Happy New Year. I’m not sure it’s going to be the easiest, but as they say “you’ve got to go through it to get out the other side”. And somehow it feels like 2021 *will* be better than 2020 (eventually?)
I wrote a post recently about keeping on an even keel, and as we dig deeper to weather this storm, I keep thinking how even more important it is to cultivate a sort of quiet gratitude, to be thankful for the small good things.
I was watching a brave girl on YouTube last night who’s living on her own in a tiny house in the middle of a Scandinavian forest…I think she’s only 19 or 20?
The view from her bedroom window was all snow-iced pine trees, magical, but there was one particular shot of her reading a book in bed (not lonely, not wanting to be anywhere else, just completely content with her simple solitary life) that really stood out for me. Happy with not much.
Gosh she’s a fearless soul.
Forests at night are not for me!
One winter, very many years ago, I was house-sitting near the Bel Air Hotel in LA. This house was bright and modern and the big floor to ceiling windows soaked up the Californian sun every morning. It was bliss.
I was loving my week there…until on Night Number 3 just as I’d settled on the sofa to watch TV I heard footsteps and rustling right outside my window.
[That girl in the snowy YouTube forest is brave!]I froze. I didn’t know a soul in the neighbourhood, there was no dog in the house, and Los Angeles is so big that even if you phoned a friend it might take them an hour to reach you.
I thought maybe someone was going to break in, especially as a spate of local home invasions had been on the news.
Feeling slightly shaky, I decided to call the police, and within about seven minutes (felt like seventy) two policemen arrived: a huge, very tall (as in basketball) officer, so I instantly felt a million times safer, and his shorter but super-fit handsome Italian actor colleague (bonus!)
I stayed inside feeling goofy and pathetic while they went out into the winter night, checking the sloping hill by the side of the house with their flashlights.
After about 5 (tense) minutes they were back.
“We checked the vicinity thoroughly and we did find something”, said Police Officer Big & Tall.
Oh no?? I was not in the mood for a sleepless night spent bolt upright listening for strange sounds outside.
“You did hear footsteps,” he confirmed. “There is something outside. What you heard were hoof steps. We found a baby deer, and it’s real cute”.
Phew…awww 🙂 The officers stayed and chatted for a couple of minutes while I just wanted to slide under the sofa. How embarrassing – and what a waste of time for them.
(Happy ending though!)
* * * * * * * * *
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone,” – French philosopher Blaise Pascal
SWITCHING OFF MORE & STAYING CLOSE TO NATURE
This year, in celebration of “go nowhere, stay home”, nature is my travel substitute. I really want to cut down on digital time, too. Real books instead of kindle versions. I’m horrified at how much time so many of us spend online, I still don’t own a smart phone.
Mine cost me £10. You could drop it from a skyscraper and it would still work. It doesn’t even have a camera and I think that’s the only thing I miss, the ability to take photos.
It’s a great way to get away from all the pings and notifications though.
LIGHT & LOVE
Light is hope. Big cups of comforting brews (hot choc, turmeric and cinnamon?), candles, two hot water bottles not just one and all the sunlight and fresh air I can get at weekends.
There is peace to be had from just gazing at a crackling fire or a candle flame dancing on your dressing table.
Candle: STILL candle by The Universal Soul Co
I’ve been taking saffron (as an experiment) and it seems to be a good mood uplifter. And although nature’s backdrops in the northern hemisphere looks so much bleaker than in spring or summer, there is still quite a bit of beauty around.
Dustings of snow, twiglet trees without a single leaf silhouetted against a pink winter sunset, the frothy energy of stormy waves, fairy lights, the new moons and the full moons…
Now that the days are (woohoo!) getting longer by two minutes a day, the first crocus isn’t so very far away anymore.
But in the meantime, with so many feeling “locked in”, whatever it takes to make our home feel like a safe, comfortable sanctuary is so worth it.
I sometimes drizzle pine essential oil on to pine cones and keep a couple on my bedside table – yes a ridiculously “small” thing, but I adore the scent of pine – it makes me feel safe, strong and grounded. Or I go foraging and make wreaths. I love bringing nature inside. I remember I had a coffee table sized book full of rustic decor ideas, side tables made from driftwood, dried grass summer wreaths, that sort of thing. That book was my treasure.
I always feel that helping others is the best way to help ourselves. (Especially if you are feeling down).
And the other day I saw something in the comments section on a YouTube video which I thought said it all.
This person had written:
“ASK YOURSELF, WHAT WOULD LOVE DO?”
What would your higher self do this year?
What would love do?
There are many things we took for granted which we don’t have right now, and there’s a lot of fear flying around. Don’t let fear entangle itself in your hair and your mind, simply brush it away with love.
This won’t last forever (and our parents or grandparents have lived through worse).
Two helpful things:
Don’t watch the news (or maybe just quickly glance at the headlines). Fear loves the news and the news loves fear.
When this is over, how many of us will kick ourselves for having been glued to the news when we could’ve been doing other much happier, healthier things?
And the other one is:
Stay close to NATURE.
And number 3 is important: watch lots of comedy.
So here we finally are, in 2021. I hope your new year is as good as it possibly can be.
Wishing you health, light and joy this year x
