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Another month and another year roll by.

Wishing you a happy and inspirational new year

Another list and some advice

1: The friendly receptionist at the doctor's (I arrived an hour early due to bus times and Rob's dental appointment and she fitted me in to a cancellation slot)

2: Christmas is coming!

3: Rob had an extra day off this week

4: That my stiff neck is almost better

5:Cheese on toast for lunch

I was cleaning the shower this morning when this song popped into my head.  Good advice for everyone.

This week's grateful list

I don't really intend to post a list here every week, but as Thanksgiving is coming up, it's a good moment.

1. The continuing mild weather

2.That all of the radiators are working correctly now, non are stuck on very hot or off.

3; That I managed to find a way to buy something that I really wanted

4. When I phone my daughter and future S-I-L they always sound really pleased to hear from me.

5.That every day has a moment that makes me laugh out loud.

To all those who celebrate Thanksgiving I hope that you enjoy your special time with your family and that the turkey cooks okay.  Wouldn't the world be a better place if we all stopped to count our blessings from time to time?

How to be happy

I watched a TV programme about happiness the other evening.  It was interesting viewing, complete with psychologist to explain how it all works.  Did you realise that if you are happy you live longer?

First define happiness;  I can't answer that.  I am happy in my life, but I suppose my lifestyle would drive some people nuts.  I work from home so I'm alone most days.  I love it!

The psychologist said that researchers took a pile of American baseball player cards from the 50s.  They sorted them into three piles.  Ones that didn't smile, ones that gave a social smile and ones that really smiled with their whole faces.  Guess which ones lived the longest?

They told us that if you write down 5 things once a week that you are grateful for and get into the habit of doing this, you will start to sleep better and be generally healthier than people who don't.  Being in a state of gratitude also protects you from agression.

learn to notice and capture the little things in life.  You might think that the happiest people are the ones that win the lottery, they aren't

Five things in my life that I'm grateful for this week

1. The realisation that most of the things they mentioned in the programme about happiness I was already practising.
2. Living in such a beautiful place
3. Closing the shutters the other evening just as the moon was starting to rise.  It was a really beautiful site.
4. being able to listen to music while I'm working.
5. My family

Have you got 5 things to be grateful for this week?

Why you should be afraid of Virginia Woolf

A few months ago I came across a book in a charity shop. I had three reasons to be pleased to find it: Firstly, that it was in English. Secondly, it covered the years 1915 – 1919, around the years of the First World War, a period which interests me a great deal and thirdly, it was the first volume of The Diary of Virginia Woolf.

I didn’t intend to start to read the book straight away as I had others in my ‘to read’ pile already. So I placed it on a shelf with some other books in the bedroom.

A couple of days later I noticed that some books had fallen over, so I straightened them up and thought no more about it. The next day the same happened – and the next. Virginia was always upright next to these books. So, smiling to myself I moved the books around. The following morning I discovered, not only the first books had fallen over but also the new neighbours to Virginia’s diary. Pretty soon no book on the shelves in the bedroom remained upright – except for one. Virginia was always triumphantly upright. In the end I grew tired of this game and left the books as they were.

It wasn’t until I bought some more books; including Earnest Hemmingway’s ‘A Farewell to Arms’ that I decided to tidy up shelves again. I placed the two unread books together.

It seems to have done the trick.

Sleeping with the Enemy

I’ve had the DVD for several years and watched it several times. Starring Julia Roberts the film is about a young woman, Sara/Laura, abused by her husband who fakes her own drowning to start a new life without him. Of course in her new life she falls in love and lives in fear that her husband will find her again somehow…

I went to a charity shop a few weeks ago. They have a foreign books section and I was delighted to find the book written by Nancy Price, that the film was based on. I couldn’t put it down. It had a lot more depth than the film, helping readers to understand why a lot of women stay with abusive partners. There is also interesting detail; the heroine uses the last of her money to rent a modest apartment, she has no belongings because she’s supposed to have drowned. How can she survive until her new job starts?

If you’ve seen the film and enjoyed it, you’ll enjoy the book.