A (Life) Lesson From A Student...

My class makes me crazy, but I love them.
With all my heart, I really do. 
Sometimes I need to growl and grumble at them.
But (I hope) they know that I adore them.

Today, two of my boys were giggling.  Giggling, giggling, giggling.  Non-stop titter, tatter, twitter, chuckle, chatter, giggle, guffaw... It was quite sweet (although to be honest, it was driving me a bit batty as well.)

Inspired by Faiza, I headed over to The Color Of website to find what colour 'giggling' is.  I think this is quite perfect!

I mentioned it to his mum today over lunch (she works at our school.)  I said I love that he is just so very happy;  possibly one of the happiest human beings I've ever met in my life.  I swear, the boy is sunshine in a sweet, endearing, energetic, little package.  In her words, he's even happy when he gets in trouble.  He's just happy.  She told me that he literally bounds out of bed every single morning, finds his mum (no matter where she may be) and says "I need a hug."  An 11 year old boy, who still searches out his mum for a hug, first thing in the morning?  One word.  GORGEOUS! 

This child greets each day with enthusiasm, love and happiness.  He is blessed with a fresh perspective daily, and is excited for what the day might hold.  He is kind, empathetic and unbelievably friendly, regardless of what he's going through.  I want to be like that... To come into each day with such positivity and unrestrained joy can only be good for you, right? 

A wordle cloud of words from this post.  Also loving this!

Full To The Brim...

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I must dispel any possible rumours that may be circulating due to my recent Facebook status... what I had said was "Tesneem Couper is full to the brim with happiness."  I feel inclined to stress, there was no one singular reason for me to be full to the brim... I just was/am - which is a pretty great feeling!

As I lay in bed last night, I reflected upon my happiness and the sudden outburst of joy (and this post took shape in my mind.)

I'm very ashamed to say, that every time someone has asked recently "How's the new house??"  I have responded (almost without exception) that it's fabulous, but cold.  I then found that I would launch into our 'plans' for the house and how we'd like to warm it up... recently I stopped mid-blather.  I checked myself.  Then I tried to change my approach and talk about the fabulous aspects of the house.  It's almost as though, I felt like people didn't want to hear me brag about how awesome our new house is, so I'd tell them what needed fixing.  No one ever indicated  that they wanted to hear what was wrong with the house - on the contrary, most people were very interested to know what is so great about our gorgeous little home.

So then I gave myself the following exercise - for each moan/groan/whinge of negativity, I had to find ten positives.  This is what I came up with... (it wasn't easy at first, but like anything else - with practice it gets easier.)

• My house is cold.

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1. We own this house!
2. There is a roof over our heads.
3. It is a lovely house.
4. It is cold because it is big and spacious.
5. It is cold because it is a bit older and therefore, very solid and well built (no creaky floors!)
6. We get to make improvements to the house and possibly add value to it.
7. I can now build a fire in the fireplace (I used to struggle with getting a fire going!)
8. It's a good excuse to cuddle up and stay warm.
9. It's the perfect weather to have a hot chocolate
10. or bake an apple crumble.  

Ta-da!  Ten things that are good about my house and it being a bit cold (yes, some of the links are a bit tenuous, but it takes time.)

I also tried this one (which is a common complaint in this day and age!)

• I'm tired.

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I'm tired because...

1. I was up late, talking to my best friend (who also happens to be my husband -  he was very patient and listened to me blather, even if he was super sleepy)
2. and then I insisted on a cuddle (please refer to #8 from the list above.)
3. I am passionate about my job and love what I do - so I actually work quite hard, but generally enjoy it.
4. I keep staying up late to read a really good book!
5. I am making my health a priority and taking the time to fit more exercise into my life, but sometimes I stay up a bit later to get other stuff done (although I've got more energy for it!)
6. I have work to do for JK (mosque) and so I feel blessed to have a leadership role within the community and can make a positive impact, even if it's in a small way!
7. I have work to do for the Montessori community in NZ and feel pretty chuffed that I was asked to help out and share some of my knowledge and expertise.
8. I have awesome friends and an active social life and get to go out with my friends quite a lot!
9. I may have stayed up a bit late to finish my latest knitting project - made with so much love and so appreciated by the recipients (or their parents at any rate, since it's usually some baby related item!)
10. I had a meeting that ran late, but on the bright side, I got to come home to a gorgeous man who had dinner ready and waiting for me. ♥♥♥

Positivity (and gratitude) are indeed contagious... with all this to be grateful for, wouldn't you be full to the brim with happiness too?