This year so far has been a weird mix of bright sunshine and dark rain clouds, physically and metaphorically. I either feel light and airy, or weighed down by stresses so heavy I don’t know how to get out from under them. I know sometimes the weather has the guiding hand in my emotions, but at other times the warmth is there regardless of the … Continue reading A Winter Wellness List
December’s posts this year all share the theme of Mindful Christmas. There’ll be short posts each day encouraging us to pause and look at our celebrations in a more measured, mindful way. Every day has a concept heavily tied in to Christmas, and the plan is to look at them individually, examine what role they play in our own Christmas and, if we decide we … Continue reading Gratitude: Mindful Christmas Day 20
I read. Boy, do I read. I remember when my children were little (I had three under the age of five: 2002 from February to September and the Start of School for my eldest son was a miasma of feeding a baby, feeding toddlers, feeding a husband and feeling that bone weary tiredness and trapped feeling that new mothers get, but never admit to) that … Continue reading Stacking Up My Autumn Reading List And Finding I had Already Bought Several that I Wanted: September Small Things Day 9
Crazy busy weekend, eh? Not for me personally: I spent the weekend either hunched over coughing and sneezing or asleep on my bed which (currently) lies in the middle of the living room. We’re having the ensuite bathroom re-tiled, a job which takes far longer than I ever realised possible and takes a lot of slicing and cutting. The plumber is very nice, but even … Continue reading Life is made up of the Small Things.
March 29th 2021 and England has taken another step towards freedom. A little less locked down. In England, from today, the rules are now that six people can meet outside, two households can get together inside, outdoor sports are allowed again and weddings can begin again, although they’re limited to only six attending. Time to crawl out of the cave and start blinking at sunlight … Continue reading I May Come Out of the Cave, but I’m NOT Leaving it For Good.
Today’s title is freely nicked from a hymn I remember singing in my school days. The chorus (which is the bit that has stuck with me forever, or at least 45 years whichever is longest) goes like this: Freely, freely You have received, Freely, freely give…. The hymn is actually about receiving God’s grace and forgiveness of sin. Whether you believe in God or not, … Continue reading Freely, Freely You Have Received…..
I’ve been revisiting books on my bookshelf… I got a new book last week, Listful Living by Paula Rizzo. It promises to be a list-making journey to a Less Stressed You. (Review is below.) I’m a sucker for list books, however niche or weird that seems. I even have a copy of The Checklist Manifesto, which is all about the use of checklists in medicine … Continue reading Three Books for Friday: Lists for Life
And just like that, it was May. Lockdown has been on in the UK since 23rd March. That’s over a month of living small, staying home, keeping house quietly. I think when we entered Lockdown we none of us really knew what to expect. In so many ways, we were entering a battlefield where our weapons were hand sanitiser, handwashing and making sure that time … Continue reading Take time to appreciate the Taller Things in Life
How to Hygge the British Way 