Making Mums Happy: day 8
Thought for the day: 'There is no duty we so underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy, we sow anonymous benefits upon the world' – Robert Louis Stevenson
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10 Happiness principles
- Count your blessings
- Have a good laugh everyday
- Do a good turn with a daily kindness
- Treat yourself everyday
- Cut TV viewing and make time
- Say hello to a stranger
- Look after something you've planted
- Get physical
- Phone a friend
- Indulge in some talk time
- Day to day happiness
Welcome to Day 8 of Making Mums Happy
Remember it's not all about rushing and getting everything done. Give yourself time to read this and try to fit in at least one challenge. If you don't get it done - nobody else is watching. You can swap it with something from yesterday's list or do a you-friendly alternative. The important thing is to think about it and try.
Talk to other mums taking part in Making Mums Happy in the Happiness Club.
Here are your happiness tasks for today!
Write in your happiness diary
In your happiness diary, please write down 10 things that are great about living in Great Britain!
We have the NHS. Yes, everyone moans about it, but in many countries like America, it's ‘no money no treatment', or in the Third World, just no treatment at all. We have free education. Again, it is much criticised, but we have the guaranteed chance to learn to read and write and learn as much as we want to or are able to. We have the freedom to choose our God; we have freedom and rights as women.
What about things like our countryside or the sophisticated facilities we have in our towns?
What else do we have to be grateful for about living here? What are you most grateful for?
Have a daily laugh
Have a good laugh. You should be getting the hang of it by now. The idea is you find something to make you laugh each day. There are lots of contributions in the Happiness Club. Pop in and share yours.
Connect with the world
As you go through life today, try to find some carelessly thrown litter on the footpath, or grass or walkway. Rather than step over it, pick it up and find a bin to put it in. There. You just made your community tidier. And maybe lots of people saw you and were inspired to do the same or at least to think before next throwing something on the ground.
Phone a friend
Last week we asked you to get out your address book or Christmas card list and phone someone you haven't spoken to for a while. Can you do that again today? Ideally a friend who makes you feel good rather than someone you find a bit draining.
Enjoy your home
Today we want you to change your sheets. In a straw poll, most mums agreed that there is real pleasure in having clean sheets. So go on, even if it's not the usual day for it, choose your favourite sheets and duvet cover and go and change them now! Maybe spray them with rosewater or a few drops of lavender oil. And because you've got lovely, crisp, sweet-smelling, clean sheets to get into, have a bath and moisturise before bed.
When you go to bed (and maybe also when you wake in the morning), spend a moment thinking about your bed, your soft mattress, comfortable pillow, warm duvet, curtains that keep out the light...
Your bed is a cosy, warm place where you sleep safely and comfortably. Use all your senses to experience the pleasure of being in bed. Use your hands and feet to feel the sheets and the weight and warmth of the covers. Feel the pillow mold to the shape of your head. Smell your pillow. Notice the morning light. Hear the birds singing outside or just listen to the silence. Hear the sounds but don't let them disturb you - just wash over you. Isn't it lovely to have a safe warm place of rest? Perhaps there's time to appreciate all the other wonderful things in your life that you have been recording in your diary.
Talk Time - enjoy your family
What are you doing today with your children? Whether you're at work most of the day, or you are spending all your time with them, can you take 20 minutes to focus on them and no one else? To really be with them, in the moment and not half-heartedly, thinking about all the other things that need doing. Whether you have a young baby or an older child, find something they will really appreciate - sing them nursery rhymes, build a great Lego creation together, play dolls, bake a cake, read to them and talk to them about the story or maybe do an art or craft activity (there are lots of craft ideas here). Or spend time just talking to them when they come home from school today, listening to what they want to talk to you about, completely focussed on them and engaging in what it is that interests them. You'll be surprised what you learn!
