8:1 is the way to go. Let me explain.

So, the weather is a bit damp right now. The mornings are cold and the evenings seem to start before work finishes. Waking up and going home in the dark can be tiring. In December, people are often stressed about buying gifts, making preparations for family meals, and news is that there will be a shortage of Brussel sprouts. Not everyone is nice to each other. It’s hardly surprising that people feel a bit low. January is freezing, February wet and the spring seems like it won’t be here for ages.

We don’t have to see it that way.

I recently worked out my biorhythm chart. I’m not sure I believe in biorhythms, but there I was, feeling a bit sad, listening to uplifting reggae, seeking out good friends’ company. So I checked my chart, online, and there it was, clear as day, the swooping graph of despair. Apparently, I’m about to reach an all-time low. My emotions, my physical potential, my mental sharpness, are plummeting to rock bottom throughout December, hitting the pits in the middle of the month and not surfacing again until the 26^th.

So there we are. December. A washout.

Or…

I can choose something else.

I’m not sure about biorhythms, although the chart matches perfectly how lethargic and mentally muddy I’m feeling right now. But I am a great believer in the power of positivity.

8:1. This is what I’m thinking…

For every one negative, we find eight positives. Not just in our own lives, but in how we approach others. Whether we are discussing our kids’ grades, or how dinner tastes, or how good your new T-shirt looks, a new book or movie, or how we feel about the world, or anything at all, we can respond to the one negative with eight positives.

I don’t mean to be glib. If you live in Gaza or Ukraine, or if you’re homeless, ill, jobless or you’ve just been dumped, eight positives must be incredibly hard to find. But perhaps even then, a few of them are out there, in some form or another.

I remember when I lived in Toxteth, an older woman told me she missed the fun times of WW2. I looked at her in disbelief. ‘You’re telling me you enjoyed the war?’

‘We all looked after each other in those days,’ she replied nostalgically. ‘Everyone in the street knew each other. And although we didn’t have much, we shared what we had. There was conversation, laughter, we made the most of things. Not like you kids now…’

The woman was a survivor, and her attitude to others was remarkable. She was a role model and I took her positivity away with me and gave it a lot of thought.

In so many ways we are blessed if we have food on the table, friends, family, people we love, people we haven’t yet met who we will love. We have the earth, the sky, nature, (I know there are clearly negatives here, but work with me…) We have animals, art, literature, laughter, music. As Nina Simone said, we have our smile, we have life. While we are in the here and now, we have so much to be grateful for. And tomorrow can be another wonderful now.

So, my biorhythms can just stay as they are, if they are scientific and real – and they probably aren’t. They tell me that by the end of December, I’ll be a bundle of joy again. But I’m going to be a bundle of joy now. We have so much to live for, dear reader. We have each other. And we have this wonderful moment to share.

8:1. It’s my way forward.

Concentrating on positives and diminishing the negatives is good for us all, mentally and emotionally, physically too. So I hope I have cheered you up a little with this blog post. Because that’s what I want to do, spread a little joy, especially when the world outside looks dark. There is so much beauty beyond.

Sending you my best wishes and love, as always. xx