Back to basics

Hello folks...I'm going to keep this as brief as possible tonight as I'm very tired and still not in a chatty chirpy mood. Sometimes, meaning well, people say 'Oh it's OK to moan' and indeed it may be...but not in a gratitude based blog if it's going to do what it says on the tin! My whole point of writing this is to think of things I've appreciated in a day and to pass them on so that other people think of happy things. If I saying I'm miserable about this or that and readers start going 'Ooh I know what you mean, me too!' or something I've said seems incredibly feebly connected to joy and someone mistakes it for a whinge then that's a fail in my book...or in my blog rather!

I can, and probably will at some points be sad or angry or disappointed or whatever but I'm going to go back to keeping these posts about a minimum of five things in a day that I've appreciated in some way unless there's it's absolutely necessary to recount something bad to set the scene for something good that turned everything around. Sometimes I'll wax lengthy and lyrical no doubt, other times when scraping the barrel of my perceptions for perkiness I'll be brief...

We can all qualify things negatively...'but' this, 'if only' that, 'it would have been better if' something else but it has a cumulative effect and we stop noticing how much is going on after a while. A cumulative positive effect can be created too. It's just pushing uphill against our cultural norms.

Anyway, enough of the lecture. I give thanks that I went out and it wasn't rainy or cold but not a day of glorious weather wasted on retail estates. I give thanks for finding out where not to look for lining paper... I give thanks for two top deck front seats on the buses. I give thanks I rediscovered how dire visiting my nearest Asda is and won't need to refresh my memory for a while... I give thanks for getting boring basics at the Co-op when I got back so I don't have to go to go to any supermarket again for a while... I give thanks for pizza with extra home added toppings, an immersion heater...and woolly socks and track pants after a day in boots and jeans. Oh yes... and for knowing the best way to cut pizza is with scissors!

Beyond the feels we know

This morning my spirit feels very weak and small. It felt big and strong yesterday...maybe I used up some of today's supply too. The feeling I'm trying to describe is not the same as being physically weak or emotionally depressed although they often appear in combination. Those with Eastern beliefs would tell me I'm talking (inexpertly) about chi. Those with purely Western knowledge would look up chi and say 'twaddle'! Try to allow yourself openness to all aspects of what is. There's no need to cling to one side or the other or feel stuck in the middle...be grateful for the rounded perspective!

Light has the properties of both a particle and a wave...look at a yin-yang symbol for an artistic representation of the scientific truth of duality. Remember the secret of happiness is revealed on a bleach bottle...to stand upright and in a cool place. To the untrained eye I may appear to be lying in bed curled protectively around all manner of achey breaky organs but inside I'm standing upright in a cool place. Well actually inside I'm dancing...and so are you!

Today I'm expressing gratitude that we know already more than we could ever learn, that we are already more than we could ever strive to be, that we have already more than we could ever yearn to find.

reasons to be cheerful - minimum of 5

Right, so jacket and veggie bake in the oven and I've thought of more things to be grateful for, and YES the other three count individually I've decided and 1) on its own without the others is actually nothing to be cheerful about unless you have someone to cook for you or bring you a takeaway or whatever...

4) found the rogue leak in my external drainage system and replaced the faulty part so hopefully no more unsavoury unscheduled drainage and less than fragrant laundry several times a day

5) someone I've never met said (to their partner who I do know)that I was quite cool wasn't I?

If I was really scraping the barrel I could add that I remembered to turn the TV on in time for the weather and off again before the One Show started. Good call!