50 Things That Make Me Happy

just for the joy of it…here goes:

1. ducklings
2. thunderstorms during heat waves
3. reading Maya Angelou poems
4. cafés&writing
5. my eggyolkyellow umbrella
6. my friends – people who make the sun rise in me when I see them. Warmth and light.
7. Recently – being in the Welsh hills and looking at the sea
8. Watercolours, acrylics, clay, making a collage, making gifts
9. Getting the chance to sing – silence, a song on my mind, a song on the radio, no judgmental people around
10. Michael Leunig’s praying trees and praying ducks
11. This little lake in the South of France where I rested, truly rested, two years ago
12. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Johannes Brahms, Antonin Dvorak
13. All the wonderful books I have
14. Every time I find another wonderful book
15. The little house I dream of
16. The little garden I dream of
17. The moments when I let myself create
18. Finding people or books or art or poetry that really get what ‘good news’ means
19. Romantic Comedies. Yes they do. Mostly.
20. Dipping a brush in water, in colour and moving it over paper, watching the hairs curve, leaving behind a shape, sense, stories, symbols, an impression, just plain pleasure
21. I love flowers. Petals, blossoms, the hues of pink and orange and cream white and yellow and purple and green and blue…
22. …colours
23. Snooker finals
24. Poetry. Especially strong, female voices, owning their experience, their passion and their bodies, their experience of Godde/Christa/Sophia.
25. Feminist theology
26. Nature. Birds in particular. Blackbirds, sparrows, everything small and feathered that connects me to the ground I stand on, the air I breathe and the being of all things, the natural, non-artificial life I belong to.
27. Working internet connections…
28. Swimming. Even though I don’t often allow myself that pleasure – why? Because I’ve been taught that only skinny people are allowed to be seen in bathing suits.
29. Children that are so young that they don’t believe yet every lie that they will be told in their life.
30. Stained glass windows – mostly contemporary ones, in bold colours.
31. Dance. Another pleasure I don’t give to myself very freely. For the same reason.
32. My body, my sensuality, to wake up happy and aware of my senses and my skin and the pleasure of just being.
33. People who know how to receive love
34. Moments when I can receive love
35. Theatre – when it’s magic.
36. Long walks&talks with a friend.
37. Making a place/something beautiful
38. Silence
39. Space
40. Cloudwatching
41. Moments of love and belonging
42. Holding a child and feeling how it trusts you, rests on you. No defence, no self-protection. Just being.
43. Good new ideas.
44. The confidence, creativity, sense of self, warmth and strength and consolation in some women
45. People who can stand by others in their learning/growing without trying to control it. People who trust what is and what will be because they have an unconditional belief in the unconditional love of a good and generous and gracious God.
46. The presence of my guitar in this room.
47. The fact that I have another 4 days holiday to take before the end of August and that this means I can have a ‘writing holiday’ somehow.
48. Gooseberries
49. Happy people.
50. the treasures I find on retreats.