Joy-List
I’m going to make a bold statement and say at some point in our lives, we’ve all made a ginormous to-do list, or have an on-off affair with the dreaded bullet points. Now and then, we turn to them too as life becomes a little cloudy and we need to free up that all important working memory.
Studies have shown that to put the important information down on paper leaves us free to work on the less important tasks without fear we’ll forget the big things. It’s a process Si and I have used throughout the years when we feel like there’s just too much to remember; we whip out a pen and paper and scrawl everything down. Once it’s on the paper, we can breathe a little easier.
“Individuals prioritize high-value information for external memory; consequently, they can be left with predominantly low-value information”
Dupont, D et al
But for now, forget about the to-do list. This is about a JOY-LIST.
This week at Kith, the weather has been utterly stunning, freezing, but stunning. The ground is frozen solid so any hopes of re-laying the paths with wood chip have been put on pause, even the wood chip mountain is frozen. So we’ve slowed right down and when we slow down, we observe more and are far more aware of what’s going on around us.
Our Learning Community meet every Monday and Tuesday; both days we head out around the Kith space and surrounding fields to see what we could spy. To be honest, the group is so beautifully chatty I wasn’t expecting to see much more than muddy boots running on ahead of me so as we rounded the corner of a field to see a hare sprinting away from us, we were all pretty excited.
For a few precious moments, all the children, Si and I stood and watched. The hare didn’t sprint to the first hedgerow but rather ran a whole lap around the field until it got to a place it was happy with. For about 30 seconds we all stopped and watched, curious to see where it was going and in awe of it’s size and speed. That was the first of the fun things we got to experience over those two days.
Below is a picture of our joy-list for those days. The beautiful inspiring joyful natural things we experienced over just 2 days.
I urge you to try this with your family. A chance to check in and see what they find joyful, what they’ve noticed and what they’ve paid attention to. Putting it pride of place for the week as a reminder of the incredible world we’re a part of.
Try this… (I’m going to use bullet points, ironic hey?!)
Head out for a walk this weekend. Whilst your family are playing, walking, chatting, sprinting on ahead, just make a mental note of all the curiosities you see. Write them in a little notepad on onto a notes-app on your phone.
When you get home, on a piece of paper or note board, begin writing down all the lovely things you saw.
Try this to bring in some input and attention from your family;
“oh hey, what was the name of that leaf/bug/animal we saw? I’m trying to remember all the cool stuff we just saw, I don’t want to forget how exciting it was”
You may find your family join you in recalling everything. It also may be left on the sideboard for you to see each day. Either way, it’ll serve as a beautiful reminder of all the lovely things you experienced. If your family are drawn in, that’s cool, if not, it’s also cool, just for you. The purpose here is to build a joyful practise of remembering, noticing and paying attention to the world.
As we connect with nature in joyful, simple ways we feel less disengaged from the natural world and what’s going on around us. Bit by bit we’re regenerating our own inner landscapes through the power of the seasons.
I’d love to see your joy-list! If you try this at home and would like to share it you can email me or whizz me a message through Facebook/Instagram or use the #athomewithkith tag. Here’s to building networks of joy.
