As with so many others, several things stand out – one being discovering how wonderful books are, how you can lose yourself in them, how you can learn from them, how they can bring joy, wisdom etc when needed. Another is the wonder of nature, how beautiful, interesting and healing it is. We spent much of our childhood in nature, sometimes allowed to roam freely over the marshes and it still is what keeps me sane and happy now. We learnt all the plants and animals and I can still identify them all now which is a joy and enables me to teach others. Finally, how important family and a happy home life is – so I strive always to ensure that the children I teach have a safe and happy life and some love in school at least.

I have hard a hard few days and am exhausted and when I first saw the question, I thought “nothing”! But I knew if I stopped to reflect, my perception would change. I did, and it did! So here’s my list…
I still have my Mum who is about to celebrate her 90th birthday and despite serious health issues, is livelier than I am! I have a wonderful husband who knows how tired I am and is doing as much as he can to help. Although I have health problems, I am able to get out for a walk every day. So far we remain relatively untouched by Covid. My lovely class really are lovely and I have been so proud of them recently. I began my “50 challenges” this year and still am finding interest and excitement in the ongoing challenges, satisfaction in the completed ones and excitement about ones to come. Although it can be a tie, I am pleased to be able to help two elderly relatives and a lady from the village and they are so grateful.
Finally, this site! ensures I always remain positive and grateful.

My Mum is inspiring in that she has always seemed to see everything as an opportunity. She is half Italian and when she went to Rome for a holiday a few years back, fell on a cracked paving stone, broke her hip and spent weeks in hospital there. She told us all she was looking upon it as a new experience, took the opportunity to learn more fluent Italian, chatted to the nurses and cheered them up, supported other patients and, instead of being depressed or angry, managed to enjoy her time there and was known as “the lady the sun shines from”!! I can’t claim to do as well as her, but i follow her lead as best I can. When I manage to, it makes for a much happier life – often for others as well as myself, and saves on anger and misery! But I think sometimes my husband wishes I wasn’t quite so relentlessly trying to find the positive – whenever he complains, i always say, “well at least…….”. It must seem as if I am not entering into his worries. A fine line to tread!

I am not good at silence! Not that I talk a lot but I seem to fill every second of my day with “busyness”. If I am prompted to be still and experience silence, I often tend to fill it with my thoughts, but there are rare times when I can just “be” and then I notice little things – I can hear there is no true silence but I can enjoy hearing the birds, the sound of the waves on the beach (a mile off), the wind, a ticking clock, my heart beat…Things seem to slow down and sometimes it is hard to bring myself back to the world again. Do I feel better for it? Not sure! I personally feel better after a brisk walk in nature, (when there may well be silence but I am not listening out for it). I will try to be more noticing.

Fascinating question. I love all the answers but am not quite sure of my own! Is life as simple as being conscious? But plants live and are they conscious? All I know is that to me, life is a miracle, a gift, something that we shouldn’t take for granted. It can be delightful, it can be hard but it is endlessly fascinating and something I wouldn’t want to be without! It is a chance to love and be loved, to do good, and to share in a collective group of consciousness, everything and everyone interacting. I shall probably ponder this all night now!

I don’t think my talents are unique and I always feel that other people’s gifts are more useful and special than mine, but if I dig deep and reflect, I think genuinely caring and wanting to do something to improve people’s lot is one of my best gifts; I do think I am a good teacher so am hopefully setting “my” children up to succeed in this world – and perhaps, as someone else said, my ability to appear calm on the top, even when my feet are madly paddling under the water.

I love being a tiny part of a much bigger thing, I love the beauty of what I am seeing, the wonder of it all, and I always experience a feeling of gratitude. But what do I discover from it? That it is easy to get carried away by the business of life and we should take the time to stop and stare and feel awe so that we can experience all these wonderful feelings. That the world is much bigger than we are and our worries and concerns can pale into insignificance against the world’s marvels.

Theoretically I suppose I have everything I need – despite health problems I can live a full life, I have just about enough money, a loving family, a beautiful place to live etc so it feels wrong to be thinking I’m not at that “everything I need” stage yet, but maybe the answer to that is in the question “if you REALLY believed”.. Maybe I should act more as if I do have everything? And then I might really, truly feel it?
But whether I really do have everything now or am only almost there, I would never stop trying to help others in their time of need or being grateful for what I have. I think I would just try to do more of the same.

A great question for raising awareness and making me pause to be grateful and to thank people – otherwise, gratitude simply sits on the back burner. My wonderful husband who supports me in EVERY way; my teaching assistants who are always there for me and the children; my Mum who never lets me down; God for walking with me; nature for keeping me sane, grounded and happy – and, of course, this website for all the advice, ideas, thoughts that I value every day as I read through the comments.