Pottering about my kitchen making a cake that is delicious and sharing with others and is so appreciated that I have made an effort, makes me so content!
I love art as took my exams at a school and carriers advisors suggested maybe a biological artist 🧑🎨 but I am not a natural and love biology that has led to a biology degree and teaching. Yet I have started dabbling again as I see beautiful flowers and plants and my initial thought is I want to paint them!
I am living with the challenges imposed by Multiple Sclerosis which is affecting my hand, signature completely different 🤣 Little dabblings sometimes dont look too bad and I have drawn flowers as a base to water colour. If I want to be kind to myself maybe use Gouache which I hadn’t heard of before but my brother is a professional artist and mentioned that it is way more forgiving than watercolour.
Unfortunately my walking has become more difficult with my ms and I have learnt to be content with little achievements and that is what they recommend to do with the likes of physical challenges. Be content with those achievements no matter how small but my achievement is getting loosened up and downstairs and ready to face the day. Contentment is such a happy place to be. I am so content and therefore happy with managing to be on my feet for 20mins, possibly with the aid of my super Rolls Royce rollator which is Champagne Gold, so pretty and not the old cumbersome black unattractive Rollators! Who would ever believe that you could be content having to use such an item anyway but accepting is a big part of the challenge.
I think I am going to start your flower drawing to get my hand back into training and that will make me so content sitting at my desk drawing.
Georgie, could you refresh my memory and point me in the right direction to your flower 🌺 drawing please ?
Sorry for my ramblings on a Sunday morning, but writing this has made me content 😌 and a writing challenge completed already today 🤣. Of course not physically writing but on my keyboard but the thoughts were from by head.
I enjoy your musings and they are so valuable so don’t ever question yourself on that.
Have a lovely Sunday and enjoy and be content that you push me forward in my thoughts and actions.
Thank you, Lulu, for generously sharing your story and thoughts, both the challenges and the inspiring way you're meeting them. I really enjoyed reading your words and the gentle rhythm of your stream of consciousness.
Your sentence “Contentment is such a happy place to be” completely stopped me in my tracks. It captured something I’ve been struggling to put into words—so simple, and so true.
Keep drawing, as much as you can, especially if it helps you stay connected to yourself.
I’ve found that using a fountain pen invites a lovely looseness into my drawings—there’s something forgiving and freeing about it. Sometimes I layer watercolour washes over the top for a soft, expressive finish. Have you ever tried that? You've inspired me to revisit it myself, so I’ll make a little video to share with you soon.
And thank you for taking the time to let me know my ramblings are resonating—it really does mean a lot.
Well, loads actually haha - with you lovely my Mum! What a lovely family weekend we've enjoyed! I think because I'm not happy happy all of the time, I find even more gratitude in the moments we all shared this weekend. xxx
Cheering you on with your contentment project. Seems like a potentially subtle but powerful reframe for you.
I particularly relate to not giving ourselves permission to fully feel happy/ joyful without trying to unpick it or feel guilty. Something I'm very much working on.
Thank goodness for our abundant creativity and the knowledge of how crucial it is to support ourselves and each other.
Exactly Janelle. Creativity is the most wonderful and powerful way to support ourselves. I love your description!
And yes, contentment feels like a subtle but powerful shift in focus. It's interesting to hear you feel the same tendency towards not having permission to feel fully happy - what is that about?! I'm glad I'm not alone in this struggle! xx
I‘m with Lulu, for me content and happy are momentarily merged 😌
A year ago, I went down to a three day work week (28.5 hours) in my job as a nursery nurse. The job had felt more and more stressful, overwhelming, exhausting, and I wanted to use my spare time to find a way out of this mess… into happiness (ideally being self employed as a creative). Start of this year, I qualified as a meditation teacher and have been procrastinating building my business since then… and then, recently, I’ve realised how happy I am where I am right now! Since I’ve realised, that I don’t actually want to fill my days off with tasks to reach goals, I’m actually content to do all the little jobs around the house and garden, instead of dreading them as horrible chores that keep me from doing whatever I "should“ be doing. And at the same time, I’m happy doing my job at work. It took me a while to lose the guilt, but I’m loving this balance that I’ve found and am feeling incredibly grateful for it!
Wow, Claudia – I adore this! I'm so happy to hear how you've found these moments of equilibrium in the everyday and a sense of balance with your work.
Do you think your mindfulness practice has helped you reach this place, this quiet contentment with where you are right now? That's exactly how I felt when I was training! I, too, decided I didn't want to fill my day with added tasks that took the joy away in pursuit of building a business. And the guilt subsequently disappeared.
It’s so interesting how we often feel we should be doing more, and yet when we pause and let things be as they are, we realise that it’s already enough.
I keep thinking about Lulu’s sentence: “Contentment is such a happy place to be.” It really captures the heart of what I’m exploring, too—a subtle but powerful reframe, a shift in mindset around what happiness actually looks like.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. It resonates so much!
Yes, this is definitely a result of my mindfulness practice! Do you too still feel how you can actually reset every moment? I very often sing or hum inside my head, and always thought that it was something that helped me with the calm, but I’ve now started to stop myself any time that I realise that I’m doing it and then experience this pause, this absolute silence inside my head. These moments are magic, absolute bliss! Empowering!
Ahh Georgie, oh so much love for the wisdom and heart in this post.
I remember a few months ago, getting out of bed and it was as if I’d never seen or felt my foot hit the floor before. It’s hard to explain. And the magic was over the moment I became aware of the magic. Ha! It was a moment of pure mindfulness. And I remember thinking, ‘Ahhh this moment has taken a loooong time to reach through practice.’ I want more and more of those moments.
So wonderful to have discovered your publication. 🤓
And I love your decision to go with what feeeels good as regards writing on Substack.🤍💫🪄
Morning Georgie from France
I find being content in fact makes me happy 😊
Pottering about my kitchen making a cake that is delicious and sharing with others and is so appreciated that I have made an effort, makes me so content!
I love art as took my exams at a school and carriers advisors suggested maybe a biological artist 🧑🎨 but I am not a natural and love biology that has led to a biology degree and teaching. Yet I have started dabbling again as I see beautiful flowers and plants and my initial thought is I want to paint them!
I am living with the challenges imposed by Multiple Sclerosis which is affecting my hand, signature completely different 🤣 Little dabblings sometimes dont look too bad and I have drawn flowers as a base to water colour. If I want to be kind to myself maybe use Gouache which I hadn’t heard of before but my brother is a professional artist and mentioned that it is way more forgiving than watercolour.
Unfortunately my walking has become more difficult with my ms and I have learnt to be content with little achievements and that is what they recommend to do with the likes of physical challenges. Be content with those achievements no matter how small but my achievement is getting loosened up and downstairs and ready to face the day. Contentment is such a happy place to be. I am so content and therefore happy with managing to be on my feet for 20mins, possibly with the aid of my super Rolls Royce rollator which is Champagne Gold, so pretty and not the old cumbersome black unattractive Rollators! Who would ever believe that you could be content having to use such an item anyway but accepting is a big part of the challenge.
I think I am going to start your flower drawing to get my hand back into training and that will make me so content sitting at my desk drawing.
Georgie, could you refresh my memory and point me in the right direction to your flower 🌺 drawing please ?
Sorry for my ramblings on a Sunday morning, but writing this has made me content 😌 and a writing challenge completed already today 🤣. Of course not physically writing but on my keyboard but the thoughts were from by head.
I enjoy your musings and they are so valuable so don’t ever question yourself on that.
Have a lovely Sunday and enjoy and be content that you push me forward in my thoughts and actions.
Thank you.
Best
Lulu
X
Thank you, Lulu, for generously sharing your story and thoughts, both the challenges and the inspiring way you're meeting them. I really enjoyed reading your words and the gentle rhythm of your stream of consciousness.
Your sentence “Contentment is such a happy place to be” completely stopped me in my tracks. It captured something I’ve been struggling to put into words—so simple, and so true.
Keep drawing, as much as you can, especially if it helps you stay connected to yourself.
I’ve found that using a fountain pen invites a lovely looseness into my drawings—there’s something forgiving and freeing about it. Sometimes I layer watercolour washes over the top for a soft, expressive finish. Have you ever tried that? You've inspired me to revisit it myself, so I’ll make a little video to share with you soon.
And thank you for taking the time to let me know my ramblings are resonating—it really does mean a lot.
Much love ❤️
How many times over the last 3 days have you felt happiness?
Well, loads actually haha - with you lovely my Mum! What a lovely family weekend we've enjoyed! I think because I'm not happy happy all of the time, I find even more gratitude in the moments we all shared this weekend. xxx
Cheering you on with your contentment project. Seems like a potentially subtle but powerful reframe for you.
I particularly relate to not giving ourselves permission to fully feel happy/ joyful without trying to unpick it or feel guilty. Something I'm very much working on.
Thank goodness for our abundant creativity and the knowledge of how crucial it is to support ourselves and each other.
Exactly Janelle. Creativity is the most wonderful and powerful way to support ourselves. I love your description!
And yes, contentment feels like a subtle but powerful shift in focus. It's interesting to hear you feel the same tendency towards not having permission to feel fully happy - what is that about?! I'm glad I'm not alone in this struggle! xx
I‘m with Lulu, for me content and happy are momentarily merged 😌
A year ago, I went down to a three day work week (28.5 hours) in my job as a nursery nurse. The job had felt more and more stressful, overwhelming, exhausting, and I wanted to use my spare time to find a way out of this mess… into happiness (ideally being self employed as a creative). Start of this year, I qualified as a meditation teacher and have been procrastinating building my business since then… and then, recently, I’ve realised how happy I am where I am right now! Since I’ve realised, that I don’t actually want to fill my days off with tasks to reach goals, I’m actually content to do all the little jobs around the house and garden, instead of dreading them as horrible chores that keep me from doing whatever I "should“ be doing. And at the same time, I’m happy doing my job at work. It took me a while to lose the guilt, but I’m loving this balance that I’ve found and am feeling incredibly grateful for it!
Wow, Claudia – I adore this! I'm so happy to hear how you've found these moments of equilibrium in the everyday and a sense of balance with your work.
Do you think your mindfulness practice has helped you reach this place, this quiet contentment with where you are right now? That's exactly how I felt when I was training! I, too, decided I didn't want to fill my day with added tasks that took the joy away in pursuit of building a business. And the guilt subsequently disappeared.
It’s so interesting how we often feel we should be doing more, and yet when we pause and let things be as they are, we realise that it’s already enough.
I keep thinking about Lulu’s sentence: “Contentment is such a happy place to be.” It really captures the heart of what I’m exploring, too—a subtle but powerful reframe, a shift in mindset around what happiness actually looks like.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. It resonates so much!
Yes, this is definitely a result of my mindfulness practice! Do you too still feel how you can actually reset every moment? I very often sing or hum inside my head, and always thought that it was something that helped me with the calm, but I’ve now started to stop myself any time that I realise that I’m doing it and then experience this pause, this absolute silence inside my head. These moments are magic, absolute bliss! Empowering!
Awesome post!
from the most content man in the world! 😊😉 xxx
Aww thank you. Couldn't write this stuff without you cheering me on from the sidelines to be honest! xxx
I
Love
This
SOOOOOOOOO
Much.
Ahh Georgie, oh so much love for the wisdom and heart in this post.
I remember a few months ago, getting out of bed and it was as if I’d never seen or felt my foot hit the floor before. It’s hard to explain. And the magic was over the moment I became aware of the magic. Ha! It was a moment of pure mindfulness. And I remember thinking, ‘Ahhh this moment has taken a loooong time to reach through practice.’ I want more and more of those moments.
So wonderful to have discovered your publication. 🤓
And I love your decision to go with what feeeels good as regards writing on Substack.🤍💫🪄