It’s the time of year when things start to get crafty, with washi tape …
And buttons …
It’s the time of year when things start to get crafty, with washi tape …
And buttons …
What a week.
Sometimes it can be a struggle to understand the choices people make. The past few days, I’ve been reading a lot around the U.S. election result and trying to comprehend why both that and the Brexit vote happened.
The thing that really gets me about these is the impact they’ll have on young people. My nephews, one who’s three, the other not even a year old, are growing up in a world where people are so polarised. There’s so little listening and so much hatred and judgement. It’s exhausting and sad.
I wondered how to explain current events to them. There’s a lot been written by others about the value of listening, of appreciating kindness and of celebrating difference. Here’s what I have to add.
So let’s start with big problems. Big problems are, by their nature, complex and interlinked – that’s why we haven’t solved them yet, right?
But there are people who claim that they can solve them “just like that”. Because, they say, there’s a quick fix that, incredibly, all the talented and hard-working people who’ve tried to solve these problems before simply haven’t spotted, or have chosen to ignore due to self-interest.
I call these claims “magic beans”.
A couple of years ago, I stumbled across the Danish concept of hygge, which was summed up at the time as “convivial cosiness”. The winter blues have sometimes bitten me quite deeply, so around late October, when we’re facing four or five months of cold days and long, dark nights, it can be challenging – there have been years when the path to March has seemed a very steep mountain to climb.
I’d experimented with a few hygge-type things before, but delving deeper into the philosophy behind it helped me connect it all together, and think differently about my approach to the change in season. So the past two winters, I’ve tried to develop a way of using the principles of hygge to embrace winter, to enjoy it, and not to feel I have to fight it. I *think* it really helps. It certainly makes the winter more pleasurable.
© 2024 … and roses too.