Pencil Shavings

Just For Fun

Yesterday my daughters and I went out into the world to leave some presents for strangers.

We left little notes of encouragement everywhere we went.  

We hid them in books, left them in sales racks, on bus seats, and on shelves.  Someone will find these notes and we just have to have faith that someone who needs a little encouragement will find one of them and be uplifted.

Perhaps someone will find one and want to leave notes of their own.

Maybe no one will find them, or no one will care that they got one, and if that happens then that’s OK too, because we loved making them and hiding them and it made our day one of the best days we had out together.

Being nice to others is a selfish kind of kindness, because it makes you feel so good inside.

 

Just Breathe

My online artist friend Jan Tanton has started something new this year.  The Five Daily Gratitudes Challenge.  The idea is simple, make a concious effort to think of the everyday stuff that you are grateful for.

As I sit here listening to the soft (occasionally clanky) rotation of the clothes dryer I realize just how many everyday things we take for granted that make us a bit happier, or make our lives a bit easier.

I do believe that the more we recognise the good things in our lives the happier we become.  

Today I was grateful for purple pens. I know it's a fivolous thing to be grateful for, but in all honestly just writing with purple pen makes me feel just a little happier.  And every time we do something that makes us just a little happier, well, isn't that a good thing?

I also found out, after posting my five gratitudes today that a lot of my friends love purple pens too.  How would I have known that if I hadn't "said" it publicly?

Something else that I have noticed is that when I sit and think about the things I am grateful for first thing in the morning, my day starts off on a positive note.  This is also a really nice side benefit.

If you want to follow my five gratitudes you can do so on twitter, you can also follow me on Google Plus where I am posting them daily, as well on Google Plus I post a lot of little doodles and strange/funny things that happen to me during the day.

I would love to see you there.

What Do You Wish For?

Today at the Science Centre there was a wishing tree.

 

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What do you wish for?

On Being Grateful: #2

As I am sitting here writing this, my husband is snuggled up in bed with our two girls and is reading them one if his favourite books.  The oldest one has her head on his shoulder and is reading along, the youngest is curled up, and, I suspect, sleeping.

I am so grateful for my family.  There are probably a thousand sappy things I could say about this, but one thing that I know, having had an unstable family life when I was my kids age, makes me realize how lucky we are to have this, right now.

 

On Being Grateful: #1

Today I am grateful for the military men and women who are sent to places I don't want to go to, who do things that I couldn't bear to, and who come home and are not treated nearly as well as they should be.

I am grateful to my grandfather who served in WWII, and I wish I had been aware enough to thank him for what he had done before he passed away.

Today I also wish that my children, who have known a time when our contry was not ensnared in conflict, will soon know what a country that is at peace is like.  A generation of children is growing up not knowing what peace is, and that is a crime.

 

(photo curtesy of Pierre Gazzola's Flickr stream)