No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. Aesop
I have completed the 12 Advent random acts of kindness I wanted to do, who would think it could take a month! They were simple things like giving a work colleague a lift home, letting someone in the supermarket queue go in front, but it was surprisingly hard to fulfill the commitment! People are suspicious if you offer kindness, especially if you are a stranger, also you have to see the opportunity before the moment passes and sometimes I just didn't until too late! I'm getting better at it now, so I will continue to look for opportunities all the time.
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| first celandine 2018 Glovers Wood |
On Sunday we went for a walk through Glovers Wood which I blogged about last year as it is ancient woodland and protected by the National Trust, it had the most spectacular Spring bluebell display last year. I love these woods, they have a magical feel. At this time of year though there is not much to see, a lot of trees had blown down in recent storms and some paths were not accessible. I only saw one solitary celandine flower by the algae pond.
There were different forms of fungi and lichen though and plenty of catkins.
The nearby church was looking its best with a beautiful wreath and flower displays in the entrance and decorating the old wooden door. We didn't go inside as there was a service going on.
I received some lovely gifts over Christmas from my blogging buddy Nana, a pretty blue scarf with silver thread and sweets and magazine and then last week an extra surprise from the very prestigious Fortnum and Mason, some delicious Christmas biscuits and a fruit butter (which I am going to keep to have on scones). Unexpected surprises are the very best (thanks pal). My neighbours gave me a lovely calendar with pictures of beautiful fairies and my Spanish neighbours brought a huge amount of biscuits dipped in chocolate and marzipan/nut treats back from their visit home to Barcelona; I had so many I took them to work and shared. I had pictures of all my pressies but I have been unable to upload them.
After all those random acts of kindness I felt I needed some myself, so joined Gabrielle Trainor's 'Warm Embrace' project. Some of her email courses, like this one, are free (https://gabrielletreanor.com/courses). I started late and haven't caught up yet! You get a daily email for a month with little reminders to slow down and be kind to yourself - many of us feel guilty 'indulging' ourselves but just a few minutes a day to do something nice for yourself is very therapeutic. You might like this too if you feel in need of some small scale self nurturing :)
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| https://gabrielletreanor.com/courses |
P.S. I have just read Hazelxjoy's post about her efforts to play a part in reducing packaging and saving our planet. http://hazelsworldofjoy.blogspot.co.uk. Having seen a beautiful turtle on tv that had a plastic straw stuck in its nostril I became more aware and concerned for how plastic is impacting on our environment. I have recently written to McDonalds asking if they can consider removing plastic straws from their restaurants and using paper straws instead; I had an email from Leon Restaurant this week stating they are phasing out use of plastic straws in their restaurants: If they can do it, surely everyone can? I am trying to reduce the amount of foods I buy which are pre-packed - (even cucumbers come in a plastic sleeve) or where packaging is necessary, I try to choose products with recycleable containers. This is a small step but I hope if more of us start to reject plastic packaging we can make a difference. Have you been able to reduce your household plastic waste? please share your ideas.
