I read the Smartest Giant in Town (by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffer) over the weekend to my little one and it really is such a really lovely, funny book for kids teaching them about kindness to others in need, gratitude and just being comfortable in your own skin.

It has a great “feel good” ending for the giant who was very unhappy at the beginning of the book about who he was and how he appeared, comparing himself to others and making himself feel like he had to look better than everyone else, but then seeing his happiness grow so much when he kept giving away a lot of his clothes to help others in need really highlights how it can make you feel when you show kindness to other people in everyday life.

Children’s books can contain inspiring messages that should be shared and taken on board also by parents and adults too as they relate to how they can too grow their mindset and improve the quality of their everyday life alongside the kids, or maybe you want to reminisce yourself as an adult and go buy those books you used to love reading as a child. Bring that childhood excitement, wonder and fun back into your life!

Although it can really uplift you to show lots of kindness, at the same time, it is important not to give so much that you end up feeling miserable yourself!

A very important lesson for us all ❤️

I saw “Judy” last night at the cinema…

I must admit I thought it was going to be much more uplifting than it was, and it unfortunately didn’t highlight many of the positive, fun areas of her life as I would have liked, and was very much focused on her drug and alcohol addiction and her troubled life, with some singing on the side.

Nevertheless, it did highlight how little she took care of herself, and didn’t feel able to ask for help.

She was beautiful as she was without having to take all those appetite suppressants and drugs she was made to take as a child to keep her energy up to perform….

Unfortunately, she had very little experience of being loved by those that were close to her that she didn’t know how to love and appreciate herself. It is a deep shame she wasn’t accepted as she was in her natural beauty ❤️

As Gabrielle Bernstein said in her book “The Universe has my back”… but are obstacles really a detour in the right direction?

Life is such a test. It is so hard in the moment when you are experiencing these obstacles to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and we always seem to question ourselves when we are experiencing hardships and struggles in life…. why does this have to happen to me, I don’t deserve this, life is unfair.

So many obstacles have come my way that are out of my control over the past month relating to my health and the health of those around me, the house, this leak, the next leak, the dishwasher and fridge packing in within the space of 24 hours etc, all just before the Jewish New Year starts and I think to myself, what on earth is going on here for all of this to happen at once?!?

All I do know is that as hard as it is, I have to fight with positivity, I have to make sure I am showing gratitude for what I do have, what is going right, so that I can bring even more back into my life again, more sunshine and miracles.

There is a difference between pretending to be fine, and being positive and making that choice within to minimise negativity in your life. Positivity can give us much more strength to get through the challenges we face each day. It is the proactive choice we can make to feed our souls with positive thoughts to help change our subconscious thoughts and beliefs to help us make better choices for ourselves which relate to our individual happiness and health which must be prioritised.

Each and every day we are alive is a miracle, we have to acknowledge each and every one – we won’t always be able to experience it again for sure. Nothing is certain once the day has ended until we move onto the next day.

Each day is a new opportunity to start afresh and find our way out of the darkness into the light, put a bit of sparkle into your day, or even just to shut your eyes and visualise that light shining into your life, in whatever form it comes to you best.

Go create your own light to feed your soul, create a gratitude list, whether in the morning and/ or when you go to bed. Even if it’s just 3 things. Think about all the things you have that you can appreciate right now…. just take that moment and be thankful.

What can you be grateful for right now?

Here are of just a few things I thought of this morning to be grateful for today:

• I am grateful to be alive, for all the energy I do have and for all my body parts that are functioning.

• I am grateful for all the love in my life, my amazing family, husband and children, and friends.

• I am grateful for the food we have to eat and the freezer that still works in the meantime.

• I am grateful for electricity and gas, that enables me to cook food, and keep me warm.

• I am grateful for the house I get to live in, especially now it’s wintertime, and for my nice warm bed I get to sleep in.

Happy New Year to those celebrating Jewish New Year! And for everyone else too, wishing you all a sweet new year ahead and lots of love, joy, good health, happiness and smiles to come ❤️