I write this during the COVID-19 lock down, where my husband and I are lucky enough to be bedded down in a comfortable house, with a garden and close to a nature reserve for walks.
This blog isn't about the world-wide effects of the virus, although I want to acknowledge the hardship some people are facing, or loss, or uncertainty. I feel for those individuals and their families.
It's difficult, though, to try and imagine all the individuals in the world who must be facing this crisis. That's too many people for our human brains to comprehend. We might imagine a particular person from an certain country, and think about their experiences - and perhaps this represents the country in its entirety.
Social media and easy access to news does make the world a smaller place - facts and emotional stories from around the globe hit our phones and tablets and give us a glimpse of their lives. I have particularly enjoyed the Facebook site 'View from my Window', happily recommended to me by a former cat and house sitter living in Georgia. People will post one picture of the view from their house from all over the world. I've enjoyed pictures of majestic mountains or savannahs, kangaroos or bears in the garden and lush and tropical gardens. It brings us closer together as humanity - we are all humans.
Yet, somehow, it is still difficult to comprehend the scale of the effect of this virus, and the vast numbers that are affected.
Even with social media, it is the individual that captures our attention - or, as I often think about it - the little things.
It's the little things that matter.
For me, I am able to work from home in what is traditionally the busiest period of the year. So, on the whole, life carries on as normal.
However, it is those little things that matter - and being grateful for them. A key principle of mindfulness is gratitude - being grateful for what you do have, rather than mourn that which you don't. I am grateful for a happy relationship and a comfortable house.
I am grateful that our cats are happy to have more of our company than they're used to!
I am grateful that we have our health and the ability to communicate with friends and family.
I am also very grateful for our garden and the opportunity to work outside. I love being outside - and have not realised quite how much. Even on the odd day that I work inside, I miss being in the garden. I have been known to work outside in the morning, dressed in several layers with a blanket and hot water bottle - but my goodness am I going to stay outside!
I find it difficult to define why it is that I love being outside. Being in the garden I am aware of the myriad birds singing their little hearts out. I am aware of the changing colours the sun makes on the garden throughout the day. I am aware of the breeze, which brings with it the sounds of children playing in neighbouring gardens.
I have always believed that nature forms a primeval part of us that many of us have lost touch with - it's like something calling me back to a happy place.
This piece of embroidery is of an Australian pink robin, pictures of which I saw during the fires that ravaged the country over our winter and their summer (which seems a very long time ago now!). I hand drew the picture onto the fabric in magic marker, and free styled the colours and threads as I went. I've discovered I've enjoyed not thinking too much about what I am trying to do, or planning too much, but trying to listen to my instinct. It's not necessarily the best photo, but it represents a part of my developing creativity and the birds in the garden that call to me in the day.
It makes me happy when someone on a Skype call says to me "Are those your garden birds I can hear in the background? That's amazing."
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