A quiet Saturday was followed by an even quieter Sunday as I found myself holed up in bed. I’m still aching, and quite possibly will be in bed before the Nine O’Clock news tonight, but I’m grabbing ten minutes to do my Magazine monday post.

I’m enjoying sharing the best bits from my favourite magazines here on a Monday: so much effort and time is put into creating a magazine that it seems a shame not to give them credit and point them out to others. It’s not surprising that I’m sharing the next edition of The Simple Things after sharing their January Edition.

The theme for this month is Thrive: and I suspect chosen because at this time of year (and especially if the weather is anything less than excellent) we feel low, burdened, pressured by the weight of a never-ending winter. I can’t complain about that this year. The weather in Liverpool has actually been quite pleasant: rain sometimes, but also glorious sunny days that have given me a hint of the spring and summer yet to come. Thriving is about not giving up hope of an end to the weather, about holding on to those things that give us joy and keep our spirits up. Hibernate, yes… but with friends, with adventure, with nature as our companion. And this magazine will totally help with that.

There’s always a good blend between home-based pleasures and outside treasures in The Simple Things. Articles on pancakes (including several recipes for different styles of pancake) and interior design run cheek-by-jowl with a beautiful article by Katherine May on reemerging from Winter and Clare Gogerty’s exploration of sound. I’ve never thought of recording the soundtrack of my walk, but I fully agree that pulling out the earbuds and listening to the world around me can often ground me or centre me quite as much as importing the sound of buddhist chanting on my walk does.

I love this photograph in the magazine as well… this is absolutely hygge summed up in one shot.

I’m delighted the hype around hygge is over. Now we’ve stopped being told it’s only a reason to buy cashmere socks and expensive scented candles, we can get on with enjoying it properly: that warm, safe, secure feeling that resting and pausing in the moment can give you either alone or with others. Although the irony of hygge books being written by “anyone with a Scandi surmane” isn’t lost on me. If you want more hygge online, then might I suggest The Hygge Nook on Facebook. We have a lot of peopole happily sharing moments of everyday peace and joy. Be warned: there are a lot of cups of tea, pets and babies.

The Simple Things is always practical as well. This edition has useful recipes for chilli, travel advice on Johannesburg and London and a whole article on how to darn a sock properly. There’s always a wide green stripe running through the magazine, and in these days of reduce, reuse, recycle we should be learning all the old practical skills, shouldn’t we?

Very often the travel pages are more for me to dream over than do, but I was heartened to see the Midland Hotel, Morecambe on the pages. I popped in once on a family visit, and did think of booking afternoon tea there one day as a treat, but like many things it slipped my mind. I think this timely reminder should get me looking it up again. Perhaps this year would be a good one to make like Miss Marple and enjoy tea in the Art Deco splendour… with or without a partner.

You can find The Simple Things on the Web, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.  February edition should be available until 26th February, when March Blossom blooms into view.

If you’d like to support me….

My new book, Cosy Happy Hygge is available as an ebook or a paperback on Amazon now. As you know, I do the whole kit and caboodle myself, from writing to proofreading to designing and I’m very proud of this one. It’s about using rhythm and ritual to make your life a gentler, kinder place. Writing it has been an important part of my mental health recovery.

I don’t monetise my blog. I don’t run adverts, take sponsorship for writing posts or use affiliate links. I want everything I do on this blog and in my hygge life outside to be truthful. If I promote a book it’s because I’ve read it and like it, if I  point out an item it’s because it’s impressed me on its own merits and not because the publicist has talked me into it. It does mean I don’t run giveaways and I’m not chasing followers, but the drawback is that I need to find a way to support myself.

That’s why I write books. My thoughts are that if I ask you to buy a book not only does it support me, and let me keep writing as an independent writer, but you get something back for your bucks. I’ve written several books, some on hygge, some on Christmas. If you like what you read here, or in the Hygge Nook, and you’d like to support a struggling writer, would you please consider buying a book? Ebooks give you the best value, since for 2 or 3 pounds you get the whole content of the book without paying the extra for paper production, but I’d be a pretty poor writer if I didn’t appreciate the beauty of a real book in the hand. If you buy just one book, it all adds up in the end to support me, and I’d be so grateful.

If you already have my books, or just want to support me as an independent writer, you can always just send me the price of a cup of coffee as a friend, to paypal.me/HyggeJem . I tend to use a lot of my spare cash on books that I review for the website, so every penny donated goes towards building my happy hygge life.

My first three books are hygge related, 50 Ways to Hygge the British Way  was my first book, and is available in Paperback and Kindle version. It’s a simple look at ways to feel more hyggely in life and at home even though we’re not Danish and don’t have it in our DNA.

How to Hygge Your Summer, in Paperback and Kindle form, has lots of good ideas for the summer months. I strongly believe that hygge is so much more than throws and warm drinks.

Happier is my fourth book. It’s about how I boost my own happiness levels. It’s full of hints, tips and ideas for you to use and adapt to suit your own situation. It is available in ebook and paperback version from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

I have three Christmas books,

Have Yourself a Happy Hygge Christmas was released in September 2017 and is available again in paperback and ebook version. It looks at keeping the Christmas season warm and cosy, with ideas for activities and routines to keep Christmas happy.

A (Hygge) Christmas Carol is my look at Dickens’ immortal classic and the many lessons we still learn from it today. It contains the full text of the book as well as hyggely thoughts on the story.

Enjoying a Self Care Christmas is only available in ebook version. It’s about keeping Christmas simple enough and healthy enough to keep you sane in the process.

If you buy any of the books or some of the items through the links on this page, I get a couple of extra pence per copy, as an Amazon Affiliate, in Amazon vouchers which go towards buying more books to review for the blog. I’d really love it if you’d support me monetarily, but I quite understand that cash is tight for many people, and I just love having your support via reading and commenting as well.

Truthfully, I’ll probably never make a living as a writer, but I do make a little extra income that gets ploughed back into books and magazines. One obsession feeds the other…