Tag: happy

An old jam jar

Have you got an old jar with lid?Image result for empty jars

Have you got pieces of paper where you can write a simple phrase?

Have you got a pen?

If you answered yes to all of this, you are set to go and create something special….perhaps a new tradition in your household. A new antidote for a bad day!

Here’s how it works: Every night before you go to bed write down in few words something that made you smile, something that made you laugh, something that you enjoy doing, something you have achieved. Put the date,  fold it and put it in the jar.

Try to do it every day. Yes, EVERY day.

For example what made me smile yesterday was playing Scalextric with my son. So I wrote it down, put the date, folded it and into the jar.

I feel it will be the perfect antidote for a bad day. Consider: you have had a bad day and everything seems or feels wrong. Open the jar, start to read the few words and I think probably a smile will turn up in your face.

Try it.

(At the end of the day it is the new year and it is the perfect time to try something new).

Image result for empty jars

 

Rough translation

 

Tenés un frasco con tapa vacío?

Tenés papel en blanco donde puedas escribir una frase corta?

Tenés algo con qué escribir?

 

Si la respuesta es sí a todas las preguntas, tenés todo lo que necesitas pas crear algo especial…tal vez hasta una nueva tradición en tu casa, o el antídoto perfecto para un mal día.

Así es como funciona: Al fin del día, antes de irte a dormir, escribí en un papel , en pocas palabras, algo que te haya sacado una sonrisa, algo que te haya hecho bien, algo que hayas disfrutado, algo que hayas logrado. Poneles la fecha, doblalo y guardalo en el frasco.

Intenta hacerlo todos los dias. Si, TODOS los días.

Por ejemplo, lo que me hizo sonreír ayer fue jugar al Scalextric con mi hijo. Lo escribí, le puse la fecha , lo doblé y lo metí dentro del frasco.

Creo que va a ser el antídoto perfecto para un mal día. Pensalo: tuviste un muy mal día y todo se ve mal…todo se siente mal. Abrí el frasco, empezá a leer los papeles, y seguramente una sonrisa aparecerá en tu cara.

Intentalo.

(A fin de cuentas es el año nuevo y es el momento perfecto de probar algo distinto).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Fundamentally human.

Sorting papers out, I found this little quote.

Despite what you may believe, you can disappoint people and still, be good enough.

You can make mistakes, and still, be capable and talented.

You can let people down and still, be worthwhile and deserving of love.

Everyone has disappointed someone they care about.

Everyone messes up, lets people down, and makes mistakes.

Not because we are inadequate or fundamentally inept, but because we are imperfect and fundamentally human.

Expecting anything different is setting yourself up to failure.”

Daniell Koepke

I think we should remember this every single day. As we may try to be the best versions of ourselves, day in , day out, we still are as the quote says, fundamentally human and we are, at the end of the day  prone to mess up, to disappoint, to make mistakes.

This should be taught to children, so they can embrace their humanity wholeheartedly, they can be perfectly imperfect, fundamentally human.

Also – lest we forget – we should teach masterly lessons on how important it is to recognise our imperfections and act upon them. So we can restore, once more the balancing scales until next time.

P.S. Dear Daniell Koepke, thank you for writing this. Whomever you are, wherever you are.

 

 

 

Grabber Revolution

Have you ever got the feeling that if you do not do something it will never get done?

Well, that is how I have been feeling for the last weeks. Let me tell you why.

In front of our house, between our path and the road, there is a stretch of land with bushes and trees (and yes, we already hanged a bird feeder from one tree which faces my son’s bedroom window, so he can see the birds) which in summer is a fresh green natural screen that separate us from the road and in winter is just bare and…yes, wintery.

Because this stretch of land is now bare, I can see everything: twigs, branches, stones, plants, and…. rubbish. Lots of. Bottles. Cans. Wrappings. Pieces of aged polystyrene. Supermarket bags. Lids. Costa Coffee cups. All scattered along this stretch of land which is about 50 metres long. This stretch I must see it every morning when I leave for work, and every afternoon / evening when I come back from work. I have to see it every time I walk along with my son to go to School, or to the park. You get the picture.

I SEE IT ALL THE TIME.And it is annoying. Waking up, move the curtains, look up, look down…and I see litter. Come back from the park…and litter. This stretch of land is trimmed by a quadrille that comes in the autumn to cut the hedge and to trim the trees. But not to clean it.

Hence…. Today was the day when I decided it had to change. Since we are on school holidays and my little one is remarkably better (he has been unwell for almost the entire week) and it is sunny outside (for a change!) I thought it would be a good idea to go out with the grabber, plastic bags, gloves, and woolly hats to pick up the litter. And so, we did.

 

DSC_0077

 

No need to say that contrary to everybody else’s views and opinions, my little one had a blast of a time. What could be more fun than to go with the grabber and pick up a wrapping, a bottle, a lid? Discover bottles and count how many cans we found?

My little one saying aloud “all this plastic is no good for birds’ mummy! We must collect it with the grabber!” and giggling after every finding, saying “yucky!” more times than I can remember and  watching him separating plastic, tin and glass in some kind of order, pattern only known to him with a scientific concentration was priceless.

We stopped for lunch and afterwards we finish what we started. We brought back into our yard 2 bags full of plastic, about 6 cans and 4 bottles (yes, my son counted it all).Full bird feeder

Our reward was to put some seeds for the birds on the bird feeder and a new feeder, but this one hanging from the hedge, as an experiment.

We ended tired, but happy. I hope this activity helps him to recognise how important it is to put the littler where it should go and helps him to understand that he is responsible for looking after this planet of ours…no matter how small the contribution.

 

 

 

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