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It's life Jim

Rhythms, routines and 21 rituals.

15th December 2021 by Jax Blunt 5 Comments

I’m pretty sure I’ll have talked on this site before about rhythms, and routines, but probably not that much about rituals. That’s because up until this week, they haven’t been a large part of my life. But on Thursday afternoon, browsing the library while Smallest was at art club, I came across Theresa Cheung: 21 Rituals to change your life.

(Also available at Amazon affiliate both new and secondhand.)

As I usually do with non fiction, I scanned the first few pages right there in the library. It was this paragraph in the introduction that made me borrow it.

Most of us have absolutely no idea that what we repeatedly do creates our everyday experience. We think our future is shaped by big events, decisions we make, thoughts we have, and opinions of others, but this book will show that it is your daily actions that are the golden key. Pay close attention to what you actually do every day, and see your life transform.

I’ve come across the various types of self help guide that say all you need is affirmations. Instagram accounts that earnestly tell you all you need to do is chant “I do not chase, I attract. What is meant for me will simply find me.”

Hm. I’m really not quite sure how that is supposed to work.

But the rituals book, while having an undercurrent of what I would call ‘woo’, also has a good strand of practicality. And I’m open to the idea that if you line everything up with your intentions and actions, it makes it easier for the universe to give you a helping hand ๐Ÿ˜‰

I brought the book home, and as I often do, shared pics on insta (and therefore other social media). And was really surprised that it seemed to chime with a few people, several of whom decided they would try to get hold of the book and join in.

I’ve started a facebook group so that we can work together to support each other, it’s here if you want a look. And I’m working gradually to build the rituals into my day – some are easier than others!

The morning batch are a good way to start the day.

  • wake up earlier
  • Stretch instead of reaching for your phone
  • Ask yourself one simple question
  • Just breathe
  • Smile in the mirror
  • See the finish line
  • Tune in

By earlier, I’m going for anything before 10.30. (Yeah, I know, not exactly early, but one small step at a time.)
The stretch instead of reaching for your phone is really good. It completely changes my focus on the day.

My sticking point at the moment is the one simple question, because every time I see this prompt, I go all Dirty Harry, and that’s not quite where we’re supposed to be coming from. The book suggests Steve Jobs – If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I’m about to do today? – but I don’t find this a very practical or inspiring way to think about things.

No, I wouldn’t want to spend the last day of my life washing up and wrangling a 9 year old through some maths questions.

But at the same time, looking after my family and spending time with my children? Not so bad.

All about framing.

But I’m still working on the question.

Thoughts?

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Filed Under: It's life Jim Tagged With: 21Rituals

Christmas no 2 and a birthday.

31st December 2008 by Jax Blunt 6 Comments

It’s Princess’s birthday today, so we gathered in a softplay area and gave her presents. We gave her a pack of books and an England supporter kit, and other ppl just kept on giving. I lost count of how many presents there were, took up several bags when we went to carry them all out anyway.

After an hour or so of playing we retired to K’s house to exchange Christmas gifts with ppl we hadn’t seen yet. There were 6 children, many of whom had already had most of their Christmas presents from this side of the family. Despite this there were 4 red sacks, several bin liners and a large number of carrier bags. I quickly lost track of who was being given what, and my camera batteries gave up as well, so I couldn’t even get pics of the unwrapping. Then I ended up pinned to the couch under a pile of my own presents and with another bag at my feet that I couldn’t reach down to open.

It was all a bit over the top tbh. Well, no, it was extremely over the top. I thought we’d gone a little overboard with 6 presents each (and that included a pack of underwear, a couple of books and the traditional video each) – they got more than that from J and from mother, and I don’t think K was that far behind. Small got a castle larger than the one Big got from us as her main present last year, and Big got a dressing table. (Anyone who has visited here knows it’s staying in the box for the duration, there’s absolutely nowhere to put it in her room, and I’m not exagerating , that’s why we bought her one of those cabin beds with drawers and stuff underneath.)

There were craft kits galore – mother has taken on board that I’m not fond of tat, so she got two card kits, a pop art t-shirt set, Paint Your Own Statue – The Wind in the Willows – Badger, as well as the requested and much longed for Barbie Toffee and Puppies. There were loads of other things as well, but I haven’t a clue what they all were.

Small was in his element. He got Hulk Gamma Rage Hands, that he’s been ogling in Tescos for ages. There was also a Spider-Man vs Sandman which he’s taken to bed with him to open in the morning, as well as a Batman New Batmobile. There were all sorts of other things, including a Paint Your Own Statue – The Wind in the Willows – Ratty, a book with 1000 (get that, 1000, that’s a lot that is) stickers in it and enough other things to require we pack the boot with three bin liners and two carrier bags. Given that we hadn’t taken the sleeping bags or case of wine out from last week, and there were also the two large boxes to fit in, we struggled to fit it all in. I ended up with Hulk’s hands on my knees.

Despite the present excess, it was a surprisingly pleasant evening. I did take a while out and go up to the stables with K to give her a hand. Been a while since I’ve mucked out but it appears there are some skills you never lose ๐Ÿ˜‰

And then we came home. Now we’re companionably laptop/ netbooking while half watching tour of duty. Nearly midnight, and I’ve just finished my cup of tea. Not sure I can be bothered to go find any alcohol now, Happy New Year to you all.

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Filed Under: family, It's life Jim, It's where it is, ranting or raving, Small steps

Protected: Looking for a silver lining

2nd September 2008 by Jax Blunt 7 Comments

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Filed Under: It's life Jim

Crafts for children – playing with squidoo again.

25th August 2008 by Jax Blunt 2 Comments

Crafts for children

I used to home educate my two children, and we did it without curriculum. For young children they can learn huge amounts from doing crafts that no so very long ago were a way of life.

Merry’s question earlier reminded me of my squidoo lenses, so I went and played some more. This one just needed a bit of updating, and every now and then, it sends me money (not very much and not very often, but hey something is better than nothing!). If you decide to sign up to make lenses (very easy and I suspect could be addictive if I had time amongst my other addictions) please do use my referral link as once you earn loads of money, I get a little too ๐Ÿ™‚

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Filed Under: It's life Jim

Drifting along.

25th August 2008 by Jax Blunt 2 Comments

Quite worrying that before I post I have to read the last post to work out what we’ve been doing…

I can’t actually remember Saturday terribly well. Ah yes. Big made her first purse out of the wool we’d bought on Friday, so we went down to the shop again to buy some more of a different colour. I tried to talk her through how much profit she might make dependant on price, obviously, and didn’t get very far. We dropped off a mobile phone in Mind, much to the surprise of the woman behind the till who didn’t know that they did that ๐Ÿ™ and Small spent 50p from his remaining not quite pound on a rather lovely little clown, who has been carted around for the last couple of days, but is now abandoned in the middle of the living room floor.

After the shopping I took them to the park, bumped into one ex-pupil and parent, as is fairly standard. Small only attacked Big once, so that has to class as a successful outing all told.

Oh, and Tim and I had a takeout and an early night, so he could go and watch the Tinsley towers being reduced to rubble.

Yesterday was more making things – we lined a purse and gave it a drawstring and Big took pictures. She’s got another ready for lining and a third on the loom – I spent hours investigating and configuring Etsy and we had a photoshoot to get pictures for an avatar and a banner. Our shop is at LiveOtherwise (as that was my username on there anyway, and you don’t get to change it when you set up a shop – tip one with Etsy, choose your username carefully when signing up!). There’s no stock there yet, but you can see our lovely banner, avatar, and read our profile and draft policies. Spent an hour or more trying to work out if we need any form of insurance if we’re selling on there, and came up with precisely no answers. Hm, sounds like a niche website looking to be drafted if only I could find the energy ๐Ÿ˜‰

Rather liked some of the photos, if I can bring myself to fiddle around with the sizes I might even blog some. Suppose I could flickr them. Right, I’ve set that going.

We had a lovely family meal yesterday evening, something that is happening much more often now we have a table in a room without computers. Somehow the table in the last house (even though it was the same table) just got laden down with stuff. Being in a different room here it doesn’t seem to happen quite so much, or maybe we’re just making more of an effort.

Sadly, Small’s PS has almost given up the ghost already – it’s now playing purely in black and white. Think we’ll take it back down to the shop tomorrow, but I don’t think there was another in this price range. Do I sub him the extra couple of quid, or do I listen to days and days of screaming? Hm, difficult decision. We’ve to give the Wii back tomorrow as well, as A and family get back from holiday Weds and they’re having it this week. I was hoping we’d be on holiday as well, but I don’t seem to have the energy to organise it – the big sticking point is the cat. There is nowhere here for him to get inside if he’s out, and if he’s kept in for several days I rather think he’ll wreck the place as well as going stir crazy. So I’m not sure we are going to get away, haven’t told the kids that yet as can’t face that screaming either.

I really wanted several days in a tent, but it’s already shrunk down to three as I haven’t done nearly as much at old house as I wanted to, and at that point I’m not sure it’s worthwhile. My next holiday isn’t til Christmas though, and I’m not sure I’m going to cope with that terribly well. I don’t seem to be recovering and reviving as fast as I think I should – so much on my mind that it’s difficult to relax. If we could get the house sold (which requires emptying it), if we had some money (which requires earning it), if I could feel that there was light at the end of a tunnel somewhere (it’s been such a dark summer in so many ways).

Hm. This was not supposed to be a depressing blogpost. I’ll stop now.

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Filed Under: Big, family, It's life Jim, Making things, Small steps

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