Peaceful, restful, happy? I do hope so.

Here, well we were together again, that was good. And Grandma joined us for the day – I am so lucky to have such a lovely mother-in-law – she did not come into the kitchen once – now if only her son could manage the same

Image via Wikipedia

So we had our turkey feast and lit the pudding to plenty of ooohs (I overdid the brandy, but managed to not set fire to anything else – an achievement in itself ). And then just chilled together – Grandma teaching her grand-daughter cats cradle (the best present) and no television until gone 6. And the least number of electronic presents in many years; this was a lean year but it also was the best. Lots of brilliant books and games and hobbies – quite wonderful.

Even if next year is more financially fruitful, perhaps spending on more Christmas presents than is necessary or good for a person is not the thing to do. We’ll do something more positive, I think – something we choose together, whether supporting a family in need, or another suitably worthy cause.

And I do hope I don’t have to leave it all until the last minute – I was still baking presents on Christmas morning – which was lovely but perhaps not having to work my socks off all through December might make for more family time. I’m glad to have the work to do, however, so certainly not complaining.

Back to it now, preparing to ride the continuing financial storm and hope we come through the next year as unscathed.

How was your Christmas?

Thankfully, in this day of seeming ubiquitous connectivity, to not know how a person is at any one moment in time (or so it seems, with some) is almost impossible. Indeed for some people, if we don’t know how they are then we do know something is wrong (even if simply with their iPhone!)

In olden times (when I was a girl) people would need to make an effort to find out, whether with a phone call or popping in on a person (we did more of that then, but then we needed to). So if we were feeling particularly low and times were a bit tough for whatever reason – health, family, money, mood – it would not necessarily be common knowledge. Now all it takes is a quick tweet or Facebook update and our online chums know how we are. And often the response can be enough to lift us – whether just one person offering a virtual hug or a long list of encouraging comments in the time it takes to make a cuppa.

Image by Laurence Vagner via Flickr

So recently, as I work through my own and my family’s latest strifes, I can see that just about everyone else has plenty of their own to work through. Not everyone, of course, but most it seems, lately. It may be health – more of my friends and peers have health issues now – pesky age, I suppose. It may be financial – who isn’t finding it lean and sometimes a bit scary just now. It may be relationship woes and breakdowns. It may be a mix or even culmination of all the above. It’s something that while it does not make my own overwhelm any less, it does lift that lonely feeling of despair, at least a little. It does help to realise it’s not just me, it’s rubbish for just about everyone just now.

This is not my most Pollyanna of posts but I really do think it can help to be aware of the wider situation and climate. These are tough times when I guess we need to knuckle down a bit, focus but also be aware that we are pretty much in this together. And it has to be better to hold out a hand in order to pull someone up as we climb out of the mire, or even if it’s to keep plodding alongside someone as we to get through it all. It’s really not just you – take heart, be strong and we’ll get there (wherever “there” may be).

Babs

Sometimes it takes another’s demise to understand how short life is.

Sometimes we just get that wake up call ourselves and realise that we spend too much of our own lives on things that neither make us or anyone else happy.

Last week Steve Jobs died, and while, indeed, millions of people die every day (don’t quote me on that number) who had far less of a chance to really live the live they’d choose, it did stop me in my tracks somewhat, especially when combined with something significant in my own life; my time has come to stop. Stop everything and take a very thorough look at the results of what I do with my time. Do I share it with those I love, do I work at making this a better place in any way? Are the people I’m giving to then going on to do good things with that (that’s how I choose to consider such, rather than see it as worthless to me – if  the recipient of any help or kindness or support is doing some kind of good, that works for me, especially if they then pass it on somehow). Or are there areas where we could actually do more good for those that matter. A selfish view? Perhaps, but as someone I consider to be a kind person, it’s not likely to be that selfish after all.

What would make you stop and think about what you’re living for – or working for?

Babs

In honour of the incredible, wonderful Patch Adams MD, bloggers will unite on 15th May 2011.

And of course Brazen Pollyanna will join in – how could we not!

How about you? Will you join the celebration of this amazing man who dedicates his life to the belief “that laughter, joy and creativity are an integral part of the healing process”? You are very welcome to add your posts here – send an email to hello@barbarasaul.com with some detail and we’ll add you to our schedule for the day, or if you include a post on your own blog we’d love to link to it and show that this corner of the world appreciates and celebrates kindness wherever it may flourish.

Join in – go on, you know you want to

Babs

By the way – you can follow Patch Adams on Twitter too!

Image by Mark Blevis via Flickr

Before moving into our new home, bringing the family together again (bit of a tale, not sure it’s for Brazen Pollyanna), I ordered this poster. You see my default setting is happy, and my husband’s is not. But that is up to him, no-one else can make him happy, but I thought that perhaps having this perfect poster in full view might help him out.

It took some doing for the designer to get it to market and it comes across from the US. I love it and now just have to sort out a frame – probably just a simple glass one for now – and put it up. I wonder if we can persuade the wonderful designers, Alex Koplin and David Meiklejohn, to allow postcards?

When was the last time you had a whole day off – that includes offline! This morning I read Jemima Kiss’s great article “How I kicked the digital habit” and as I was sharing that on Facebook the whole

Image by psd via Flickr

I run a business that hosts other people’s websites and feel the need to keep an eye on emails during every day – mainly in case of any hosting issues. What I should instead do is have a firm procedure that does not require me to be constantly watching. Indeed I can’t remember the last time there was an emergency that needed my immediate attention – and that is rarely for a paying customer (let’s not go there today).

My husband is the same but for him it’s his Blackberry – every day is peppered with the tinkle that tells him an email has landed or a wee rumble to say someone’s left a voicemail. I hate that he feels expected to be on call 24 hours a day – he can’t possibly need to be – he has minions even! And what on earth kind of normal are we suggesting to our children? They yearn for our attention and take steps to claim it that is less than enjoyable.

So! today I will step away from the laptop, at least until 6pm – let’s not go cold turkey. And I will miss Skype chatting with my sister (we live on opposite sides of the country but chat every day – I do love that as she’s my best friend too).

All the ideas that spring to mind I will write into one of the many notebooks I have everywhere. Aha! Perhaps if those were more organised I would feel less need to stay linked to the laptop.

My mobile contract runs out this month and the geek in me would love to upgrade to an iPhone or Blackberry or somesuch that does everything – but do I really? I don’t use a tenth of the functions of my Tocco Lite, for goodness sake – what on earth would I do with “apps”?

The concern I do have is that as we become so reliant and connected there will be an over-reactive backlash that will see us not enjoying the wealth of positive things that the web and all this connectivity provides.

What do you think? How easy do you find it to switch off and smell the flowers? Me – I’m going to potter in the garden with the kids after cooking breakfast – really take the day off (after posting this, giving it a tweet and sharing it on Facebook).  And if the server fails, well I’ll deal with that tomorrow.

Enjoy your Easter Monday!

Babs

Today is my girl’s 8th birthday – how did that happen?

It seems now that with each month we become closer; we fight hard too – I’ve come to realise that I also had/have her amazing spirit and can see that we are quite alike, and we love each other utterly. It will be interesting to see the adult that can result from being so loved, having the self-confidence that such love can surely engender.

My Daisy looks at me askew when I say she can do anything. One part of her brain considering how to manipulate that statement for immediate gain, another wondering what on earth I’m on about because of course she can. This is a child who not only believes in fairies but visits them nightly in fairy land. Oh the imagination (or who am I to say different – this adult who cannot recall a belief in fairies).

So what am I wittering on about in this self-indulgent post? Well for one thing I have promised myself the time for posting here on Brazen Pollyanna at least once a week now. I often think about it but it is a luxury – it’s time to give myself that luxury – I deserve it. My girl’s birthday seems an apt time to get started again.

And Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows? Our favourite song… Enjoy

Babs

Lesley Gore – Sunshine Lollipops & Rainbows – 1965 by thegirlstheyrock

Brazen Pollyanna has been quiet for a while, but with plenty of thinking going on all the while…

This week seems to have brought a number of ideas together, from the children and me agreeing to sponsor a child in Uganda, to the idea of enabling villages in the UK to somehow sponsor a village in need of such, to a week full of Sport Relief – giving here and there to the wonderful work that goes on as a result of such – the kids and I want to make a difference – or rather I want to make a difference and show them that they can too, if they want and choose to.

And this evening, as I’m writing this, I’ve happened across a film based on Patch Adams. I had no idea that such a man existed – what vision, what determination to do good. Wow! And who am I to think I cannot make a difference, that the thoughts and ideas that come to mind cannot come to fruition without some effort and determination, perhaps even just putting the idea out there for someone else to make real.

Well, the film has been something of a cherry on the top of my gently growing desire to do more. So this is what Brazen Pollyanna will do – be a tool that enables this, somehow. The details will come, but for now, the idea is out there.

A few years ago a friend brought this Marianne Williamson quotation to my attention, and goodness did it strike a chord. I believe we should all take this to our hearts and hold it dear. Print it out and put it up where our children, and we, can see it daily.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Marianne Williamson

This was perhaps made most famous by Nelson Mandela (and indeed has at times been attributed to him) when he quoted this at his 1994 inaugural address, but actually it come from Marianne’s book “A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”“

Anyway – it’s something that my children will grow up knowing.  Who knows what they might achieve.

There are many wonderful and inspiring quotations on the kindness theme; please add your favourites:

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible. Dalai Lama

For beautiful lips, speak words of kindness.”  Audrey Hepburn

Today, give a stranger one of your smiles.  It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.  Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you – not because they are nice, but because you are.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. Dalai Lama

I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble. Rudyard Kipling