’s almost here, up there on the brow of the hill, I can see it twinkling and shiny and full of new possibilities and hope. And oh how I wish that I could be sitting with you now and chatting with you rather than writing this because this is definitely one of those blog posts that would be so much more fun if it was told in conversation rather than written, it would also be so much easier to explain!
I have often toyed with the idea of a vlog for that very reason, because I love telling stories and speaking my thoughts and I’m rather lazy at writing them (as you may well have noticed) and if I did vlog then maybe you might get to hear a lot more from me. Too often I think to myself, ‘Oh I must write a blog post on this/that and I never do. But this post has been rolling around inside my head like a couple of marbles for weeks now and it’s got to the point where it must be written because I want to share these things with you so much, even if it means forcing myself to get down to the task of writing.
Sadly I’m not with you right now but let’s get the kettle on anyway and make a cuppa and we can at least imagine that we are sitting together around the fire here at The Red House. You’ve got your tea, and the dogs and cats are curled up around our feet. When you’re ready and comfortable, I’m going to tell you about some rather wonderful and life-changing things that have happened to me this past year. I’ve thought so long and hard about how to write this that maybe I’ve overthought it at times but the thing is that these things are so special to me now that I want you also to be excited and to try them, I want you to also feel the thrill and discover the magic that happens when we allow ourselves to start to trust our intuition and listen to that still small voice of calm.
It’s difficult to know exactly where to start but if I use about this time last year (end of 2020) as a starting point then at least it gives me a reference point if nothing else!
Like many of you, I also can get very down thinking about world events and what a mess we humans have managed to make of things. And if world politics and climate change weren’t bad enough, now we have Covid to deal with too. By the end of last year, I was beside myself not being able to see my family, the only comfort I had was that at least we could talk daily and make video calls. There was at least that way to stay in touch. But by mid-January, I knew that I was slipping deeper into a trough of misery and despair and I did not know a way to claw my way back out of it.
It just so happened that one morning I had a phone call from one of my daughters who was very excited to share something with me. She’d not told me before but she’d been doing an online course and had also been learning to meditate. What gave me tingles was that she’d also been shown how to do automatic writing and in her first attempt at it, a message had come through for me. There’s no need for me to tell you what the message was, suffice to say that I was completely and utterly shocked and excited and all sorts of things because the message was from my mother who had died over thirty years ago, three months before my daughter was born. They had never had a chance to meet and yet here she was giving my daughter a message to give to me. I wasn’t in the least bit skeptical because I knew that this wasn’t something that my daughter would ever joke with me about or makeup, and I could tell that she was as amazed as I was at what had happened I was however very keen to learn more and I knew in that instant that I wanted to find out more about this. I realise that some of you may be thinking that this is a whole load of baloney and whoo-whoo and maybe at one time I might have thought the same myself but I can assure you it’s not. Trust me, It just gets better and better.
But where to begin? The more that I started to investigate the whys and wherefore of alternative practices and living, the more arrows I found pointing to meditation. Argh! I couldn’t possibly do meditation! I can’t even focus my full attention on a really good tv show or film, I still have to be fiddling on my phone or jumping up and making tea, meditation was going to be a step too far! Well, all I can say is Thank Goodness for my daughter’s belief in me and her insistence that I try. She recommended that I download a free phone app called ‘Inside Timer’ and start with the ‘Learn to Meditate In Seven Days’ program. So I did and though it didn’t take me seven days, more like three weeks of on off on off practice, by the end of the course I felt like I was starting to get the hang of it. I started to get into the habit of doing daily morning meditation.
Rather serendipitously it was also around that time that a parcel arrived in the post for me, a late birthday present from my husband, Pete. I opened up the parcel and there was a pair of dowsing rods. Bless him! He’d remembered that it was something that I’d always wanted to try and he’d thought that maybe now might be a good time! I couldn’t wait to get started and within minutes I was out in the field holding the L rods out in front of me and seeing what sort of a response I could get. I had absolutely no clue about what to do, only that I knew that I might feel something if I was patient and focused. As luck would have it, I didn’t have to wait long before I started to feel the energy come through my hands and into the rods. I was totally amazed and utterly delighted at this ‘conversation’ that I was starting to have not only with the ground beneath my feet but all around me. Suddenly, at that moment my whole understanding of everything had profoundly changed, I was now engaged and connected with Mother Earth and the Universe in a way that I’d never have thought possible.
Now it’s at this point of our chat round the fireside that I’m beginning to want another cup of tea, so it’s almost time to put the kettle on again, would you like one too? or are you thinking what the heck am I doing here and planning your escape? I really hope not because I’m hoping very much that I can encourage you to try meditation (if you don’t already do so) and dowsing too. In fact, the whole point of my writing any of this is to hopefully inspire you to try something new and expand yourself in ways that you could not previously have believed possible! If I can do this, anyone can!
A few weeks after I started meditating, something rather extraordinary and totally life-changing happened to me during one of my meditation practices. I experienced something very powerful and moving and quite out of the ordinary and from that experience, my whole perception and understanding of everything has changed. I’ve now become quite certain of how I want to live and to be. I know that I am not alone and that this is happening to many people right now but it can be quite a frightening experience if like me you don’t understand at first what has happened or why?
It’s been an incredible year. It’s not been easy, it’s been very hard at times but I’ve had some wonderful and loving support and I am so very grateful for that. The experiences that I have had have changed me, hopefully for the better. I still have so much to learn but I am excited and feel positive in a way that I did not before. Above all, I am truly humbled by what I have discovered and the things that I am learning. We live on such a beautiful planet and there is so much more to it than we could ever imagine!
Wishing you all a Magical and Wonderful 2022
(if you are keen to know more about dowsing, please let me know and I shall write more on this subject! I am only very new to it but it really is so fascinating and I am enjoying picking things up as I get better practiced at it. I shall put some links up next post for anyone that wants to find out more!
(In regards to meditation, I started with a guided meditation with the Insight Time free app but I now do a silent meditation centered on the heart, no special breathing)
Lottie Nevin - The Red House Diaries 
lots i do love your blogs, and cant wait for your vlogs. Happy new year and may your forces be strong.x
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Thank you, Chalkie! I’m sorry that there has been such a long hiatus between this and the last one, I really am seriously starting to think about vlogging, I need to do some research and see what I need. Wishing you everything wonderful in 2022 and sending you much love xxx
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Lottie, this doesn’t surprise me a bit but it delights me no end! Covid, as horrible as it is, has brought about major changes in the way we connect to our mind, body, spirit – at least it has for me. My meditation practice exploded, probably out of isolation and desperation. What once was an exercise of the will, became an absolutely mind-blowing journey! Guides, amazing beings, appeared to advance my understanding of myself and others. Ancestors long dead had messages, I experienced Shamanic journeys but didn’t know what that was until I Googled to see if I could get some info on what the heck was happening during meditation! I’d love to hear more about your experiences – especially the dousing! My dad used to use divining rods but he called it ‘Water Witching’! Thanks so much for posting this! Fabulous!
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Oh Sherry, you’ve no idea how. happy your comment makes me! How absolutely wonderful that you have had these experiences through meditation. I am so delighted and thrilled for you! You have totally validated my reasons for wanting to encourage others to try meditation for themselves.
It’s absolutely true, meditation does something really rather special. It takes time but it’s so worth it and the guidance and intuition that we can receive from this practice is invaluable. We truly are our own ‘gurus’ if we just allow ourselves to submit to the calm and peace and ‘listen’ to our inner voice. I have heard and read about so many beautiful things that can happen during meditation and it just inspires and me to keep practicing and not to give up. Pete and I now practice for an hour (if we can) each morning and evening. It’s a discipline that I never believed that i could adhere to but I have proved myself wrong and I now relish the opportunity to switch off briefly from the world and immerse myself in whatever comes to me in that hour. At times it is so blissful that I worry that I might not ever want to do anything other than meditate again! other times the hour can drag and I can’t relax into it, it just is what it is but the main thing is to keep the continuity going and trust.
How exciting this world is! I discover more and more things as I progress along this path and I know that you do too! Wishing you everything wonderful for 2022 lots of love and thank you for your lovely comment, dear Sherry! xxx
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Dear Lottie My brother died suddenly this year whilst I was speaking to him on the phone … shockingly terrible Your email has struck some kind of chord with me. I shall try meditating too Here’s to a better 2022. It won’t take much to beat this terrible year Best wishes Niki
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Dear Niki, I am so very sorry to hear your sad news. I must admit I burst into tears reading your comment, I just wanted to hug you so badly and take your pain away.I cannot imagine how terrible it must have been for you.
Thank you for your brave comment, I can only imagine how agonising this time has been for you and I am so very sorry that you’ve had to go through this pain. It truly has been a hellishly difficult time for so many people and the world is aching right now. Somehow we have to find our way back and not let the dark steal our light, it’s hard, I know.
I think you will gain a lot from doing a meditation practice. Don’t stress about it, find something online that resonates for you if you want some help getting the hang of it and then try to do a few minutes daily building up the time as you go along. I promise you it is worth putting in the time and effort. (I am smiling as I wrote that last bit because a year ago I would not have believed that I could write that!)
Thank you Niki. Sending you much love and wishing you a much happier and positive year ahead. May 2022 be a very special year for you xxx
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What a lovely surprise to see this pop up in my blog alerts! A lovely read.
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Ahh, that´s so lovely of you, thank you dear Richard! and thank you for sharing! I think that there´s going to have to be sequel to this post which I shall try to ´birth´later! there´s so much more that I want to talk about and I´m really quire serious in my message, meditation and dowsing ARE life changers in the very best and most positive of ways! Much love to you and wishing you everything wonderful for 2022 xxx
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I was astounded to receive a notice of a new blog post from you. I loved reading about your new experiences with meditation and witching for water. I have seen it done by other people and I tried briefly but it appeared back then that I have no talent for the art. I love the gold-colored pendulum on the chart. But what is the purpose of the chart? I also see that you made it to GB for a visit. I am so glad you were finally able to fly back home. I know everyone was super thrilled to see each other again. Almost forgot but the still life photo is beautiful. XOXO Yvonne
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How lovely to hear from you Yvonne and my apologies at being so behind with my blog, poor old thing has taken a back seat this year while I´ve been busy with other things. It´s good to be back here bashing out the words, it´s something that I really do enjoy when i can get past the agony of ´creative constipation´!
yes, dowsing!! I am hooked for sure and I love it. I really would like to encourage people to have a go and don´t give up, keep practicing. It takes time to get a good strong connection but it´s utterly fascinating when we can tune in to mother earth and feel her energies and vibrations and the running water hundreds of feet down below. I will have to write more on this subject because i´ve got some funny stories to share!
I was SO happy to get back to the UK in October to see some of family. I´ve been blessed with three new grandchildren this past year but sadly have only managed to see one of them, I´m desperate to get back to see the others. My plans keep having to change due to the travel restricitons and the prohibitively high cost of tests, it´s beyond a joke how complicated this all is. argh!!! We have had to make some big decisons in this past year which I shall write about soon. Covid really has changed everyones lives in all sorts of ways and we need to rethink our plans.
Dear Yvonne, wishing you every happiness and all good things for 2022. Much love to you and hugs xxx
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So glad that you’ve discovered meditation and hope it continues to bless you with many insights and inspiration to fulfill your heart’s desire.
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Thank you Kathy for your lovely kind words. I’m loving the meditation and so glad that I’ve stuck with it. I have a feeling that it will just get better and better! Wishing you a very wonderful 2022 🙏🥰🙏
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Dearest Lottie,
What a joy and treat it’s been to read you again! I’d really love to have a REAL chat with you, by a REAL fireside (I’m done with Zoom life). While I’m sad to read that you’ve also had your share of pivots and disappointments, this great ‘pause’ has also gifted you the wonders and mysteries of meditation, inner journeying, grounding, dowsing, connecting with mother earth and so much more. I can see the radiance in your face! Oh and Pete.. seeing him snuggled up in your warm and cozy abode, made me smile too. May you find many more blessings, peace and contentment on your path this coming year.. and may we meet again soon! (ps I left Bali about 8 months ago, and after visiting family in Canada, landed one month ago in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Mostly, I needed the heat, but I also seem to gravitate towards these magical centers of art, culture and spirit!)
Sending you love from across the ocean, xoxo
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Hello Amit! It made me so happy reading this and I’d love to chat to you in person too! We did once, in Bali many moons ago but oh how life has changed so much for all of us since that day. Yes, I’m really so glad that I’ve discovered meditation- I’ve always been a bit late to the party!!! But hey! Im here now! And I hope that you will enjoy learning to dowse ( if you’ve not yet already tried)
It sounds like you’re in a good place and how wonderful! Mexico of all places, fun and colourful and I’m sure you’ll have lots to write about.
Wishing you the happiest of years dear Amit. Thanks for reconnecting – it’s so good to hear from you . Lots of love xxx
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