Hygge Highlights #4
Our weekly roundup of magical feel good moments.
Mere moments after I sent out last week’s “Hygge Highlights” I began munching on a biscuit and broke a piece of tooth. I didn’t feel it break, I never saw it. But there was no mistaking it. My tongue knew and quickly told me, things were different.
I gotta be honest with you, that’s not the kinda feel good omens I am trying to manifest. It’s had me in a right ol’ funk and hygge moments have been difficult to spot, let alone feel. It’s not that those moments ceased to be, it’s more that I was paralysed by my mental health and unable to accept them in. The first sip of my precious (one and only!) coffee didn’t give me the same pep the next morning while I procrastinated phoning the dentist.
I know I’m not alone. Even the smallest inconvenience can sometimes throw a spanner in the works of our day to day. Remove any interest we would normally have for certain activities or tasks. Trim our wick to be short and feral to those around us.
Acknowledging this and where we are putting our energy, our attention and focus, I believe is the first step to showing up for ourselves and our mental health recovery. In other words to get out of a “funk” you first need to distract yourself.
This can be as immediate and simple as taking a look out the nearest window. Concentrating only on the things you can see, feel or hear, right now, in this single moment. When you are completely still and focused on the rain, tuned to it with all your senses, the sound of it hitting the roof, watching the droplets jump and merge into a puddle, the fresh petrichor smell; that is if you open the window or step outside. In this stillness you cannot help but relax, all the burdens melt away, if momentarily.
As soon as you drop this stillness, the anxieties and stresses will and do flood back. Finding the stillness is the easy part, remaining and returning there is the key. I believe nature holds the key. Technologies, the evolution of capitalism many of us have moved (more truthfully we have been forced) away from nature by others greed. But if we are to reach our full potential we must return to and open our hearts to nature as often as possible.
As reiterated through the hygge filled moments you have generously shared with me again this week. It is in nature where the magic is most often found.
“A sweet little goldfinch was taking a bath in the puddle outside the gate, the wind was blowing so we don’t think it noticed us watching” / “Taking a moment to enjoy the morning light shining into and warming the bedroom” / “Delighting in the frosts finally arriving” / “Going for a brisk walk listening to Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love” / “Stroking warm sun baked kitten fur”/ “Packing the work laptop away in the top shelf ” / “The best night out in a while. A gaggle of us girls tarted up and went to the theatre” / “We’ve hit the heat of Summer. We were blessed to have a cool lead up to it.” /
“We watched Marama* shine… majestic and whole” c/o @hauora.artstherapy
* Te reo Māori for the moon
Here are my Hygge Highlights from this week…
Having a few salad leaves and soft herbs like coriander in our greenhouse still to harvest and flavour our meals.
The satisfying sound of a decent crunchy frost under foot, if a tad stingy on the face and lips - “The cold wind burns my face, and blows, Its frosty pepper up my nose.” - Robert Louis Stevenson
Looking ahead and anticipating hygge, since my J has taken the week off and we plan to purchase and plant some trees and enjoy a little extra down time together.
Pure rapturous (Mum!) joy watching our youngest beam, groove and sing “Goodies, Take a little good advice, Try a trip to paradise… Goodies, Goody, Goody Yum Yum” (Yes we’re still working our way through all the episodes) Please may he never lose this sense of self, fun and safety to be himself.
Swanning about in my Jim-jams, that is pajamas, PJs, jarmies, a pair of mens red tartan ones, most of Saturday - cue holiday mode!
I really do so appreciate you sharing your precious hygge, any cosy delight you experienced or seasonal snapshots you captured with me, I look forward to hearing from you again later this week. Until then wishing you many more magical moments.
Seasons Blessings 💫
Bron
I smiled about your one precious coffee, I too have one coffee each morning. I save that beautiful ritual until I’ve got myself ready for the day and the bed made. Then I always sit down to really enjoy every sip. Oh I wish I could be a person that had more but even two leaves me jangly for hours.
So true about that refocusing on stillness and the experience of your senses! I had a crap Saturday afternoon where after a day of pain I ended up going to bed for what was supposed to be a rejuvenating nap, but ended up in fitful dozing. I got up grumpy, and even though it wasn’t super cold, I just felt the need to light a fire. The concentration on all the steps of building it, then the pleasure of watching it catch and start blazing, completely turned my mood around and I had a really good evening. I really hope your tooth isn’t too painful or expensive to fix 😕