There has been so much clarity on day 6 of feeling thankful. I have recognised thoughts I would normally have and realise I have a different perception. For example if my children break something or even a difficult driver in front of me. I feel less frustration than normal… more things feel “doable”.
Today, I tackled a side table next to me that had been accumulating in dust. I usually get overwhelmed easily but today I felt like doing it, and I wasn’t mad about not finishing it. The neater I find my house and the quicker it takes me to find things, or clean things or pick up things the more “doable” life feels. It seems so simple but strange at the same time. I didn’t think the simplicity of having a neat home would make me feel more thankful and yet I had to be more thankful to feel like cleaning it.
How can this exist? I used to hate my house. I hated the colour, the temperature (yes, no air conditioning or heating) and just felt uncomfortable. Now with the fix of our air conditioning and heating, and cleaning up the most used but least seen part of our house (the closet) I find myself motivated to do more. I appreciate the comfort in temperature. I appreciate finding clothes I need easily as I am not searching past all the clothes that don’t fit or that are out of date anymore. When the smaller things come easily, then other bigger tasks don’t seem as hard. When I feel like my house is providing me comfort – even as simple as temperature – I want to make it comfortable.
Anyway… small changes have led to bigger changes… my house is coming along and I am so excited soon to have people over instead of dreading the thought of people seeing my messes.
So what two things I am thankful for today that are changing my brain?
- Reverse cycle air conditioning – I love that there seems to be a purpose of “comfort” in my house, even if it’s just temperature. I don’t know if you can truly appreciate this unless you have gone through a winter and a summer (like we have) without either. Blankets and iced water has been our options to keep us cool and warm depending on the weather. It’s lovely when your home as a whole (like a heater or air conditioning) that can do this. It feels like the house is there for your comfort. It changes your perception of the purpose of your house, and helps you appreciate it more.
- I appreciate our librarians – which is why I’m launching a bit of a book club. Today we went there. It was quite funny because my daughter (who can get quiet) tried to explain to me she lost her library card… I didn’t quite understand, but being the smarty pants she is I said “you have memorised your library card number – just punch it in and we can check-out. Sure enough the machine wouldn’t let her and said to seek staff. I found the librarian and asked her what the problem was. The problem was that my daughter had left her library card somewhere in the library and they found it and locked it in a draw and it alerted them when she tried to check books out. When they got her card they noticed it was falling apart (it’s only 8 years old) and they got her a beautiful newly designed one. My daughter was lamenting that she had her old number memorised and would have to memorise a new number. Our wonderful and librarian searched through all the new cards to find a number that was easily memorisable. How lovely was that? I that eased my daughter’s anxiety considerably. Anyway… I am thankful for librarians who put children at ease over the silliest of things so that they can love books as much as they do. That was the ultimate motivation “Have a new number that you can memorise and feel at ease with so you can check out more books”. Anyway, Librarians will never get enough credit in my opinion… but I love them and love how much they have inspired my children.
Hope your Tuesday was just as lovely,
Happy Tuesday!
