Outer balance, Inner calm

It's been a while I know, sorry! I've been taking much more pleasure in reading other blogs lately.. One in particular that I remember being introduced to many months ago, but then promptly forgetting about for some reason (perhaps it was around laptop changeover time..) is Sarah Wilson's blog "this blog makes life better, sweeter." It is fantastic! Almost every post hits just the right note with me.

Some of her recommendations have been taking their rightful place in my life this week. One of these is..

Make your bed. Every day.

It's now Thursday and I've been doing this since Monday. It's working! It's something I absolutely have to do before I walk out of my room to go to work. I don't leave anything on the bed that doesn't belong there. And when I walk in the door at the end of the day and see this welcoming bed lying before me, I can report that it's actually a fantastic feeling! And it's not difficult at all - strangely satisfying, like doing a really big load of dishes, or getting sweaty with a really great hoover of the whole house, but so much easier!

Now the trick is you have to do it EVERY DAY. Not just most days.. Every day. Without fail. The suggestion originally came from Gretchen Rubin, a fabulous New Yorker who has written a book, and has this blog about the year she spent developing The Happiness Project. And I love this little nugget of wisdom that she drew on to come to the idea of making your bed every day - from Andy Warhol..

“Either once only, or every day. If you do something once it’s exciting, and if you do it every day it’s exciting. But if you do it… almost every day, it’s not good any more.”

Pic: countryliving.com