A truly beautiful Minxy mix of charm, inspiration, practical advice, and pretty projects to simplify and beautify your life and home. - Jane Brocket, The Gentle Art of Domesticity
Anhedonia
I came across this word in a Jonathan Franzen novel recently (the man’s a genius – I can’t imagine forgetting Freedom like, ever) and keep returning to it. What’s it mean? The inability to experience joy when you really should be.
That’s about the exact opposite of what I’m aiming for. I want to remember why life is so awesome. Every. Single. Day. When lazing on the sofa, licking the bowl, mastering a tricky skill or experiencing the pure thrill of not collapsing after a set of crunches. Needless to say, a happy family, fine meal and all the other super good stuff should inspire paroxysms of the stuff. Yep. That’s my goal.
Seems like every email or newsletter I receive lately, someone is harping on about how busy they are. So busy! No time to breathe! I’m the same – every message or conversation starts with “Sorry I haven’t been in touch / apologies for the delay responding.” Note to self: journey, journey, journey.
I want to share with you this very American TED talk I’m trying to live by. It’s about training your brain to be happy and redefining your idea of success. Which can only be a good thing, right?
Hi Kelly wow I Loved the video very inspiring!!! I also enjoyed Freedom I won’t forget it either !!!! I just finished organising a charity event for Marie Curie last night and it has left me feeling very positive!!!
I invited 30 ladies to include family and friends and organised a clothing exchange as well as inviting local crafts lovely ladies to come and sell their gorgeous things!!! It was a great evening. Every lady went home with a little treasure and we raised over £500 for the charity!!! It just shows you that doing something positive and worthwhile has a lasting affect on your own well being and I feel great today!!! I was also so happy to support local crafts and feel it has inspired everyone to allow their creative side to flourish. Can I just say I have felt very inspired by your books and blog and it helped a great deal when organising this event. I felt confident that I could make it a lovely evening for the ladies and even found myself giving fashion advice about the clothing and suggesting ways in which they could alter or add to an outfit!! Nothing went to waste and my friends just Loved it!!! I just wanted to once again say Thanks for the ideas and I look forward to also trying to live more positively!!! Trish Grant Edinburgh
what a word! I have been meaning to tap into TED talks for quite sometime. This is the puch I needed. Thanks! x
So lovely to hear from you and thank you for the kind words – you made my day. What a wonderful event you organised. You’ve inspired me to arrange something for a bunch of my own girlfriends soon xx
Thanks for this post!! It was a lovely gentle kick in the pants!!
It’s a pleasure x