Guest post for inspirational lifestyle blog Yes and Yes, www.yesandyes.org, published April 2009.
“It’s been a little while since the excitement and glitter of the New Year – when everything was fresh and shiny. As the calendar marches on, it’s often easy to get stuck into a sort of grey mood, but here are some simple actions that will help revitalise you like a good cup of peppermint tea. Let’s just call them little everyday acts of fantastic!”
With that, how about trying a different flavour of tea to your normal brew? Investigate exotic sounding delights like hibiscus and lemon, pink grapefruit or perhaps masala chai. Make a week of it, or even better have a tea tasting party with your friends. Coffee lovers do join in too – work your way around a continent of roasts. Taste South America or safari through Africa!
Dragging your feet? Depending on your current climes, opt in for some brazen stripy socks. If you’re in a sunnier locale, paint your toenails a rainbow of colours. Hell, why not do both? Alternately, make like an undercover agent by wearing bright, bold or plain ridiculous underwear! Secretly breaking uniform rules and incorporating a little bit of personality gives me untold joy.
Change your passwords (for your email or forum accounts etc.) to something mythical, delightful or just plain ridiculous. Think of them like itty-bitty magic spells! In my case it is my flat’s video store password, which is used to doubly make sure you’re not going to bring back High School Musical late on someone else’s dollar. Anyway, our password is so hideous we have to whisper it to the attendant in shame – but every time it results in raucous laughter. Mirth!
In a similar vein, make your ring tone jaunty – something you’ll be happy to hear, regardless of who’s calling. Definitely do not consider the embarrassment factor – if it’s embarrassing, think of the joy you’ll bring to your fellow man every time your phone goes off.
A good method that never fails to shake my world up is by giving myself seemingly random photography tasks. Take a nice long walk in your neighbourhood with a camera, while only taking photos of yellow things. Or make it your personal mission to snap a picture of every cat you see. Reframing every day subjects in a new context is as good as a brain massage – it helps you see the beauty in the details!
Last but not least, revisit your goals. Take the time to sit down and go over them, noting which ones you are now ready to take action on. How did you write them up? If they are wavering between inspiration and a tepid to-do list – why not rewrite or revision them? Try making a brilliant collage, or perhaps film a stern but loving video reminder to yourself of what you need to do.
There you go, 7 small but brilliant injections of fantastic. Give them a go! What else do you do to light up your day in tiny easy ways?”
