Pencil full of lead

Celebrating the small, silly things that make you happy today beats dwelling on the big and serious stuff you have lost.

I’m very happy with my version of Parkinson’s.  Other people have to contend with issues that make life so much more complicated. For example, I don’t have to:

• Control tremor
• Go out to work every day
• Wait for my state pension
• Fill in forms to claim benefits
• Care for elderly parents
• Worry about a dysfunctional family
• Rely on a walking aid (except Nordic and trekking poles, by choice)
• Manage alone.

Any one of these would mean a very different story for me. I have so much to be thankful for. I can sympathise with other people with Parkinson’s (PwPs) and I will try to support them as much as I can. But I can’t always get up close and empathise with them because I don’t know exactly what they’re going through (unless it involves physical pain).

In fact, now my meds and exercise routine have kicked in and I’m standing tall and balanced, I hardly feel I have Parkinson’s at all – except when I go all wobbly in a railway station or airport, which at the moment isn’t very often.

Gratitude

This is why I’ll try to be as jolly and upbeat for as much of the working day as my meds will allow. And to be grateful for small things, especially FaceTiming my granddaughter.  I’m grateful to the people around me for whom my jolly and upbeat can possibly be quite exhausting – but they laugh along anyway.

A good customer experience will always float my boat. My local bank picks up the phone at first ring and I’m speaking to a real local person who answers my query in a couple of keystrokes. That sort of thing can make my day.

Outside the box

The thing that made me ridiculously happy this week was recycling a cardboard box. To us this long tall box was just the container for our new rowing machine.  But it was taking up space, and the council recycle truck was due. Instead of chucking it out I posted it on Freegle as a ‘cardboard box with potential’. I suggested it might make a good play tunnel, castle turret or shop counter.

I clearly wasn’t thinking far enough outside this particular box, because the young man who collected it at lunchtime had turned it into a space rocket for his daughter by teatime.

Mindfulness

Jane Hodgkinson (nowmindfulness.co.uk) is a mindfulness practitioner who teaches mindfulness in a variety of settings, including workplaces, schools and the community, both online and in person. She says:

“Ali’s declaration that ‘Celebrating the small, silly things that make you happy today beats dwelling on the big and serious stuff you have lost’, demonstrates a truly mindful approach; she is acknowledging difficulty is around, yet is choosing to turn her attention toward the things she is grateful for. This attitude can be so helpful for many people.

The gentleness of a mindful approach – curious, kindly, awareness – makes room for all aspects of our experience, including the pleasant, the unpleasant and the neutral. It helps us to meet whatever arises, with equanimity. The increased awareness that comes from mindfulness practice allows us to notice more, including the many things that bring us joy.

With practice, we learn more about what is helpful for us, and that may include intentionally shifting our attention to those things we are grateful for. There is a growing body of research evidence to show practising gratitude can be beneficial to health and wellbeing.

A simple idea to begin a gratitude practice: At the end of each day, write down three things that you feel grateful for. This can be anything…from feeling thankful for friends, to rejoicing, as a box becomes a rocket!”

Play > Pencil full of lead > Paolo Nutini

In today’s pick, Pencil full of lead, Paolo Nutini sums up all that is good in his world. He has some very basic requirements like a television licence and buttons for his coat. And best of all, someone who loves him. The track has a cracking, cheerful intro that gets me smiling every time.

Other songs about gratitude include Nina Simone’s Ain’t got no…I got life. First Nina lists the things she is missing, for example, home, shoes, siblings. But all her body parts, including her boobies and her sex, are in working order. She is happy!

In Reasons to be cheerful, Ian Dury was sustained by happy thoughts of the Hammersmith Palais, being rather silly and porridge oats.

And Louis Armstrong’s Wonderful World encompasses green fields, red roses, and the dark sacred night. (or the dogs say goodnight, as many folk have misheard it).

A tune that makes Jane happy and celebrates the essence of mindfulness is Living in the Moment by Jason Mraz (from the album Love)

What small things (and tunes) make you happy? Let me know.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels