10. Playing with Spaghetti Brain

A kitten with a ball of string is having fun - and learning - however much of a mess it makes and a tangle it gets into.

Sometimes though, life can seem like being all caught up in a spider's web of sticky spaghetti. String tangled and knotted and partly unravelled all over the place.

It can seem overwhelming.

So what to do to break free? I felt pretty much overwhelm the other day. I've been cramming in information. Listening to downloads of teleclasses, reading blogs, asking questions, compiling responses to telecomms queries I have. It was all just getting too much and I just could not absorb any more.

So what did I do? I downed brain tools and started to play. I cooked - I made chocolate dipped roasted almonds. I made tomato sauce. I made French onion soup. I got creative!

I switched off my intellectual brain (gave it a rest!) and switched on to using my hands and my creative, intuitive brain. I got productive - coz I chose to "switch off" and play ...

A true embodiment of  kitten with a ball of string. And I got to smile again ...

Play - I really recommend it! And talking of recommending, here's a book that really made me smile - is called:

The Hedonism Handbook - Mastering the Lost Arts of Leisure and Pleasure

by Michael Flocker - De Capo Press

Annie

9. Dancing away the Cold Freeze

It's a new year - it's January - and it's ffff  freeezing!

Not only the ever ominous credit crunch - we're being blasted with crunching cold winds from Siberia as well. So easy in this environment and these circumstances to feel it's too darn inappropriate to feel kittenish and playful. Too difficult and challenging too. I know exactly what you mean!

And yet, and yet - maybe now more than ever is the time to dance and play - all that moving serves to keep you warm. And staying stuck and still only increases the strength of biting chill.

So this eve, in defiance of all the gloom - I'm off to dance a little salsa. At St Thomas More Hall in Lordship Lane.

What are your favourite ways of keeping your spirits warm and high? And what new ways might you venture to try?

Happy New Year!

Annie x