Little messages of gratitude, more books - thoughts by Anna
I have recently met a lovely new friend who oozes gratitude and lives for the present which many people find difficult to do. In my view they seem to live by pleasure, fun, gratitude, optimism and offering the good which is contagious. I think starting and ending the day with gratitude is a lovely way to live life. In same ways it is not much different to the religious form of praying in the morning and at night. Maybe (from a very simplistic view) our mental health issues are due to the breakdown of these concepts. Like me on the couch, a little electronic message of love and gratitude bursts out a smile!
My gorgeous Norwegian friend who started her PHD in critical social thinking in trade has introduced me to Chantal Mouffe, a Belgian Philosopher She reiterates again ( similar to Jeannette Fitzsimmon the need for limiting growth but links it more directly to the need to radicalise democracy). See below a quote from Chantal Mouffe.
'With the climate emergency, we have entered a new phase in which the struggle for social justice requires questioning the productivist and extractivist model. Growth has ceased being considered a source of protection to become a danger to the material conditions of existence of society. It is no longer possible to envisage a process of radicalization of democracy that does not include the end of a model of growth that endangers the existence of society and whose destructive effects are particularly felt by its more vulnerable groups.'
The readings by Chantal Mouffe are a little bit challenging and sometimes my small intellectual brain needs to read more straight forward books that I can easily read while consistently being interrupted by my lovely boys.
I am reading Atomic Habits by James Clear which is a much easier read. I have chosen this book because I have a few things to get through and I really want to make sure I keep time for pleasurable pursuits.
The key point in this book is very commonsensical - 'improving by just 1% is not always noticeable but can be extremely significant in the long run'. Then he goes onto more specific things like finding out what time of day you work your best and then ensuring you do not schedule any meetings over that time. So if I have turned you down in the morning for a meeting or coffee, you now know why!
I do find sometimes the most commonsense things in life are the things that make life easy. But often we need to process these commonsense things in a different way for them to sink into our consciousness, whether by reading, watching, experiencing, listening or simply taking the time to smell the roses while engaging our simple little brains to bring into action commonsense.
Enjoy your month.
Anna