In the Golden Afternoon

In the afternoon when the sun glows so warm and golden dont just glance at it through the window. Go out, find a spot on the lawn, and lay in it. just feel the warmpth, smell that sunwarmed grass smell. Just be quiet, and peacefull. Block off the taskmaster in your mind, forget about all the things you could be doing, and right there in that moment be nothing but a collector of sunbeams. Let it slowly sink all the way into your bones and melt your muscles and fill you with warmpth and comfort and peace. Watch the play of leaf-shaddows, wait to seel little bugs winde their way through the grass, feel the texture of a grassblade, blow the fluff off a dandilion. Try to pull up a blade of grass without breaking it so you hear the squeak and can find the soft shiney parts hidden down in the stalk or the new little budding leaves. Coax a bug onto your finger and feel the tickliness of it's little feet on your hand. Just sit and be part of the lawn for a while. Let yourself rest and become aware of all the little things there around you, like visiting a whole different world.

If You're Happy and You Know It

Do you ever find yourself happy, for no reason at all, just full of sparkle and hope? Do you ever look around you and swell up with joy? Do you ever feel an itch in your feet and spring under your heal bidding you skip! run! dance! leap!

It seems assumed in our culture that just breaking out in joy with a song or a dance on the street is somehow not mature, not civilized, not Proper. What a shame that to simply be happy and show it should be unacceptible. Do not let the expectations of society or 'peer pressure' prevent you from giving wings to your happiness, from letting your spirit swell and soar!

When you are happy Sing! Bounce! Squeal! Grin! Skip along the way! Grab a friend's hand and twirl! Let your joyfull energy carry you along on it's wave. Feel free to giggle, to run, to leap, to throw your arms wide and feel your joy radiate beyond the tips of your fingers.

Be glad! Don't keep it in till a proper context or an acceptible reason. Grin like a Maniac! and leave the rest of the world to wonder why they're not. ;)

Hear the Leaves Crunch

Try to step only on leaves down the sidewalk :D hop from one to another and hear the crunch crunch crunch as you go. This time of year you probably won't even have to hop ^.^ If you can find a spot where they've really piled up, wade through them, jump about on them, hear the crunching and rustling noises and smell that earthy leafy brown autumn smell! Pick some up and throw them in the air, give them one more flight! Watch them float to the ground.

When you see one that catches your eye, with brilliant colours, or a rainbow effect, or a pretty pattern of veins, pick it up, carry it with you, twirl it between your fingers, examine it closely, put it in your button hole, or your hair, tape it up somewhere when you get home. Try and find out what kind of tree it came from. Or go on a leaf-hunt for different kinds and make yourself a little collection. If they're not already too dry you can press them in a book between a couple kleenxes so that they won't curl up as they dry. Look for the teeeeeniest one you can find, and the Biggest one you can find. Show them to your friends. Notice if they're sticky, or smooth, or fuzzy on the back side. Lay them under a paper and colour over them with a soft pencil or crayon to see the pattern of the veins.

Or you can gather a bunch and make yourself an autumn lei! You can use your fingernail or a small knife to make slits in the leaf-stems. Thread the next stem through the hole, and then slit it, thread another one through and slit it, etc. You can take a string or perhaps a long tough blade of grass and tie the last stem to the stem of the first and voila! you've got a festive lei or a fairy crown.

Collect interesting seed pods and sticks too. Fill your pockets with bits of nature ^.^ You might find the things you need to make little stick fairies, or you might find an acorn hat for a doll or beenie-baby.

Find a nice stick, and tie or tape a bunch of leaves to it, stick it in a vace or prop it up somehow, and have your own little autumn tree indoors. I'm sure your little fairy or animal friends would love to sit under it ^.^

There is an abundance of beauty and joy to be found in the autumn leaves, don't pass them by! Don't worry about what others may think, don't worry about it seeming childish, for it is just this sort of thing that is truely living. Take notice of this beautifull earth you live on, appreicate it, accept the joy it offers you. Keep hold of the happiness and free spirit of childhood. Make your inner child smile, and perhaps you will bring a smile to others as well.

Colouring

Do you remember spending hours with crayons spread all over the cofee table, colouring picture after picture in one of those Huge activity books? That is some of the best 'therapy'.

Go get yourself a colouring book and a big box of crayons. Spread the colours out and just take them in. Make a trial sheet and colour blobs of each one to see what they look like. Stack them, Organize them, Roll them across the table, Smell them, Read the names....just get familiar with crayons again. Find a picture and don't worry about what the 'right' colours are. Just use whatever you'd like. See the texture of the crayon lines on the paper. Try different directions and pressure. Outline, swirl, blend colours together. Listen to the sound of it. Let the colours flow out of you onto the picture. Watch it come alive. Enjoy the peace of the moment. ^.^