Month: January 2021

Cold fingers, warm feet

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JOYFUL GRATITUDE #207

Lately I am trying to walk at least ten thousands steps a day in an effort to move just a bit more. Even when the weather is grey and cold, I lace up my boots, pull on several jumpers, wrap myself in my warm scarf and beanie and head out, motivating myself to wander a bit further than I may otherwise.

Today when I reached the forest I left the paved road and focused on just one task, trying not to slip on the muddy path. It was the perfect way to connect with each step and be in the moment. On a drier part of the path, I spotted a multitude of yellow catkins, flashes of colour in the bare undergrowth. They swayed lightly in the chilly wind, my fingers getting more and more frozen as I did my best to look for a pleasing composition.

On the way back, I was captivated by how the light shone through this mushroom, playing with the intriguing shapes. I experimented for a while, trying to capture those translucent effects despite the luminosity. By the time I got home, even if my fingers ached with cold in my gloves, my feet were warm and I felt energised.

2020 reading review

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Having more time to read was one of my silver linings of the 2020 lockdowns. I read 66 books which is a record for me, according to Goodreads that is a total of about 20600 pages! I really enjoyed carefully choosing some books, being recommended and lent books by friends, and serendipitously coming across some in the little free libraries. Hereunder is this year of wonderful books in numbers and my intentions for 2021 (I will share some of my favourite reads from last year in another post soon).

As in the past few years I made a conscious effort to make my reading more diverse. In 2020, 79% of the books I read were written by women and 42% by Black, Indigenous People and People of Colour. I was able to travel vicariously and learn more about the cultures of countries such as Cameroon, China, Dominican Republic, Greenland, India, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, Poland, South Korea, Togo and Uganda. I am grateful for how all these voices help to broaden my horizons and get glimpses of worlds I would otherwise know little or nothing about.

I read a very mixed bag of books, though the majority was fiction (77%). I feel like I swung between extremes: I read books on topics such as feminism, racism and social injustice to keep deepening my understanding of these complex issues, and next to that I read a bunch of light romantic novels just to get out of the pandemic mood and into some parallel worlds with predictable happy endings.

I was surprised to see that I actually hadn’t purchased many books. The majority of books I borrowed from the public library (35%), from family and friends (24%) or from the little free libraries in my neighbourhood (21%). The rest I got as gifts or bought either new or second hand.

What about my intentions related to reading for 2021? To support my local book stores more (they need it now more than ever), to continue reading books from different countries, discovering authors of I have never read anything by and to keep actively educating myself about white supremacy, capitalism and inequality so I can get be better informed on how they intersect and do my best to be an ally where I can.

What are your reading plans for 2021? Feel free to share in the comments, I’d love to be inspired by them!

*****

Click on the links to see my reading overviews for 2019, 2018 and 2017, and further book lists.

Purple

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JOYFUL GRATITUDE #207

On the last day of 2020, I took a long solo walk in the Amsterdamse Bos. It was a calm sunny morning and I wanted to be outside and feel the cold air on my cheeks as I reflected about the crazy year that was coming to an end. The path I chose to walk down was a bit muddy at the start which I guess discouraged other walkers and so I was alone nearly the whole time, accompanied just by birds singing and fluttering from branch to branch. As I strolled along slowly, it turned out to be a treasure trove of gorgeous winter details. I especially fell in love with this beautiful purple colour – also to be found on the photo on my last post. I will never tire of the unexpected colourful details to be found in the forest and the joy of observing nature as it moves through the seasons.

Explore with ease

/ cultivatingjoy / 5 Comments

It’s that time again, those winter days when I reflect on the past 12 months and carefully choose what word(s) will guide me for the year ahead. Words that I will keep in mind and can turn to when I need a little nudge in the right direction.

Some years the choice comes to me quickly. But as 2020 ended and 2021 came around I was still scribbling suggestions in my journal, turning words over in my mind as I walked or while in the shower, trying to find out what it was I really wanted to emphasise in 2021. In the end I selected the words EXPLORE WITH EASE.

What I am inviting in my life this year is having energy to explore new activities or topics with a sense of ease. Often when I try new things, the overachiever voice in my mind tends to insist loudly that whatever I decide to do must make absolute sense and be done as efficiently and perfectly as possible. This doesn’t leave me much wiggle room for experimenting or making mistakes. All this pressure can feel quite paralysing, turning anything new into a big deal and frankly putting me off trying at all if I cannot be assured that I will succeed with flying colours. That’s why I want to add EASE to the equation.

By doing so, I feel like I can let go of the worry of pushing myself too hard, berating myself if I ‘do it wrong’ and feeling drained. I will do my part to identify what I am curious to explore and I will look out for ways in which I can bring ease along for the ride. I already have a bunch of ideas to delve into: doing more freelance work, experimenting more with photography, reading books that are outside my comfort zone, improving my writing, finding a new part-time job, exploring new destinations by train and meeting like-minded people (when we can travel and gather safely again)… I trust that by being mindful, I can identify ways to lower the bar, allow the possibility of making mistakes and keep the process light and fun!

Have you chosen a word for 2021? I’d love to hear what it is and why!

*****

In case you are curious, these are the words that I chose to guide me in the last years:

Welcoming the new year

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I spent the last few days of the year home alone in a cocoon of relaxed introversion and down time. I cooked tasty food for myself, read a lot, went for long walks, watched some movies… I also took the time over several sessions to journal about the past year. I wanted to take a step back and reflect on all that had happened, the difficulties of 2020 and its gifts, what I missed and what I learned. I found myself covering page after page with thoughts in my messy scrawl in ball-point pen, sometimes in dense paragraphs and others neat lists of bullet-points, with a generous sprinkling of smiley faces and a smattering of exclamation marks!

Afterwards, I started setting general intentions about how I want this new year to feel and I carefully began hatching plans for 2021. With no visibility on how this year will look, for now I am keeping concrete goals focused on things that are close to home and within my reach. However at the same time I’m contemplating bigger plans on the horizon for when the pandemic is behind us.

It’s a work in progress and I’ll be adding to it over the next weeks. I want to take the time to figure out what is really important to me so I make sure I’ve focussing on the right things. I feel excited about this year with a lot of curiosity at what will unfold in the next months and the unexpected possibilities that may surprise us. I wish you all a wonderful 2021 and thank you for dropping by regularly in this corner of the internet:)