Let’s say “hello”
I’m going to make an effort to smile and say “hello” to people I encounter. What a friendlier, happier community we’d be if we all did that! But first we need to make eye contact, which isn’t always easy.
I hear that studies of behaviour have established we humans have a “need to belong”. But it’s a well-known social rule in busy towns and cities: you do not make eye contact with a stranger in the street or on public transport. Perhaps a friendly greeting … click here to read more
Take time to notice the fascinating world around you
Are your earliest childhood recollections like mine? Watching ever-changing cloud patterns, soaring skylarks and swooping swifts. Busy bees. Garden birds pecking. Chattering ducks. Industrious ants. Fluttering butterflies. Flowers in their great variety. The sounds of birdsong, voices and traffic. The scents of grass, hedgerows and cooking.
The world was a place of interest and fascination, observed in the moment. I reflected upon everything my senses told me about the world – and learnt from it … click here to read more
Count your blessings
Have you spotted the guy in Goldsworth Park with a blue wheelchair, sometimes riding, sometimes (painstakingly) pushing? If you ask why he chooses the more difficult option, he says “it’s because I can”. It’s easy to moan about things we can’t do instead of celebrating and doing what we can, and to grumble about things we don’t possess instead looking around and being grateful for what we already have … click here to read more