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As our world has gotten smaller so has our ability to see the beauty in everything around us. Technology is fantastic and progress is essential in this changing world but without appreciating the world around us what's the point. The saying "wake up and smell the roses" says it all. We live in the fast lane of a digital highway with no hard shoulder. No where to pull in and take a break, to call for help or take a minute to look at the beauty all around us. I try and make a point of stopping and taking a breathe, grabbing snap shots and storing them as Jpegs instead of compressed files. This morning it is freezing cold, ice and frost everywhere. The most striking images appear of intricate webs spoon by spiders, ice particles hanging from every leaf, and birds trying to feed from plump red berries dotted all over the trees in my garden. Beautiful and serene! However inside my house alarms are ringing, dogs are fighting, phones are checked, socials caught up on and a mug of tea downed before everyone joins the highway with not even a nod to the beauty outside. When my children were younger and I was trying to give them direction I would use examples in nature to open up a conversation. In the primary school in our small village there is a big old tree sitting in the yard over looking the school entrance. I would say to my kids imaging the stories that tree could tell. It offers shelter from the rain and a place to chat and gossip. It symbolises hope and growth under the watchful eye of generations. Every time I see this tree it makes me smile. It feds and shelters birds and it signals the change in seasons. Imagine if that tree could talk! I wonder if it could spill the beans would we learn anything!

We all do it, make a sweeping statement and that determines the state of mind we remain in for the day/week. The truth is in that Day or that Week an episode or incident was SHIT . Notice the singular text! The whole day or week was not SHIT just individual happenings but we let it dictate the rest of the day or week. In that frame of mind we allow everything take on a negative undertone! Just stop and take a minute and think about that! That is where a reflection diary is a powerful thing. If you write down 5 positive things a day and look back on the diary at the end of every week it really does highlight the fact that the week was not all that bad! You may say if I'm that down how can you find 5 positives a day? It can be the sun rise was beautiful, my pet did something funny, someone smiled at you, a phone call from a friend, a memory you smiled about. You will find 5 positives if you look for them! Training your brain to be able to say "Wait a minute, why am I feeling like this" is an important tool in the fight to keep yourself sane!!

I was advised years ago to leave the handbag at home and only carry my phone. Hell no! My life depends on my handbag. Somehow every bill, notebook, form of id, spar bag, mask, and everything else left sitting on the table ends up in my handbag. It comes from years of forgetting to bring all the above with me when you are asked for proof of address, a bill in your name, cards, store cards, vouchers, Lists, etc. So, the bag gets carried around from shoulder to shoulder, pulling out of your neck and carrying god knows how many germs. The fun and games then start when you try to find anything in it. Everything seems to disappear in the unorganized mess which you could argue is very similar to the state of my mind. Ok so you try to downsize! You start with getting a smaller bag so less shit can fit in it, and you begin the process of figuring out what do you really need to be carrying around. Panic begins to take over as the idea of not being able to fit everything in is causing you anxiety and then the heart starts racing and with that an executive decision is made to stick with the old bag! An Ah Ha moment! I arrived home from grocery shopping this afternoon and seat in the kitchen in floods of laughter at the my own stupidity! I realized that I had dragged the handbag (suitcase) around the shop, weighing down one side of my body to the extent that it was causing pain and wait for it, I scanned my vouchers and club card on my phone and tapped to pay for the groceries. I never opened my bag once!