Last Friday in work, one of our English teachers was telling me about an article she'd recently read in the Guardian. You have to read it; it's so good. It declares that after two years of the last two years, we all need some 'funtervention', and it's up to us to decide what that means. Connecting, limiting the good things before they enslave us (which speaks directly into this house's current obsession with episodes of Grey's Anatomy), picking up a dusty guitar - whatever it takes to help us through the times when "the void within yourself becomes manifest".
The thing that had captured HR's imagination was the concept of The Daily Delight. Catherine Price, the author of the article, said we needed to find something fun, something light-hearted every day to make us smile. Something to spark a bit of joy - something deliberately sought and carefully cherished.
Now, I thought this was all very lovely, but I didn't really take it much on board, until I was driving to work on Monday morning. There on the footpath, pedalling along at a purposeful speed was a man on a bike on the footpath. I think it was a man. It was hard to tell because his whole upper body was completely encased in the hugest, fluffiest, plumpest teddy bear that you could possibly be thinking of right now. I could not wait to get into work to tell HR!
Then, on Tuesday morning, when I dropped Jo off at the side entrance to the university, all the daffodils had come out overnight. They were definitely not there the morning before.
And today, well! Today, numerically but without the zeros, today was 2/2/22. Fabulous!
And it really is quite nice having a daily delight!
Another nice thing that has been happening to me over the last month is the appearance of very interesting words. Some I've known; some I've had to look up. I started making a list. Then, because I have a writer friend in Scotland who is very inspiring and also kind, I was told decided that I would try to write something about one of my words every day for this month. It has been quite fun thus far!
If you'd like to see my words, I'm putting them into a facebook page for my friend. If you're on facebook, you just search for Margaret Elizabeth, and maybe there they'll be! And here's today's x
6 comments:
Mags, will it be necessary to go on FB for me to see all of your words? (I hope not.) Can you post them here, too? BUCOLIC is a splendid word and makes me think of daily delights. <3
I love your poem, Margaret Elizabeth. We have the same middle name! Elizabeths for the win!
I love this sweet idea. Let's see. Today a delight was a snow day so no going or doing,just staying home and knitting! And napping! Yay!
Margaret is my middle name... I live in the country now. I love the word bucolic. Also pastoral.
Love your Bucolic poem!! I tried to find the FB page, but there are apparently way TOO many Margaret Elizabeths. If you make it more findable, let me know! I'd love to keep up with them.
I like this idea of funtervention. We need it. I had an unexpected dose of that this morning in a video (shared on FB) of a college friend's son singing a Very Silly Song. Delightful!
Thanks, Mags. I'm going to give this some thought. I think it might not take as much effort as it seems, and it could have a huge impact on well-being.
And ... "shambolic" is so fun!!
Do you know how many Margaret Elizabeth's there are on FB? And not one of them, in my search, is YOU! Bucolic. Yep, that's the way to live and funtervention is marvelous! I need more of it in my life! Today I took my parents to eat lunch at Mission BBQ where they honor military and first responders and Daddy. It was nice, watching them having so much enjoyment. Daddy said, "Usually I can find something to complain about but this is all perfect!" LOL
How are your parents, Mags?
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