I'm glad today is one day out of many drab January ones that we celebrate the simple things. Thank you Christina, for this brightening idea that will illuminate all the small wonders and cast a large shadow over the petty unimportant January-ish things that rule this time of year.
First, to combat the dread & gloom we have some flowers. A simple affordable solution to pull you through a grey day. I don't know about you, but whenever there are fresh cut flowers in a room my eye is inexplicably drawn in to them. They have a force all their own.
Snowflakes falling gently down. My children smiling at me and spouting a random "I love you." Hot chocolate. Cold lemonade. Palm trees swaying. Steel drums playing.
It is caring for your basic needs, quite simply. Enjoying the ritual of bathing, and all the fluffing that entails. The powder, the tweeze, the combing and the perfuming. Make yourself pretty and you can squash the dreariest of moods away. Next put a record on. Yes a real record but if you don't have one then play some of your favourite music. I like to listen to a variety of things, including this, this & this.
Catching a street car to an art store. Having coffee & laughter with friends. A chick flick. Big baggy sweaters & jeans. Shopping for used camera supplies online (you can save a mint that way). Shopping for anything online. Music. A pretty skirt. A painting you saw on Etsy that you just loved (it was painted just for you I would imagine.)
Connecting with old friends in a most unique way, finding you have more interests in common now that you are adults. Three hour phone calls that feel like five minutes. Plane trips. Beavertails. Opening brown paper packages tied up with string, and learning that it was packed with love, encouragement & well wishes for you.
Postcards from across the globe. The smell of black magic markers & satsuma oranges. Coming home from school (remember?) and your mum was there with freshly baked cookies & a hug. {And if that wasn't you, do it now for someone you love and heal that wound.} Coming home (now) and finding your husband has done the laundry & made supper (amongst the million other things he does for you and the children on a daily basis). ...{Actually come to think of it, everything my husband does is for us he is entirely selfless. He adores doing, and helping.}...
Mason jars with flowers randomly tossed in. Sunny windows. Breezy curtains. Coconuts. Sand between your toes.
The way you feel after yoga. Or running a mile. Or stretching...! Words cannot describe the great feeling exercise brings. It clears the mind, brings a certain peace to the body.
Stillness of a gallery. Becoming one with a painting so that you could just crawl into it and live there. For me, it is this series of paintings in Washington D.C. It is in four parts, displayed in the National Gallery of Art. If you have a chance to visit any city this year, choose Washington in the spring, all the galleries and museums of the Smithsonian will leave you breathless. Many happy trips have been taken there with the kids, and they love it so much.
Love. Love. Love. As simple (yet complex) as it gets. Love is all. It is everywhere, infused into everything, everyone (yes, everyone) and conquers all it's true.
xoxo Happy day, enjoy your own simple things. Thank you Christina, for hosting this lesson in gratitude.
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