Gratitude in Practice

 I have an area that is constantly becoming recluttered - my creative space. Today I'm going to examine why. Some of it is down to me not putting away things as I think to myself 'I'll come back to that tomorrow.' I have so many projects on the go that when I leave things out for easy of access, it becomes a jumble. So I need to change that and put away pieces of the project at the end of the day, even if I think I will come back to it tomorrow...as invariable, it's a few days before I actually do. The other issue is the habit of my husband, which I can't change. He is a person who needs order and I am chaos. it's something we have worked on over our 27 year marriage and we have a bit of an understanding that there are some areas of the house which must remain in order (the kitchen, the lounge, our bedroom and the bathroom), and there are a few areas he has managed to turn a blind eye to. So if I leave a cross stitch out, or my crochet, or something I'm ...

 Hi dear reader. Today I continued showing Mike, my husband how grateful I am for his work in the garden by maintaining it. Here are the before and after shots of the top left section of the garden that I worked on today. You can see I've kept the chain of hearts creeper in there as it was intentionally planted, while the chick weeds and clover have been removed. Maintenance can be one of the hardest parts of a clean up journey. If you don't continue to maintain the areas that you have already worked in, it's one step forward and two steps backwards. And the more areas you clear up, the more you have to maintain, though it is a lot quicker to do swift tidy up and put things away than it is to have to clean, tidy and reorganise the whole area again. If your maintenance isn't working, if it's taking too long as tidied areas become cluttered again too quickly, you will have to look at your habits. What do you use the area for? Is it really too much effort to take a few...

 Hello there reader, today's project was the top drawer in my bed side table. I've taken some more photos to go through my process with you in a bit more detail. This first picture shows the drawer as it was as I opened it. I took that work sheet and journal off the top so you can see what was underneath... Let me walk you through my thoughts and how I fixed this. First I looked at my habits which have caused this disaster in the first place. At night when I get into bed, I take out my hair and dump the clips, combs, bands and ribbons into this drawer. If I finish a book I tend to throw the bookmark in there too. The vaseline in the bottom right corner is an essential as I have a compulsion to moisten my lips with my tongue all day long and they dry out, so constant application of petroleum jelly helps to stop the compulsion and to replace moisture. I also do that several times as night, so this is where I can reach it in a sleepy state. I also moisturise my hands just before I...

 Today I am grateful for the work my husband (Mike) has put into our garden, and the fact that we are lucky enough to have a garden at all. Mike did a great big weed a few weeks ago and was of course disappointed to see them spring up again (as they do). So for about an hour and a half, I got out there today and pulled out the chick weeds. This is progress not perfection. This is one part of the garden, not the whole front yard. I plan to get back out on Saturday to do another section and then again next week (twice) to finish off this weeding. Today's work was maintenance of work rather than a big clear, but still very important. As I dug out the roots and pulled out the weeds I felt more connected to the garden and more responsible for it and appreciated it a lot more. This is the whole point of these actions after all. It's amazing how much more you are grateful for the work someone does when you have to do even a small amount of it yourself! If you want to, you can subscrib...

 Hello reader, are you wondering where I am getting the inspiration for this new attitude? I have been reading 'Simple Abundance' again (by Sarah Ban Breathnach) and also working with a life coach, including gratitude focuses. In Simple Abundance you are encouraged to return to simple pleasures, like a clean kitchen. The author also encourages you to make a sacred space, a bit like an alter as a focus for your spiritual deliberations. So today's task is to make such an area for myself. I'm using my beautiful antique dressing table which I inherited from my mum (not from her family, she bought it from an antique shop and I inherited it when we had a house fire and I needed it more than her). Before the tidy and clean, it was a dumping ground for books I have been reading at night, journals, various bathroom items and jewellery containers. One book stays (Simple Abundance as that's what I'm reading at the moment), the jewellery stays and so does the perfume and se...

 Hello reader, Let's talk about disrespect. You say you are grateful for that item? How do you treat it? If it could talk, would it yell back at you - "If you are so grateful for me, why do you treat me like dirt?" I LOVE this sideboard. It used to belong to the family of my brother-in-law's exwife, but it was falling apart it a garage. My husband and I inherited it, restored it and use it every day. I am really grateful it came to us and grateful it graces our kitchen. But I have been disrespecting it. Up until a week ago, the top was covered in unused items and dust. I don't have a photo of that clean up unfortunately. Even as nice as this looks now, it still has dirty secrets within. This is the right drawer. Today I have shown my gratitude for this furniture and the items I am grateful for within, but organising it. Drawer empty... Drawer reorganised. I kept quite a few of the hair items, makeup and incense. This is what I threw out. Talk about disrespect. Now...

 Hello dear reader, I'm hoping that by writing this Blog I will do two things; 1. Continue to inspire myself to live gratitude in practice, which in turn leads to a happier me and, 2. Inspire others to do the same and maybe end up with a happier world. What is gratitude in practice? It's all very well to say you are grateful for the things in your life. But, as the saying goes, actions speak louder than words. Gratitude in practice is living your life not just paying lip service to gratitude. When you put gratitude into practice, you respect, honour and treasure the things, people and structures in your life. Today I am doing that around my house. Twenty one years ago, I moved into this house, absolutely delighted by the bench space. But this keeps happening.... Our lovely island bench frequently becomes a dumping ground. Today I honoured and respected my beautiful island bench by tidying and cleaning it. I don't intend to stop there, but that was an excellent achievement t...