I took myself off today to a gallery, and didn't think of all the things needing done.
Learning to Simply Chill has been one of the best things I've done since starting this blog. A rather serious person (I always have been - look at this photograph of me at about four years old!) I've learned, and am still learning to lighten up.
The sky doesn't fall in if I take a day off, change my mind, let myself off the hook, do something to a less than perfect standard, let the phone ring, skip a meal, or even do nothing at all!
Can you do this? Simply Chill?
'Twere ever thus.
Talking of a different perspective on things in yesterday's post and comments....you may find this quote interesting:
The condition of man is already close to satiety and arrogance, and there is danger of destruction of everything in existence.
You may find the date of it even more interesting.
It was written, in Strabo's Geography, in 327BC.
This morning on the way to the city via the busy motorway to meet up with friends and do some shopping in department stores with artificial lights and heating, musak and noise, and colour and crowds, I stopped to photograph this animal perfectly attuned to its wide watery environment
I felt it might be saying to me
Where are you rushing off to in your fast machine....
In more ways than one....
If you get the chance one wintry day, to snuggle up in a cosy rug and read all day long, I recommend The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. Magical realism, which delicately swings between the magic and a gritty realism in a most intriguing way. A certain amount of willingness to suspend disbelief, a log fire, mugs of tea and frequent snacks, snow falling, and by the time I finished it (I read it in one day), a starry sky and moonlight on the crisp snow all helped make this a memorable read, and a memorable day for me.
One simple change on my computer has reduced my stress level every single day.
On my Yahoo!Mail page Yahoo very kindly gives me news headlines every time I log on.
I always say to anyone who will listen that human beings are not designed to receive the whole world's bad news on the hour every hour 24/7 (no-one has ever agreed with this - I'm usually met by silence when I say it!)
It is particularly insidious and anxiety inducing when, as lately here in UK, the news is of a missing child, or a natural disaster. Each and every time you read the headlines (and you do when you are waiting..) it gets a little bit more awful. Knowing, expecting, dreading the headline that tells you a body has been found, or there are no survivors....
Once a day, and at a time of my own choosing, I like to keep up with what is happening in the world. Like most people I care about these things. If I thought that by suffering a kind of low grade continuous anxiety I would help the situation I would willingly suffer - but this scenario is going to play itself out whether my feelings are involved or not. I can have no influence on any outcome - unless it is happening in my part of the world in which case I would be out there searching too, and I can and sometimes do donate to the disaster appeals, but....
I've not yet figured out how to remove this unwelcome feature from the page, but I do have the option of having Top Stories, News, Sport or Finance. I chose Sport as it was the option I was least interested in, therefore least likely to distract me from what I am trying to do - which is deal with e mails.
What do you think?
Dolce fa niete.
The sweetness of doing nothing.
When did you last try it?
I'm going to do some tomorrow.
Why does it sound so innocent and romantic in italian I wonder...
an exhibition of small sculptures begins tomorrow in The Boathouse..
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