Not taking calmness for granted.

I spent a good amount of today in full view of the sun. I’m officially becoming a sun catching addict. I need zero excuses to plan my walks around the natural light, as it goes when the sun’s out I’m out. 

Going for a stroll, my first pit-stop was at Costa Coffee, of course I can’t walk and sit without my favourite drink. Passing by coffee-loving competitors Cafe Nero and Starbucks, I had a pretty lengthy walk, considering Costa’s the furthest of the three. Grabbing my medium hot chocolate with cream and a sprinkle of cocoa to go, I headed over to the canal to enjoy the vibrancy of colour only nature can fashion. This has become my favourite lockdown spot. Pausing on that thought, as have many others. 

Watching the water smoothly linger by I was reminded of my word of the year “calmness”. I hadn’t forgotten the word, it has simply been there the whole time. Given my mood a couple of weeks ago, “calmness” was lost in a tangle of worries, the thought of even writing it down felt too gutsy. The struggle was real and required a lot of untangling to pull it back out. Each disentangle was given an affirmation and a manifestation. Once I had reached my last knot, I paused and gave myself credit for facing my worries. And, that’s when calmness reappeared.

Now that the testing time has finally passed, I see, know and feel how important calmness is as a basic mindful need and shouldn’t be taken for granted. My gratitude for it has grown immensely as has my appreciation for empathy.

My everyday goal is to remind myself of my word of the year calmness and be sure to add kindness wherever I go, be it a smile to a stranger.