The Mindful project day#3

Enjoying a sunny day with my other half!

 

I am Portuguese and after living in the north of Sweden for 6 years with long dark winter days where its night at 14h in the afternoon, you learn not to take the sun for granted. Enjoy it when you can, its free and so is a nice walk/cycle in the forest.

 

Forest near our house

 

Have a lovely day!

The Mindful project day# 2

A good book does wonders to the mind!

 One of the bookstores in our little town

 

Have a lovely day!

The Mindful project

Hello,

 

Very often I feel like I have lots of ideas for projects or habits that I would like to execute/start but don't and they get pushed to the back of my head under a pile of "have-to-do-mundane house and work chores". Sometimes I  get overwhelmed with all that I want to do that its stops me from starting anything altogether which makes me fell very frustrated. 

 

I found and am currently reading, the "Better than before - mastering the habits of our everyday lives" from Gretchen Rubin in the hope that I find same tips on how to stop procrastinating and just start introducing habits such as crafting more (giving shape to my ideas), exercising more and eating healthier which I think will contribute to my overall happiness.

 

I find the book quite interesting especially because she introduces a lot of real life examples both personal and from family and friends.

 

One habit that I want to acquire is the one of  being more grateful because no matter how hard some phases of my life have been, I am still very lucky. I am by default a pessimist and I find myself often suck into this negative spirals having a hard time accepting happiness  and the good things that I have around me.

 

So, I decided to start "The Mindful Project". Everyday I will take a picture of something that makes me happy and that I am grateful for. The purpose of this project (giving clarity to my habit- tip from Gretchen's book) is to:

1) pay more attention and appreciate the little things in life;

2) have something that I can use in times less good as a reminder that life is good;

3) relax because when I am reminded that I have all the important things in life, I can slow down;

 

The Mindful project day #1

 

A nice warm cupa!

 

I love tea, specially green tea and this Pickwick "Double green- green tea, apple and lemongrass" is delicious!

I hope you like this idea and maybe start a "Mindful project" of your own! And if you want to share that would be great also!

Have a lovely day

 

 

 

 

We have moved... to the Netherlands!!

Hello,

This last month and so has been quite chaotic. We are living in the Netherlands since the 22nd of July.

So, the story, my husband was offered a position in the Netherlands (NL) in the end of April and we had to decide very quickly what to do since his new position was starting in the beginning of August. It was not a hard decision as we have long dreamed of living/settling here. Our type of job is very unstable and at this stage in our lives we wanted a place where we could finally live without the feeling that our condition was temporary, if you know what I mean.

We decided to move and for that I had to quite my job which is kind of risky because I still had one more year in  my contract but I wasn't really happy with my work situation.

So here I am, unemployed since the end of August...I have been quite busy as our new apartment in NL needed lets say a lot of love...

Given our situation we had to rent the apartment from the UK which is not the best but we had no other option. Fortunately, one of our Dutch friends could check it for us and report back. The report was not very promising " the ceiling looks like its about to fall... (...)..the floor needs glue (its  laminate which FIY, if you are thinking of coming to NL be aware that most of the apartments to rent don't come with floor in the sense of wood/laminate or carpet, its cement)..the kitchen is small".

Unfortunately, we could not find better and in the end, the ceilings and the floor were not as bad although the kitchen is indeed small and we had to paint the whole apartment because electric blue..

is not a neutral colour!

More updates and craft activities soon!

Have a lovely day