Woolly Weekend

I've been trying to practice mindfulness recently - it's not easy to keep pulling your thoughts back to the present moment, especially if, like me, you have formed lifelong habits of worrying and daydreaming.  During my recent transformative sessions of CBT I learned about the power of thought - how strongly your thoughts influence your emotions and therefore how important it is to keep them positive -  but I do keep slipping back.

I've had a bit of a 'woolly weekend' - it's my head that's been woolly.  I had a sore throat at the end of last week that turned into a cold.  Frequently I have found myself thinking about the likelihood of some or all of the children catching this cold, and wondering how ill they'll become, how much time they'll have to take off school, how I'll cope...  Then I have to pull myself up and realise how thinking this way drags me down.  At least I realise when I'm doing it now.

When I'm not feeling so well physically I often get a bit glum and muddled mentally - I am sure that's the same for everyone.  By the end of Saturday I ended up in quite a state.  I spent several hours in the morning helping at the school Christmas Fair, which I found quite draining.  Then I took my Mum to the shops - again because I felt I should, although I was not really up to it and did not really want to.  There was so much traffic and so many people around, and by the time I got home I just felt close to collapse.  Luckily for me, Paul had cooked a meal, and after eating with the family and  having a quiet evening in front of the TV things were much improved.

I had a quiet morning at home today, then this afternoon I took three of my children and one of their friends to see Skyfall, the new Bond film.  I've already seen it - Paul took me on my birthday - but I didn't mind going again (I'm noble like that).  I made myself pretty unpopular at the cinema, handing out packs of crisps and popcorn to all the kids.  I never intend to choose the noisiest snacks, it just always seems to happen that way.  Anyway, it was a good way to spend a wet afternoon.

So the most energetic thing I have done today is to brush the dog (it's been too long since the last time) and trim her fur.  She loved all the attention, sweet little thing that she is.  Now I'm going to get an early night, and hopefully by tomorrow morning my thoughts will be less woolly - ideally not woolly at all.