Today is Blue Monday, and news programmes, papers and places all over the internet are proclaiming it the lowest Monday of the year. Christmas is over, the bills ahve come in, the weather is blue and we are too. Well, not this year. I’ve done well at keeping active, meeting friends who keep me boosted and enjoying life, including finding the gem of a 1930s … Continue reading Blue Monday? Depends on the Shade
What are your Winter Joys? In the Hygge Nook, we’ve had a few posts about Winter, especially this post-Christmas period of it, being hard on the happiness factor. And I’m quite honest that I have found it harder to be happy in January and February rather than during November and December in my past. But I do know that I have parts of Winter that … Continue reading Book Friday: The Happiness Year by Tara Ward (How to find Joy in Every Season)
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
Well, there goes Christmas until next December. And here comes my darkest time of year. When I was supply teaching and mothering at home, January and February were my months of low, slow living. The bright lights were down, the children back at school. There wasn’t enough light in the day to do anything much and I basically squared my shoulders and set off to … Continue reading Wintering
Today’s UK news was full of the idea that, come January and February, the UK could have planned blackouts, when electricity supplies are cut to certain areas to preserve the available gas. Understandably, this sounds like a scary prospect until you sit and think about it. I think people who are into hygge are ahead of the curve on being able to handle the blackouts. … Continue reading Electricity Free Evenings? No Problem.
It’s sunny outside, and I’m in work, wishing I could go for a long walk and clear my head. Life is just so busy at the moment, and work, home, external forces are making me feel like I’m just a speck of dust in a whirlpool that is beyond my control. This is not a situation I’m particularly used to or fond of. I don’t … Continue reading There are Benefits to a Damn Good Cry.
Charity is the act of extending love and kindness to others unconditionally. It’s a good thing: it makes us altruistic, encourages us to think of others and helps us also to see how lucky we are (to appreciate our privilege). In modern translations of the Bible, St Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians that And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. … Continue reading Christmas of Hope 2020: The Greatest of These is Charity
We’re half way there, and definitely living on a prayer this year. Today it’s Monday, and in my childhood was traditionally the day we were allowed to start thinking of Christmas because my younger brother had the misfortune to be born in December (My three brothers organised life well: Eldest born in October, Second in November, Youngest in December. It was like a ready made … Continue reading Christmas of Hope 2020: Take a Bon Jovi Moment.
How to Hygge the British Way 